The Ruins (2008)

good back-story, and good acting

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

A horror movie quite a few notches above the usual affair. An innocent looking vine that has the virulence of a cordyceps fungus is quite a novel idea. However, a plot flaw - in my opinion - was the reasoning behind those brutal methods employed by the Mayan villagers to keep the lethal vine contained. The vine clearly had red flowers, so it would not have relied on infected humans to spread itself beyond the confines of the pyramid and invade new territory. Flowers are not there to make plants look pretty, they exist solely to be pollinated by insects, bats, hummingbirds . . whatever, germinate and then scatter their seeds to the four winds. Besides, wouldn't any fauna that pollinated those flowers become infected and fly away from the ruin before succumbing to the parasite?

'Once there was a girl who got so drunk one night she stuck her tongue down some guy's throat,' relays one character to another member of his group of friends, eager to stir up some bad memories for Amy (an initially fragile performance from Jena Malone). Therein lies the first dilemma for this bunch of pretty boyfriends and girlfriends who, whilst holidaying in Mexico, allow themselves to be talked into investigating some ruins by fellow tourist, German Mathius (Joe Anderson). Although the friends are fairly appealing, their typical perfect-teen dramas in paradise are far from enthralling.But stick with it. As is often the way, when the poor blighters begin to suffer – and when they do, your heart genuinely goes out to them – then things become a lot more interesting. Of course, you wouldn't expect their obligatory cell phones to work deep within Mayan territory. And, unless you have read the novel on which this is based, you almost certainly wouldn't expect the antagonists to be malignant vines that grow throughout the temple's architecture. These spitefully lethal tendrils are a terrific surprise and a welcome break from sleek-jawed vampires and ubiquitous zombies who have for years made their presence felt in cinema. It is the way they are realised and what they do that makes them horrific – crawling over sleeping bodies during the night, entering the various wounds the youngsters have picked up and flourishing under their skin. They emulate sounds, their flower-heads singing like birds, simulating the chirping of a distant phone signal or, even more cruelly, copying the shrill cries of human distress: mimicking, even mocking the group they are infiltrating.'Four Americans on a vacation don't just disappear,' says Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) optimistically and with conviction. Whether his is right or not is a spoiler I'm not going to reveal. Infection, amputation, possession – it's all here. Recommended.

Scott B. Smith, writer of "A Simple Plan" (the novel and the 1998 movie), also wrote the 2008 novel & film "The Ruins," which is about two college couples vacationing in Mexico who hook up with a German and visit an unknown Mayan pyramid off the beaten track. They are terrorized when local Natives surround the pyramid with deadly weapons, refusing to permit them to leave, and more horrified by the reason why!"The Ruins" refuses to make the mistake of too many conventional horror flicks by not going over-the-top with the situation, the "monster" or the horror/thrills, which makes these films more goofy than horrifying. For instance, take the ending of "The Ruins" (which is different than the book and, in my opinion, better): In a typical horror movie there would've been a wild (i.e. thrilling but totally unbelievable) vehicle pursuit by the Mayan descendants; not here. It's the BELIEVABILITY of "The Ruins" that makes it effective, which is reinforced by the notable acting of the five protagonists.Speaking of which, I don't normally notice acting performances, but I found the acting stellar by the main protagonists – Jonathan Tucker as Jeff, Laura Ramsey as Stacy, Jena Malone as Amy, Shawn Ashmore as Eric and Joe Anderson as Mathias, the German. The two girls and Tucker (Jeff) especially stand out.I found these protagonists likable and fairly fleshed-out for a 90-minute horror flick. For one, they're not the typical frat trash you see in so many horror movies. Secondly, we see signs of character again and again, which I detail below.Some complain that the non-human antagonists are decidedly un-scary, but that's one of the main points of the movie. Like 1963's "The Birds," it takes something we see every day and are NOT scared of and turns them into a source of horror.One memorable scene is when Stacy and Amy are in the dark bowels of the pyramid searching for a cell phone they keep hearing. What they discover is equal parts shocking, surreal and amazing. More on this below. Another memorable sequence is when Jeff & Eric are forced to perform a gruesome operation. The ending is also well-done and suspenseful.While the story takes place on the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, it was surprisingly shot at Gold Coast and Tamborine Mountain, Australia, just south of Brisbane, which is on the East coast. In any case, the locations are spectacular.BOTTOM LINE: "The Ruins" really surprised me in light of the inexplicable mediocre ratings and incessant panning. It's an adventure story mixed with psychological horror utilizing something common and un-scary as the "monster." It features quality gore, excellent locations & props, top-of-the-line performances and quality filmmaking in general. Plus it takes advantage of the presence of Laura Ramsey and eschews the overdone cartoony-ness of too many horror flicks, which are more funny than creepy or horrifying. In other words, "The Ruins" delivers the goods.The theatrical version runs 90 minutes and the unrated version 93 minutes. I viewed the latter.GRADE: B+ or A- ***SPOILER ALERT*** (Don't read further unless you've seen the film) The plants that live on the pyramid and what they are able to do spur a fascinating point: The animal kingdom spans the spectrum of worms to human beings. What about plant life? The plants at the Mayan ruins are obviously from the higher-developed end of the plant kingdom – they work as a team to obtain sustenance and are able to mimic sounds, like human voices and the ringtone of a cell phone, etc.I've heard complaints about how the protagonists constantly make the wrong decisions. Answer: The foursome had befriended Mathias and therefore trusted him. They wanted to experience some Mayan history off the beaten track. When the Natives suddenly arrive on the scene and brutally shoot one of their members in the head the only place for them to safely flee is the pyramid. At that point they're stranded because the Natives have the ruins surrounded. How is any of this a wrong decision? Besides, show me a list of the most popular horror flicks and I'll be able to cite way more ridiculous decisions by the protagonists than seen in "The Ruins." Someone complained that the youths never attempt to escape the pyramid until it is basically too late, which supposedly defies logic. Answer: They're only on the pyramid for two nights and were waiting for help to arrive. Their only other recourse was to make a run for the jungle, which was impossible because the pyramid was surrounded by Natives with deadly weapons who already proved they would kill without mercy anyone infected by the plants. As such, the most logical thing to do was to wait for help and only make a run for it (to the jungle) if they absolutely had to, which is what happens. Sounds logical to me.I've heard the criticism that the protagonists are imbeciles with little character development. I found them likable, as noted above, and there are numerous examples of character: They desire to experience the culture of the area and not just utilize their exotic vacation to party, like the average one-dimensional spring-breakers. Also, they refuse to leave Mathias for dead in the pyramid and the girls risk going down the same dubious rope that resulted in his fall. Moreover, Jeff insists on performing the gruesome task of cutting off Mathias' legs and Eric agrees to help even while the primitive operation causes him to vomit. Lastly, Jeff willingly sacrifices himself so that Amy has a chance to escape and she makes a bold dash for freedom. All this sounds like character to me.Needless to say, the criticisms leveled at the film are mostly invalid or easily explained.

Well, the last horror movies that I have recently seen proved to be really bad, and I couldn't remember the last time I enjoyed watching one of them. "The Ruins" is what made me believe in the genre again. The story is very surprising, avoiding the genre's clichés for most of the time. For instance, the awkward introduce between the four friends and the German guy would mean, in most films out there, that the German guy is going to lure them into some real trouble-- "A Perfect Getaway", "House of Wax" and "Ghost Ship" are classic examples of this. However, once they get in the ruins' ambient, we discover that there is no bad guy in their group. They're just a bunch of adventurers who try something new and end up fighting against their worst fears. The actors involved in this project are very professional, and it feels hard not to feel their pain, since there is a lot of panic in this story, and the actors portray it with their hearts. Overall and photography directing are also well executed, delivering beautiful scenes in the beginning-- and horrifying scenes in the ending. Furthermore, the people that portrayed the natives were very well chosen, and another reason why this movie feels so real. All in all, "The Ruins" is a GREAT unknown project that deserves a better rating, and it's surely a surprise for those who expect it to be another clichéd and campy teen movie.