The Ruins (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray]
The Ruins (Unrated Edition) [Blu-ray]
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 07/08/2008 Run time: 93 minutes Rating: UrWhether you consider plants a source of terror or not will ultimately determine how you feel about the grisly horror movie The Ruins, but director Carter Smith and his cast and crew certainly give their all in bringing the chills of Scott Smith’s novel to the big screen. Jena Malone (Saved) and Shawn Ashmore (the X-Men franchise) are the name actors in a pair of American couples down Mexico way who are ambushed by hostile Mayans and forced to the top of an ancient temple, where a monstrous and diabolically clever entity awaits them. Director Smith and his talented crew (which includes cinematographer Darius Khondji of Se7en fame and composer Graeme Revell) create a visually impressive spookshow but can’t quite deliver genuine suspense (gore, however, is handled capably), and Scott Smith’s script boils away much of the character development and mounting terror in his book, which also strands the likeable cast. The movie’s monster, so alarming and imaginative in the original novel, is likely to provoke as many laughs as screams from filmgoers, especially when it reveals its unique talent. — Paul Gaita
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars With Multiple Viewings, This One Might Grow On You
I’ll admit that when I first saw the trailer for “The Ruins” in theaters, I was pretty interested in seeing it. Once in finally came out, however, I decided that it looked more like a DVD rental. In my opinion, I was correct.
The film begins with a young lady in a dark room crying for help. As usual, she can’t get a signal on her cellphone and she is eventually pulled into the darkness screaming all the way. From there, the film introduces us to four of the primary players in the film. Amy (Jena Malone), Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Stacy (Laura Ramsey) are on the last leg of their vacation in Mexico. They end up meeting and befriending Mathias (Joe Anderson), a fellow traveller who’s looking for someone to join him on an excursion to find his brother who happens to be working on a dig at a mysterious Mayan pyramid.
Despite Amy’s resistance, the group (including another traveller, Dmitri) head off to look for Mathias’ brother. What they find is a hesitant taxi driver who only agrees to drive them for most of their journey after being given a heavy tip. When the driver goes as far as he feels safe enough to travel, he drops them off in the jungle. The group hoofs it to the pyramid and quickly find themselves surrounded by a jumpy group of natives who are packing pistols, bows and arrows.
Despite trying to tell the natives why they are there, the group is shot at and forced up to the top of the pyramid for reasons I don’t want to reveal (and aren’t clear until later in the film). At this point, the story becomes a tale of survival and emotional anguish, both of which are fueled by the unique enemy that awaits them in the pyramid.
This film is based on a novel of the same name by Scott Smith. Having not read that book, I cannot honestly say how closely the film follows the original story.
What I can tell you is that this movie manages to give the viewer a relatively decent group of heroes to pull for. This is a nice twist for horror films that feature young college-aged characters. Most of the time, I’m happy to watch the bad guys off characters since most of them are unlikeable in the first place. While one character does receive enough attention to make it rather easy to determine who survives, there’s a genuine sorrow in seeing some of the characters meet their demise in this film.
The film isn’t all that scary, but does offer up a nice helping of gore. The CGI is a bit heavy in certain parts of the film, making it a hard to accept what is happening on the screen. There’s also a brief bit of nudity and some suggestive content, but nothing as excessive as most films in this genre contain.
Overall, the film shoots itself in the foot by having all of the action limited to one area. While this works well in other films, the enemy in this film’s limited range hinders the story’s overall pacing. I can easily see how this would work much better in book form, where character and creature development can be fleshed out, but the constraints of film keep this movie from being anything more than a three star flick.
Recommended to fans of gore, creature features and films that feature a decent bit of suspense. I wouldn’t necessarily call this film a keeper, but it is worth at least a couple of viewings.
2 Stars Not What I Expected!!!
Seriously, I didn’t know if this was going to be a slasher, or with a supernatural. It turns out, it has possessed plants dragging people and getting beneath their skin. Whenever they have to cut the plants out of people, it was pretty gory and nerve-wracking! I wouldn’t recommend THE RUINS!!!
2 Stars Yum yum eat ‘em up
A bunch of just of age kids locate a missing ruins in Mexico (really Australia). Of course, they are compelled to go and have a good time in the jungle. They run into strange armed people and have a symbiosis with the local flora.
This is a standard spooky “eat them sexy dump girls” movie. So why not at least three stars for a mediocre display of blood and gore? Because there is no effort to mask the story or add, any depth to this ridicules premise.
The added German accent was a nice touch and sticking close to the book helped but this is one novel that just does not morph well to a movie.
This film of course is a good candidate for Blu-ray as it has great color, detail, and sound. Too bad, it is wasted on a movie that is a cheap knockoff of people that need to be eaten.
Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Bloodlust
The Day of the Triffids
5 Stars When a movie DOESN’T waste your time
Pleasantly surprised. That’s how I felt. When it came to the cinema I had no interest in seeing a film about killer plants. But based on a friend’s recommendation I picked the Ruins up as a rental.
Super-tight film, with good young actors and plenty of suspense and all the other key words one wants to hear in relation to watching good horror.
4 Stars Creeping horror, literally and figuratively!
I can see why this wasn’t a huge hit but still, it was a movie worth watching if you like the horror genre. Other than a pretty weak beginning, the rest of the movie quickly picked up and delivered solid entertainment. Compared to recent movies such as Hostel, Saw and Prom Night, none of them had as much going for as The Ruins - a whole lot of well acted scenes, clever plot devices, an interesting enemy, and higher production values. The fact that it was shot on location and not in a studio helped tremendously in pulling the viewers into the story. There are some gruesome scenes but they’re all part of the creeping terror that this movie is able to convey in broad daylight! Check it out.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews