The Ruins

Horrorphile

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The Ruins

December 12th 2008 02:21

This silly, but rather enjoyable tale of nature turned very nasty has some high calibre talent attached to it, but it died a death at the US box office. The Ruins (2008) is directed by Carter Smith and based on the novel of the same name by Scott B. Smith, who also did the screenplay adaptation.

Amy (Jena Malone) and her best friend Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and their respective boyfriends Jeff (Jonathon Tucker) and Eric (Shawn Ashmore) are holidaying in Cancun, Mexico. They meet a German tourist, Mathias (Joe Anderson) and a Greek friend of his Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas). The six of them travel into the jungle to rendezvous with Mathias’s cousin Heinrich who has been romancing a Dutch archeologist and is visiting her at her dig, a Mayan temple.

The Ruins Joe Anderson, Dimitri Baveas, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone and Jonathon Tucker

Mathias (Joe Anderson), Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas), Stacy (Laura Ramsey), Eric (Shawn Ashmore), Amy (Jena Malone) and Jeff (Jonathon Tucker)

When they arrive at the temple, which is covered in vines with red flowers, they are suddenly confronted by Mayan locals who are armed and angry, but don’t speak English. The tourists don’t speak the dialect, and quickly the scene turns to tragedy when Dimitri is shot dead. The others escape by climbing to the top of the temple where they discover the abandoned campsite of Heinrich. There is a well and it is apparent Heinrich and the Dutch girl are down there somewhere as a mobile phone can be heard ringing from its dark depths. The Mayans surround the temple, the tourists are trapped.

Out of the frying pan ...

The movie opens with the archeologist (Israeli supermodel Bar Paly) at the bottom of the well desperately trying to reach someone on her mobile phone. She is terrified. Something yanks her into the darkness; killer vines!

... and into the fire

The Ruins has been described as Day of the Triffids (1962) meets Cabin Fever (2002), which is a fairly accurate comparison. The creeping vines are of the supernatural malevolent variety. The stamens in the red flowers vibrate and can mimic other sounds, such as the electronic ringing of a mobile phone for example. The temple has become a huge Venus flytrap, and the tourists are the flies who’ve smelt the sweet lure. The vines are carnivorous and ravenous.

Hey, those Mayan designs look good from this angle

The acting is well above average, especially Laura Ramsey (one to watch out for) who has a rapid mental breakdown. After cutting her leg badly when she is lowered into the well to try and rescue Mathias the vines can smell her blood and they are relentless. Later she awakes in the tent to disocover, much to her horror, that the vines have crept into her open leg wound! Even worse, the vines have eaten most of the flesh off Mathias’s legs! Jeff, being a med student, decides the only way he’ll survive is if they amputate both legs. Quick, fetch the tequila!

Bar Paly as the doomed archeologist

The Ruins is brisk (under 90 minutes), and features some excellent production design work from Grant Major, the brilliant Kiwi who worked on The Lord of the Rings series and the remake of King Kong (2005). The Mayan temple looks rather convincing. Apparently the entire movie was shot in Queensland. You can never tell these days where a movie has been made.

Cinematography is by one of my faves, Darius Khondji, and the special effects are impressive too, even if the whole idea of the vines with deadly attitude is just a little far-fetched. For the gorehounds there's spectacular head-shot, and the amputation sequence is gruesome and decidedly agonising; you really feel Mathias’s pain something chronic.

The Ruins Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore and Jonathon Tucker

When it rains it pours

The Ruins is a great rainy-day movie (I'm even tempted to dig out the novel). Watch it as a double feature with Turistas (2006) and you’ll probably think twice about travelling to an exotic jungle location in the near future.

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

13 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Damo

December 12th 2008 07:37

It looks like fun.

You won me over with The day of the Triffids but you are scaring me off with Cabin Fever,

Comment by Jason King

December 12th 2008 21:06

Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness

I remember when we got the original posters for this one we were so excited. Thn the trailer loked great and e wee thinking another great horror in The Descent vain and then US release BANG - all trailers and posters to br returned. BOO that. Is it out on DVD now?? I really want to see it. Cool review!

Comment by Bryn

December 13th 2008 00:45

Horrorphile

Damo ... Come back.

Jason, yeah out on DVD.

Comment by Drunk Rant

February 10th 2009 00:07

Not to long ago I was in the streets of south beach alone kinda looking for fun kinda not. When to my surprise two quite pretty girls approach me and just ask to hang out. At first of course I am up for that. we stop at a cafe' for some drinks, or in my case some More drinks. As the night goes on and it gets later I learn that they say they are on vacation from the Czech republic.... Now, I am thinking back to the fact that normally a guy approaches a girl not the other way around. I'm a descent looking guy but still this is not normal. Now all the horror movies I've seen start to creep in my mind Like, Turistas, The Ruins, and Hostel. What really starts to freak me out is when the girls tell me that one of them needs to go back to their room for something. As we walk down a dark alley way I start to actually get nervous. I tell the one that did not need to go that I don't feel comfortable. Can you believe this! Shes assures me there is nothing to be afraid of. Yet I actually refer to my viewing of too many horror movies and how I feel little like something bad is going to happen to me. Kinda funny now. But at the time I really did feel uncomfortable. Anyway, it was all good but then again I never did go up to the hotel room. If you want to know more about the night feel free to ask Drunk Rant.
The Drink of choice that night was Long island Ice Teas.

Comment by Bryn

February 10th 2009 00:42

Horrorphile

Drunk Rant, that's pretty amusing, I must say ... Did the girls find it amusing?

Comment by Drunk Rant

February 10th 2009 18:26

It was funny. I think it made me look pretty good. In a weak nice guy sorta way. The three of us did continue to hang out till late have fun even a late night swim. Never to hear from them again.

Comment by Bryn

February 10th 2009 22:14

Horrorphile

So you didn't swap numbers?

Comment by Craig D.

January 21st 2011 21:51

I know I'm in the minority -- although at least one critic agrees with me -- but I actually preferred the movie to the book. You're walking on eggshells when you present a concept like mobile, intelligent, killer vines with a straight face, and the plant in the book seems even more outlandish and hard to believe than it does in the movie, which tones down its abilities and makes it seem not so far removed from a Venus Flytrap. To quote the critic linked above: "In a sense, Smith reversed himself in between writing the book and writing the screenplay. He initially made the vines weird by diverging from nature, but in adapting The Ruins for film, he stuck closer to the weirdness of nature itself. I find the latter approach far more effective in the context of this story." There are also some good scenes in the movie that aren't in the book, like the death of Dimitri (called Pablo in the book) and Amy throwing a clump of the vine at the little boy and what the Mayans do to him when it touches him, which drives home the point of how dangerous the vine is. Finally, the movie's ending worked better for me, and unlike the 500-page (in paperback) novel, the 90-minute film never gets boring.

Comment by Bryn

January 23rd 2011 22:16

Horrorphile

I read the novel after the movie, and I really enjoyed both. I've been meaning to watch the movie again since reading the book. I don't read a lot of horror fiction, but The Ruins impressed me, I didn't find it boring, but on the contrary, very compelling and compulsive reading.

Comment by Craig D.

January 24th 2011 21:39

I certainly enjoyed the book, I just enjoyed the movie a bit more. I didn't find the book boring as a whole, but I did think it dragged in spots. And as I said, it's missing scenes from the film that I liked, and I preferred the less outlandish version of the plant seen in the movie. The book is definitely worth reading, if only because it towers over film in terms of characterization.

Comment by Bryn

January 25th 2011 00:51

Horrorphile

Craig, novels nearly always do tower over film in terms of characterisation (Stephen King being a prime example). I liked how cinematic the novel was in the way it read; very visual. Perhaps the book was a tad long, yes. I thought the movie was well cast. What did you think of the alternate ending of the movie (included as an extra with the DVD)

Comment by Craig D.

January 25th 2011 20:19

If I recall correctly, there are three endings on the DVD: Unrated, Theatrical, and Alternate. Of the three, the Unrated version is my favorite. Having Amy notice the vine growing in her preserves the hopelessness of the ending of the book better than the Theatrical ending, which simply has her driving away unharmed. I liked the concept of the third ending, the idea of the plant making its way to America, but I didn't think it had the same kick as the Unrated ending.