Movie Review: The Ruins (2008)

Jeff, Amy, Stacy and Eric are American holidymakers sunning themselves in Mexico.  They meet a German guy, Mathias, and soon become friends and enjoy a party on the beach with him and his three greek friends on the beach that night.  Mathias reveals that he's also enjoying fun in the sun in Mexico but will be trekking out to some old ruins the next day to visit his brother and his girlfriend.  According to Mathias, they went to the ruins afew days ago to do some kind of achaeological dig.  Mathias thinks it would be a good idea if his new American friends, and his fellow Greek friends, would like to come along, they all agree to it and the next day, they get a taxi and embark on a visit they soon live to regret.

Arriving at the ruins, which is shaped like a pyramid without the pointy top, they are soon approached by a Mexican who speaks no english or spanish and is very aggressive with them.  Holding a gun and shouting to them all, Jeff tries to offer the man some money but he doesn't accept, all he does is shout in a foreign language and point towards the ruins.  When the Greek, Dimitri, approaches the Mexican man, he gets shot through the head leaving the Americans and the German running towards and up the ruins to take cover.

You ask yourself, why did the Mexican man get so aggressive?  Why did he kill Dimitri?  What's wrong with the ruins?

I walked into this film thinking it was going to be the same old stuff I had seen before.  It all sounded so cliché - group of friends go off backpacking/touring in another country and become lost or stuck and realise they are not the only person/thing with them.  They soon get picked off one by one and are left fighting for their lives - I'm sure we've all seen a film described as that before, so I was expecting this film to live up to the predictable story I thought it would be.  Fortunately, this film turned out to be something a little different.  When you read the synopsis of this film, you automatically think that the group of tourists are going to find themselves coming face to face with some inbred, violent, murderer or a man eating creature.  However, what you don't expect them to come across are man eating plants!  Yes, man eating plants!  Please continue reading, it's not as silly as it sounds.

We soon find out that these ruins are bad.  They must be cursed or something similar and it surely must explain why the Mexican man they met at the beginning, was so off-hand with the tourists.  It takes a little while for this film to get going, but once it does, it's brilliant.  It all really begins when Mathias has an accident that is completely life threatening and Stacy injures her leg whilst trying to help him.  It becomes more and more obvious that the longer you spend on these ruins, the more the plants start to live on you.  I would explain more but I really do not want to spoil this for you.  As I am typing my review of this film, I am starting to feel really icky, just like I did when I was watching it.  It made my hairs stand on end and I was left with wide eyes and a jaw to be picked up from off the floor.  This truly is a really different type of horror film - gone are the days when a man in a mask was fearful - looks like plants and shrubs are the way to go!

I know this sounds really ridiculous and to be honest, if i'd have known that it was plants that left these tourists fighting for their lives, I probably wouldn't have watched it, but I am so thankful that I did.  This film does have it's fair share of blood and gore that left me squinting and squeezing my boyfriends knee.  The acting in this film is also very good.  Usually, films like this have young, pouty posers as it's main cast, but luckily, the cast in this film are not just there for eye candy, they can act and they're not scared to actually show fear and emotion.

In my opinion, this film is very well done and the gore and special effects look brilliant.  It's not overly predictable but the best part about this film is that it's different.  Trust me, this is definitley worth watching and I highly recommend you rent/buy this.

Cast
Jonathan Tucker -as- Jeff
Jena Malone -as- Amy
Laura Ramsey -as- Stacy
Shawn Ashmore -as- Eric
Joe Anderson -as- Mathias
Duration
91 minutes
Rating
UK-18
Release Date
UK - October 2008
USA - July 2008
Extra Information
Based on the book by Scott Smith