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The Ruins (2008)

Director: Carter Smith

Time Out rating

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3 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

‘So, what do you guys think: ancient Mayan temple off the beaten path?’ Anyone who’s read ‘The Beach’ or seen ‘Turistas’, in which backpackers visit places that aren’t in the guide books, knows these are fateful words. Blissfully unaware of this, best friends Amy (Jena Malone) and Stacy (Laura Ramsey), and their respective boyfriends Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) and Eric (Shawn Ashmore), trek through the jungle to some remote ruins on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

The foursome’s rough guides are German tourist Matias (Joe Anderson) and his Greek friend Dimitri, the former of whom has a copy of an old map – never a good sign – and is searching for his missing brother. As soon as they arrive at the ruins, which are wreathed in creeping vines, the temple is surrounded by hostile locals, who set up camp and won’t let them leave. What the kids don’t yet know is that the vines are the real threat; but pretty soon the plants’ invasive tendrils get under their skin.

While it’s hard to take entirely seriously a film in which the vibrating stamens of red vine flowers are able to mimic the sound of a mobile phone, it must be said scriptwriter Scott Smith’s adaptation of his own novel plays the ‘survival’ and ‘body’ horror absolutely straight. The crude amputations, bodily invasions and feverish flesh-slicing turn one’s stomach, but there’s a more insidious psychological horror that eats into one’s mind. Director Carter Smith, whose flesh-crawling short film ‘Bugcrush’ established his own ‘body horror’ credentials, also taps into the paranoia and disintegrating group dynamics found in Eli Roth’s flesh-eating virus movie, ‘Cabin Fever’.

Author: Nigel Floyd

Time Out London Issue 1974, June 18-25, 2008

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User reviews of this film

Rika said...

Posted on Aug 06 2010 09:00 I don't understand why the Mayan villagers did not let them go back. What is the relationship between ruin and the Mayan villagers? without the explanation for this film becomes quite ludicrous.

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Godfrey Hamilton said...

Posted on Jul 05 2009 08:33 For some reason I find it remarkably depressing when a song over the closing credits rhymes 'phenomena' with 'astronomer', which normally would be OK except that the lyricist, who shall remain nameless, thinks that 'phenomena' is singular. That sort of inarticulacy sums up this dire film,which apart from a wince-making amputation sequence is very unengaging as horror/supense. Most annoying is the portrayal of the women/girls, alternately dithery and hysterical, emboldened and decisive then back to dithery little girlies again. In other words, the sexual politics of the film, usually a fascinating undercurrent in (intelligent) horror, are of the more adolescent hetero male variety; we get to ogle Ramsey in the altogether, but after a presumably passionate night together, why does she rise naked from their bed while hunky, cute boyfriend Shawn Ashmore remains chastely snug in boxer briefs, and fully dressed throughout the picture while Ramsey continues to totter and lurch around in her knickers? Odd, considering that director Smith made the eerie, grotesque and compelling gay allegory 'Bugcrush'.

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critique said...

Posted on Jun 24 2008 21:36 Silly, bloody, occasionally scary "horror", competently presented.

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