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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by archaeology—and I’ve always dreamed of visiting the pyramids in Egypt and the Mayan ruins in Mexico. But after seeing The Ruins, I think it might be safer just to stick with my History Channel documentaries.
Based on the book by Scott B. Smith (who also wrote the screenplay), The Ruins follows four American college students on vacation in Mexico. After spending their entire vacation drinking tequila and sitting by the pool, pre-med student Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) convinces his girlfriend, Amy (Jena Malone), and their friends, Stacy and Eric (Laura Ramsey and Shawn Ashmore), to visit some secret Mayan ruins with their new German friend, Mathias (Joe Anderson).
Mathias is heading to the ruins to join his brother, who left with an archaeologist a couple of days earlier. But when they finally make their way through the jungle and arrive at the site, Mathias’s brother is nowhere to be found. As they explore, they soon discover that there’s something evil within the ruins—but there’s also a group of heavily-armed natives who won’t let them leave. So their only chance for survival is to wait for someone to come looking for them.
I’ll admit that, going into The Ruins, I had some pretty unreasonable expectations. You see, while I haven’t actually read the novel, some of my colleagues have been talking about it practically non-stop since we first heard that the movie was in the works. So after months of listening to the hype, I was pretty much expecting The Ruins to be the Greatest Thriller Ever Made. As a (perfectly understandable) result, it didn’t live up to my elevated expectations. I did, however, spend most of the movie curled up in the fetal position, peering through the gaps between my fingers—so I think it’s safe to say that, as far as scary movies go, The Ruins is pretty effective.
After a quick hint of what’s to come, The Ruins builds slowly, taking some time to develop the characters a bit. For the most part, they’re pretty typical horror movie types—young and shallow and irresponsible—except for Jeff, the smart, level-headed one (who, ironically enough, is also the one who gets them into this whole mess). But as the story builds, the suspense gets heavier and heavier. And whether or not you already know the ruins’ secrets, you’ll find the build-up chilling.
Once the real action begins, though, The Ruins is an intense and disturbingly gruesome adventure. The horrors are supernatural and psychological as well as physical—and while you’ll cringe at the horrors shown on-screen, even more horrifying is the way it gets into the characters’ heads.
Though the story isn’t completely original—and quite a bit of it works within the standard horror formulas—The Ruins is a gripping and tense thriller. It might make you think twice about visiting ancient ruins…or taking a walk in the woods…or falling asleep. And while it may not have lived up to my ridiculously high expectations, I’ll admit that I left the theater with my muscles aching from the tension. And that’s good enough for me.
DVD Review:
Though it’s been months since The Ruins hit theaters, the thought of the movie still makes me shudder just a little bit. I must be a glutton for punishment, though—because, despite the slight case of post-traumatic stress that the movie seems to have caused me, I subjected myself to the DVD anyway. And it turns out that The Ruins is so gruesome that while I made my way through features that showed how the effects were done, I still found myself closing my eyes to shield myself from the [fake] gore.
The unrated DVD includes a number of cringe-inducing features—like Creeping Death, which shows how the crew worked to make the prosthetics and other effects look shockingly real. There are also a couple of additional making-of features, as well as an insightful commentary with first-time director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt and a handful of deleted scenes—including all kinds of different endings.
For those who like to be creeped out, this psychologically horrifying film delivers. And for those who, after watching the movie, need to see how it was all done in order to calm their nerves a bit, the DVD’s blood-soaked yet enlightening features should help.
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