The ruins is a horror film that was released in 2008, directed by Carter Smith and starring Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey and Joe Anderson. The book was originally based on a Novel that was written by Scott Smith. I had the pleasure of watching this film, last week, and I was one of mixed feelings. At times this film was brilliant, a fresh new plot, which didn't have any ghosts, or villains, but at times it was hard to pick up the film, in the sense that there were moments were the film slowed down. A great horror film should be one that has a constant flow to it, one that constantly keeps you on the edge of your seat.
Plot:
So the film starts of in a dark cold place, the viewers see a woman, who is trapped in a dark dungeon type area, one that looks more like a well, or a cave. She tries to call for help, but with no success, she has her phone with her but she can't seem to pick up a signal, then suddenly she is dragged away into the dark by a mysterious force, that we can't see,
I guess this is to add a great suspense and a greater build-up. So we fast forward now to a scene that is of a different nature, Two young American couples (Jeff and Amy, and Eric and Stacy) are on a holiday in Mexico, sitting by the pool, they soon realize that they want to do something exciting and different on their last days in Mexico. They soon befriend a young man by the name of Mathias a German tourist. Mathias lets the others no that his brother Heinrich and his girlfriend went to visit an unmapped destination in Mexico; he has not heard anything from him in days and wants to locate him. The group decides to join him; this is the chance they get to visit somewhere new and to do something out of the norm. The young German makes a copy of the map and leaves it with his friends just in case they go missing, smart move mate.
The groups arrives at this location, and soon see an Aztec type pyramid, it's an extremely breathtaking view and something that will live in their hearts forever. They make their way to the top; the group soon fined an empty tent, which belongs to Heinrich. His brother soon locates his body, and the group soon decides that they should leave the pyramid. Upon making their way down, the group meet the local residents, who have guns, refusing them to come off the pyramid, having killed one of the members accompanying the group, the others have no alternative but to go back up the pyramid and wait for rescue. The German decides to go down the well, but falls after a rope breaks. The group soon have to rescue him and ring him back to the top, with broken legs and an infection, it seems he is not going anywhere at the moment. The next day things take a drastic turn, when the Germans legs are covered in vines, which must have come from the plant, they seem to be eating away at his body, and the group soon realizes why the locals want to keep them away from them. One by one, the group starts to become infected, and the story follows their journey for survival. Can anyone get off this ancient pyramid and escape the locals, watch the film to find out.
The characters in this film are a mixture of people we may have seen in other films, it's not a big Hollywood cast, but they do a decent enough performance. The film for me is less about the individual characters and more about the man eating plants that live in the ruins. However it's clever watching how the idea of being stuck up their turns each one of them against one another.
For me the film had a unique plot, you get hundred of horror films coming out, this one focused less on serial killers and ghosts and more on man eating plants. The film was written and directed in a way in which it didn't seem cheesy or lame; it gave us a real compulsion to interact with the characters. The films main focus is on survival, and how can this group of friends survive, and more importantly will any of them get infected, or will any of them get of the pyramid safely. The film can be slow at times, which is perhaps the only downside to the film, but regardless of this you still want to watch it, to see what happens, who survives and so on. I would recommend this film to any of the readers of this review, it actually inspired me to read the novel, which I have just started and hop to finish soon.
Language English, Spanish, Mayan Budget $8 million Gross revenue $22,375,067 Directed by Carter Smith Produced by Ben Stiller (executive) Chris Bender Spyglass Entertainment Written by Novel & screenplay: Scott Smith Starring Jonathan Tucker Jena Malone Shawn Ashmore Laura Ramsey Joe Anderson
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 2003 - Horror - Director: Marcus Nispel - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jessica Biel, Jonathan Tucker, Erica Leerhsen, Mike Vogel, Eric Balfour, Andrew Bryniarski
Aug 18th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
