The Ruins (2008)

Acting:		Partying:		Girls:
Blood:		Language:		Gore:
Violence:		Humor:		Sexuality:
Torture:		Predictability:		Overall:

I was quite pleased to hear that Scott Smith was scheduled to construct a screenplay for his modern day classic horror novel, The Ruins. The man certainly knows how to write of the most dreadful of circumstances while completely turning his readers inside out from tension, mixed with his unique ability to have every one of his pages (let it be from a script or novel) turn into fiber thin pieces of dreary lead. The pages of A Simple Plan do not turn easily and each frame of the film, known by its same title, is at times equally hard to see through to an end. I expected to acquire the same feelings before I sat down with a tub (literally) of popcorn to watch The Ruins, and even though I knew the two films were much different from one another, I was still prepping myself for a very quiet night to follow.

Sadly, I'm about so sum up the plot of this film like I would with any recent American horror film. A bunch of teenagers are on vacation, they go where they shouldn't go, don't take the right precautions, and then they die. The men are hunks, the girls are cute, the natives aren't friendly and sometimes...they'll even try and kill you! It's tiresome to say the least, but for the benefit of the doubt, I still wanted to know if The Ruins could add something unique to a scenario that has already been done, and even parodied, since the day American filmmakers decided to abandon the classic haunted house tale and send a bunch of horny hippies on a doomed vacation. Again, sadly, after the first five minutes of the film, you'll be able to tell that it's the same old recycled plot. All I can say is that....you guessed it...the book is better!

While the plot of the film adds nothing new to its genre, The Ruins still manages to shine through with its strong script (of course), gorgeous cinematography, and again, an uncompromisable feeling of dread that rests steadily across every frame of the film. Our small group of characters are stuck in a situation that has a zero perceivable chance for positive outcome. They are trapped on a small but horribly cursed Mayan temple. The temple has vines growing throughout it, inside and out. The vines also happen to be flesh eating plants that are, in some ...

continue reading...