The Ruins (C or 2/4 stars)
A carefree Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when a group of friends encounter an 'evil' that lurks in the jungle in 'The Ruins', directed by Carter Smith. Trapped atop an overgrown temple, the movie becomes a 'survival of the fittest' test for these unfortunate 20-somethings. Facing the inevitability of their own deaths, we bear witness to their spiraling descent into madness. The 1st 15-20 min. or so is far more developed & involving than your usual horror film fare. But after that, it segues into a standard gore fest. And Its neither gross nor scary enough for me to elevate it to 'thumbs up' status.
The film opens by us meeting 4 college friends on Spring Break in Mexico: Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), his girlfriend, Amy (Jena Malone), her best friend, Stacy (Laura Ramsey, funny enough, from another spring break movie, The Real Cancun), and her boyfriend, Eric (Shawn Ashmore). While lounging poolside, they meet Mathias (Joe Anderson, of Across the Universe), a German who invites them on an adventurous expedition to a hidden pyramid in the jungle. All are for it, except for Amy. In fact, after a fun night of heavy drinking (and an ensuing hangover), her attendance with the group the next morning is on even shakier ground. Still, she agrees to go, and all seem pretty revved up for the journey into the jungle.
After a taxi ride dumps them in the middle of nowhere, the foursome (plus Mathias & a Greek dude) take a lengthy hike; and they unfortunately find the temple in question. Once there, they're confronted by some Mayan men with guns and bow & arrows. It's made fairly clear that our protagonists will be killed if they try to leave the sacred grounds. Situations arise where the victims become trapped atop the overgrown ruins. With vines that produce neither food nor water, their burgeoning hysteria gets the better of them as day by day by day wears on. And it's not only hysteria that gets them ... there's something lurking in the vines.
The film gets several things right. As mentioned, I really liked the standard 'getting to know the situation/characters' because it WASN'T standard. Even before the horrors start, we understand who these people are, where their allegiances lie, and it's harder to figure out whose fate is more susceptible than others. I enjoyed the claustrophobic feeling I got when watching certain segments (down a deep well, atop the temple). The stakes are just a little bit higher here than in your normally idiotic slasher fare. And while there IS gore in 'The Ruins', the main source of horror comes from inside the characters' brains. Non-horror fans can swallow this film because tension takes precedent over superfluous amounts of gore. And horror fans know that the material here is based from a best-selling novel.
That said, I don't think the actors are directed appropriately given their dire situation. A large part of the novel consists of these characters going unequivocally mad from starvation & fear of the unknown. Various characters freak out, yell, scream ... but they don't appear desperate to me; not for food, not for survival. And being that the film is so short, that makes it harder for us to witness the evolution of fear that the book apparently attains. After a promising start, the characters' initial personalities disappear into merely functional horror film puppets. The plot layout becomes more & more obvious as the movie goes on. And aside from some interesting, but brief moments of terror on the temple, I wasn't as scared or 'put through the ringer' as I ought to have been.
The film opens by us meeting 4 college friends on Spring Break in Mexico: Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), his girlfriend, Amy (Jena Malone), her best friend, Stacy (Laura Ramsey, funny enough, from another spring break movie, The Real Cancun), and her boyfriend, Eric (Shawn Ashmore). While lounging poolside, they meet Mathias (Joe Anderson, of Across the Universe), a German who invites them on an adventurous expedition to a hidden pyramid in the jungle. All are for it, except for Amy. In fact, after a fun night of heavy drinking (and an ensuing hangover), her attendance with the group the next morning is on even shakier ground. Still, she agrees to go, and all seem pretty revved up for the journey into the jungle.
After a taxi ride dumps them in the middle of nowhere, the foursome (plus Mathias & a Greek dude) take a lengthy hike; and they unfortunately find the temple in question. Once there, they're confronted by some Mayan men with guns and bow & arrows. It's made fairly clear that our protagonists will be killed if they try to leave the sacred grounds. Situations arise where the victims become trapped atop the overgrown ruins. With vines that produce neither food nor water, their burgeoning hysteria gets the better of them as day by day by day wears on. And it's not only hysteria that gets them ... there's something lurking in the vines.
The film gets several things right. As mentioned, I really liked the standard 'getting to know the situation/characters' because it WASN'T standard. Even before the horrors start, we understand who these people are, where their allegiances lie, and it's harder to figure out whose fate is more susceptible than others. I enjoyed the claustrophobic feeling I got when watching certain segments (down a deep well, atop the temple). The stakes are just a little bit higher here than in your normally idiotic slasher fare. And while there IS gore in 'The Ruins', the main source of horror comes from inside the characters' brains. Non-horror fans can swallow this film because tension takes precedent over superfluous amounts of gore. And horror fans know that the material here is based from a best-selling novel.
That said, I don't think the actors are directed appropriately given their dire situation. A large part of the novel consists of these characters going unequivocally mad from starvation & fear of the unknown. Various characters freak out, yell, scream ... but they don't appear desperate to me; not for food, not for survival. And being that the film is so short, that makes it harder for us to witness the evolution of fear that the book apparently attains. After a promising start, the characters' initial personalities disappear into merely functional horror film puppets. The plot layout becomes more & more obvious as the movie goes on. And aside from some interesting, but brief moments of terror on the temple, I wasn't as scared or 'put through the ringer' as I ought to have been.