The Ruins (film)

The Ruins
Promotional poster
Directed by	Carter Smith
Written by	Scott Smith
Produced by	Chris Bender Spyglass Entertainment
Starring	Jonathan Tucker Jena Malone Shawn Ashmore Laura Ramsey Joe Anderson
Cinematography	Darius Khondji
Edited by	Jeff Betancourt
Distributed by	USA DreamWorks Pictures. Australia Paramount
Release date	April 4 2008. In Australia July 31 2008
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English
Budget	$10-20 million

The Ruins is a 2008 horror film directed by Carter Smith and starring Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone and Joe Anderson. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Scott Smith, who wrote the screenplay for his own novel.

Plot

Two American couples (Jeff & Amy; Eric & Stacy) decide to help a new-found German friend, Mathias, look for his brother Henrich, who has supposedly joined an archaeological dig. "Dimitri," one of a group of Greek travelers, goes as well. The other Greeks say they may follow later. Following a crude map that Henrich drew for Mathias, the group makes its way to a location 11 miles outside of Coba. The taxi driver who has brought them the last step of the way tells them their destination is a "bad place," but they continue on.

Soon the group stumbles upon a a river where they encounter two children, both of whom ignore the gourp. The group finally finds a path to the ruins, though someone has tried to conceal it. Following the path, they find a clearing, beyond which is a ancient looking temple covered in vines and red flowers. A villager suddenly appears on horseback, armed with a pistol. He wants them to leave, but other villagers, armed with bows and arrows, soon appear and the Mayans begin to argue among themselves. Panicing, Mathias shows the first villager his phone with the picture of his brother. The villagers take it and begin bickering some more. Amy, trying to take a picture of the scene, backs up to get a better shot and mistakenly steps into the vines. After this happens, the Mayans change their behavior and will no longer let the tourists leave. Then Dimitri takes the camera from Amy and displays it to the villagers to show them it's harmless. But they continue to scream and urge them up the temple. Nobody understands and Dimitri recieves an arrow to his right chest, followed by a bullet to the left nostril. The group panics.

With no other option, the tourists head up the hill, where they find a small, abandoned camp. They find a mineshaft with a windlass and rope and hear what sounds like a cellphone ringing at the bottom of the shaft. Thinking they may be able to call for help, the group tries to recover it. While Mathias is being lowered into the shaft, the rope breaks, Mathias falls and is paralyzed. After the rope is repaired, Stacy is lowered down. She cuts her knee on broken glass, but finds Mathias, whose back is broken. The group rigs a backboard and is able to lift Mathias out.

Jeff finds that the Mayans have ringed the hill with bonfires and armed men, and seem to be simply waiting. During the night, Stacy finds that a tendril of the vine has crept into her wound. They remove it, but Stacy becomes obsessed with the idea that the plant is growing inside her. Later, Jeff checks on Mathias and finds that the vines have wrapped themselves around Mathias' lower legs and have eaten into them, down to the bone. Later, the cellphone is heard again, and Stacy and Amy again try to find it. Amy rushes toward the sound but is stopped by Stacy, who realizes that the sound is coming from the vines' flowers. They see that the vines appeared to be leading them toward a steep drop, at the bottom of which are many bones. The vines start moving and start chasing after Amy and Stacy. They make it out, panicking.

Jeff decides to amputate Mathias' legs, and he and Eric do so. Stacy has vines growing inside her and she shows the group. Jeff cuts at the wounds and takes out the vines. Stacy gets paranoid and just wants to cut herself to get out the vines but Jeff doesn't allow it. So they give Stacy a drink and it shows that the vines are in her head to. While the others sleep, Stacy cuts herself and gets the vines out and Jeff tries to help but Stacy slashes his hand with the knife (making him infected). Stacy continues cutting and Eric goes to grab the knife, but Stacy stabs him, ultimately killing him. Then the vines come out to grab him. Jeff takes the knife from Erics' body and kills Stacy.

Jeff makes a plan to cause a distraction while Amy makes a run for it. He does it and gets killed by arrows while Amy runs away with the Mayans chasing her. She makes it to the car and starts it and safely drives away, making her the only one to live out of the group.

Later, the Greeks arrive looking for Dimitri. They walk across the clearing and towards the hill, presumably to suffer the same fate as the others.

Cast

• Jonathan Tucker as Jeff
• Jena Malone as Amy
• Shawn Ashmore as Eric
• Laura Ramsey as Stacy
• Joe Anderson as Mathias
• Dimitri Baveas as Dimitri
• Sergio Calderon as Lead Mayan

Production

Filming in Australia completed on February 7, 2008, and the film was released April 4, 2008.

Release and Box Office

The Ruins was released in the US on April 4 2008 and In Australia it will be released on July 31 2008. In the US box office it debuted at #5 making $8,003,421. After 3 weeks it exited making $16,669,000.

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. As of April 10, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 40% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 55 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 13 reviews.

Among critics who gave the film favorable reviews, James Berardinelli gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "The Ruins does what a good psychological horror movie should do: rely on tension rather than gore to achieve its aims. This bleak, edgy motion picture isn't concerned with appealing to the masses that flock to multiplexes to enjoy the spatterings of the latest serial slasher or the hollow weirdness of a PG-13 ghost story."

Audiences gave the film mixed-to-positive reviews, with a 66% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes among audiences as of April 4, 2008. As of April 28, 2008, The Ruins has grossed over $19 Million.

External links

• Official site
• The Ruins at IMDb
• The Ruins at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Ruins at Metacritic
• The Ruins at Box Office Mojo
• Template:Amg movie
• Human Lab Rat (Viral marketing Justin.tv channel).
• Critical analysis of the film by Critical-Film.com reviewer Jason Pitt