The Ruins (film)

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The Ruins

Promotional poster
Directed by Carter Smith
Produced by Chris Bender
Spyglass Entertainment
Written by Novel & screenplay:
Scott Smith
Starring Jonathan Tucker
Jena Malone
Shawn Ashmore
Laura Ramsey
Joe Anderson
Cinematography Darius Khondji
Editing by Jeff Betancourt
Distributed by USA DreamWorks Pictures. Australia Paramount[1]
Release date(s) April 4, 2008. In Australia July 31, 2008[2]
Country Australia
United States
Language English
Budget $10-20 million
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

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.

Contents

[edit] 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", and says the countless tourists he has brought there have never returned. The group, however, thinks the driver's warning to be a bribed ruse, in order to keep people away from the dig site. The six disembark from the taxi and begin the last stretch of the journey to the ruins on foot through rugged terrain.

Soon the group stumbles upon a a river where they encounter two children, both of whom ignore the group. 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 receives 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.

The group realizes at this time that the vine acts as a parasite, eating its hosts from the inside out. To prevent it from spreading outside the ruins, the Mayans have kept outsiders at bay (as well as keeping trespassers from leaving the ruins once they have stepped foot on them) and have salted the earth all around the hill to prevent the vine from growing further.

Now knowing what the vine is capable of, 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 too. 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 at the ruins, looking and calling out for "Dimitri". They walk across the clearing and towards the hill, presumably to suffer the same fate as the others.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Production

Filming in Australia completed on February 7, 2008, and the film was released April 4, 2008.[3]

[edit] 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 the top 10 [4]. As of June 4, 2008 it has grossed $17,363,642 domestically and $20,928,023 worldwide. [5].

[edit] Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. As of June 4, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 43% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 61 reviews.[6] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 13 reviews.[7]

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."[8]

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 May 13, 2008, The Ruins has grossed over $20 Million.

[edit] DVD Release

It was announced on June 2, 2008 that The Ruins will be released on DVD on July 8, 2008 in both rated and unrated versions. [9] No extra material will be included on the rated edition. The unrated DVD will include a commentary by Director Carter Smith and Editor Jeff Betancourt, 3 featurettes (Making The Ruins, Creeping Death, Building The Ruins), 5 additional scenes (Rain, Celebration, Going Over The Escape Plan, Alternate Ending, Original Theatrical Ending), and trailers. An unrated Blu-ray edition will also be available with identical features. [10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ruins, The - Village Cinemas
  2. ^ Ruins, The - Village Cinemas
  3. ^ The Ruins at IMDb
  4. ^ The Ruins (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results
  5. ^ The Ruins (2008)
  6. ^ The Ruins Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
  7. ^ Ruins, The (2008): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
  8. ^ James Berardinelli (2008). ReelViews Movie Review: Ruins, The. ReelViews.net. Retrieved on 2008-04-05.
  9. ^ The Ruins (US - DVD R1 > Releases at DVDActive)
  10. ^ The Ruins (US - DVD R1 > Releases at DVDActive)

[edit] External links