Writer: Scott B. Smith
Director: Carter Smith
Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, Sergio Calderon
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: July 8, 2008

My luck with horror movies has not been good lately. Whether I am reviewing them or just sitting down to watch a new movie, I always seem to find one of the worst horror movies in the bunch. So, when The Ruins ended up on my desk I was seriously hoping I would not be let down.

My only hope was that the movie was being put out by Paramount. The last horror movie that I recall watching from Paramount was Cloverfield, which was pretty good. With other studios I don’t always have much luck. Being that I didn’t know what to expect, I was walking blindly, but what I ended up finding was anything but typical horror.

The Ruins is more about psychological terror and lack of information than anything. The actions of one or two affect a small group and once terror hits one, it strikes all. The amount of gore in this movie is limited, if present at all. Whether it is or not (there is some mild blood) will depend on what you consider to be gore. The Ruins holds a unique spot in the horror genre. I wasn’t truly frightened, but at the same time, I saw the horror concept and was always interested in finding out what would happen next.

Release Information:
The Ruins was considered a financial success due to the fact that the $8 million production budget was almost tripled overall. To date, the film has made over $17 million domestically and over $22 million worldwide. These totals aren’t bad for a movie that was not heavily marketed. After a fair run in theaters, Paramount decided to release The Ruins in rated, unrated, and Blu-Ray copies. Shayne, one of our LI reviewers, offered his thoughts on the Blu-Ray copy of this film.

You should be able to find this movie in one form or another at most stores that sell DVDs. If you are unable to find it locally, many retailers are offering it online, as well. Amazon has the Unrated Copy, which is what is being reviewed here, for $19.99. You can also pick up the Blu-Ray copy for $22.95 or the standard copy for $23.99.

The The Ruins Plot
There are undisputed rules to horror. If you ever feel like you’re in a creepy situation try these out and you might live. Some of the rules are simple. Don’t follow that bump in the night. If you see a child coming out of a corn field with a gigantic knife, run. Don’t scream for Freddy. Never have sex in the woods. Don’t camp at Crystal Lake. And never, I mean never attempt to explore a cave or something (anything) that is missing from a map or that sounds real cool according to someone you just met in a foreign country while on vacation. I am sure that guy’s nice, but really, if you met a guy in the grocery store that wanted to explore a cave with you, would you go with him? I didn’t think so.

You can probably guess by the title that the poor saps in this movie will be exploring some ruins. If that’s what you guessed then you’re correct. The movie revolves around four twenty-somethings that have taken a vacation together. The girls are best friends and have brought their boyfriends along. Prior to exploring the ruins, the couples have not done much of anything except lounge in the sun and get drunk. When the group meets a German, Mathias (Joe Anderson -Across the Universe) while he is on holiday, they decide to go explore ruins to see something new. Mathias needs to go to the ruins so he can find his brother, who went ahead with a female friend a few days before. They decide to come along and keep him company.

Little does Mathias (and his new friends) know this trip will end up being one of the worst decisions of their lives. Trekking along with Mathias are the two couples, Jeff (Jonathan Tucker – In the Valley of Elah) and his whiny, sleezed-out girlfriend, Amy (Jena Malone – Into the Wild) and Amy’s BFF Stacy (Laura Ramsey She’s the Man) with her boyfriend Eric (Shawn Ashmore – X-Men). The decision to go to the ruins is based on Jeff’s insistence more than anything. As he plans to end his trip and go home to medical school, it is beyond his comprehension why the group went to Mexico and managed not to see one set of ruins or anything of real value. After convincing the group, the most reluctant of which, is his own girlfriend, they set out for the unchartered ruins that holds enough secrets to explain why the ruins are not on the map.

Getting to the ruins is half the battle. Mathias’ brother drove his Jeep, but the group does not have transportation and the ruins are not in the city. They attempt to secure a driver, but he seems absolutely fearful of the drive. He instead agrees to take them for more money and refuses to get too close to the actual ruins. The group is supposed to call him for a pickup when they are ready to leave, but they soon find that the ruins are part of Verizon’s dead zone (in more ways than one) and the network decided to sit this trip out.

Arriving at the ruins seems like a great accomplishment. However, this feeling fades when the weapon toting Mayans arrive to ruin the party. The Mayans scream and wave their guns, forcing the group to the top of the ruins. This is where it becomes evident that they will not be getting past the Mayans anytime soon, at least not alive. Once on top of the ruins, the Mayans stand guard vigilantly to ensure that the group does not try to escape from their new home.

Things go from bad to worse when weird things start happening while on top of the ruins. Dead bodies are discovered, including Mathias’ brother. Mathias and Stacy become injured and some people begin to lose their mind. It becomes clear very quickly that the ruins are worse than they seem and serious danger awaits them the longer they remain there.

This was a psychological film that focused on the tenseness of the situation rather than attempting to overwhelm you with gore. In order for something like this to be pulled off in the right way it was necessary to have a good cast. Luckily, the bunch in this film were not your standard set of horror actors. This young cast got the job done, which is good because this film could have suffered without them.

It is the situation of helplessness that makes this movie scary. You can wonder what you would do in the situation. How would you get out alive, if you could at all? Would you work with your friends or attempt to save yourself and maybe them if you ended up getting away? These questions linger as you watch the film and that is one of the things that make it as good as it is.

Storyline/Plot: ★★★½☆
Replayability: ★★★★½
Acting: ★★★★½
Directing: ★★★★½

Audio/Visual:
The Ruins offers an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 in anamorphic widescreen. Overall, this transfer is very nice. The colors were strong and I did not notice any compression problems. Everything seemed clear for the most part and I did not notice any noise or dirt present. If there were any problems they were small enough to ensure that I didn’t remember them. The quality was above average, and certainly good enough to get the job done.

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and things sound as they should. In addition to the basic audio viewers can enjoy Closed Captioning and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish should they need them. The audio sounded good. There were no problems with volume changing that required toggling. Once the movie began it was smooth sailing from there and I didn’t touch my remote once. The only thing I will say is that the sound did feel monotone at times and it could have been more dynamic, which would have made the movie even better.

Visual: ★★★★½
Audio: ★★★½☆

Bonus Features:
The Ruins offers a fair amount of special features on this unrated disc. Things begin with a commentary by the director, Carter Smith, and the editor of the film, Jeff Betancourt. The two work well together. This is Carter’s directorial debut, so Jeff helps him out in the commentary by interviewing him. They discuss the film from the first ideas being tossed around to the end of the film. You learn quite a bit from this commentary and it has its moments of entertainment, so it’s not a complete waste of time. Five deleted scenes are available, which also contain the option of commentary. The deleted scenes clock in at a little over ten minutes.

The “Making of” featurette looks at the thoughts of both cast and crew. Making ofs are important if the film ends up being worth anything. Of course, if the film is awful, it’s just another thing you have to either watch (if you’re a reviewer) or ignore (if you’re not). You get a chance to see how the set was built in “Building the Ruins”, which offers an interesting albeit smaller look at set design. Finally, the featurette “Creeping Death” lasts for around 15 minutes and looks at the effects used to make the minimal gore and terror moments more realistic. The final offering is the original, theatrical trailer.

The special features here are entertaining and informative for the most part. I could take them or leave them. I won’t watch them again, but I think that they are worth at least one viewing, especially if you found the film interesting.

Bonus Features: ★★★★☆

Bottom Line:
I didn’t know what to expect when I pushed play on The Ruins. What I found was a psychologically tense horror film that was original and enjoyable for the most part. Fans of gory horror may not appreciate this as much as I did, but if you’re into the creepy, mind-bending horror you should do well with The Ruins. If you aren’t sure how you will feel about this I highly recommend renting it first. Otherwise, you should pick The Ruins up at your earliest convenience.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

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