The Ruins Movie Review
Terror Has Evolved Into a Jungle Plant that Eats Human Flesh & Sings
Four vacationing Americans follow a German, in search of his brother, to a secluded Mayan Temple near Cancun. Most of them won't return home from The Ruins
Scott B. Smith’s novel The Ruins was one of the scariest of the last few years. Unfortunately the suspense didn’t translate so well onto film.
Director Carter Smith adapted the screenplay, also written by Scott B. Smith (unrelated), that follows four stereotypical American teenagers (Jonathan Tucker as Jeff, Jena Malone as Amy, Shawn Ashmore as Eric and Laura Ramsey as Stacy) as they trot off into the Mexican jungle with a Greek partyboy (Dimitri Baveas as Dimitri) and a young German tourist (Joe Anderson as Mathias) in search of the latter’s brother.
Terror Has Evolved
What made the book so enthralling was not the horror of what the plant does but how the characters turn on each other and seep quickly into deep madness. With impending danger lurking beyond their wildest imaginations, petty squabbles between best friends flare up into full blown battles with devastating effects.
Unfortunately the movie bypasses the internal struggles gripping each character stranded on top of the Mayan Temple. Instead the movie shoots straight for the gore factor fuelled by hostile locals, a flesh eating plant and self-mutilation.
True to the horror genre, these kids have no plan and no brains. Jeff, the most level-headed of the group, plans to study medicine when he returns home, yet ends up butchering several of the characters with a seemingly cold disposition.
Dimitri follows the group willingly despite being completely unable to communicate, Stacy plunges into a dark hole with little hesitation and Eric plans to be a teacher, yet can hardly count to ten. Only Amy, hung-over and hiking in the forest wearing flip flops, seems to have any sense.
Jungle Plant that Eats Human Flesh
The Ruins had huge potential. The premise of being stranded on top of a temple surrounded by a flesh eating plant puts a new spin on the monster genre but unfortunately the movie just wasn’t scary.
When Jeff exclaims, “This doesn't happen! Four Americans on vacation just don't disappear!"the movie slips into a grey zone between horror and comedy.
Watching the plant drag off dead bodies could have been more suspenseful, instead it seemed comical. The most intense scene, when Stacy tries to cut the plant out of her body, quickly becomes a scene of self-mutilation more gory than suspenseful.
The difficult task of condensing a nail-biting novel into an intense plot on screen has been done before with great success. Steven King’s Misery or drama’s such as The English Patient are but two examples. But in this case, where the book succeeded, the film version fails to measure up.
The Ruins is neither a shower nor a grower.
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