|
The Reel World: The Ruins |
|
|
|
Tuesday, 08 April 2008 |
If college students needed another reason to avoid trips to other countries, The Ruins provides it.
The Ruins is a rather smart horror movie to be based around a bunch of drunken college kids. Each character is smart…that’s right I’ll say it again; they’re smart. I know this is unheard of in a horror movie but The Ruins delivers.
So here is the plot. On a break from school, two couples recently graduated college students are enjoying soaking up the sunrays and tequila in Mexico.
Jeff (Jonathan Tucker of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and Amy (Jena Malone of Into the Wild) are
dealing with Jeff’s upcoming departure to medical school 2,000 miles away and Amy finds it easiest to
face that with little to no coherence. Jeff chooses to deal with it by ignoring Amy’s obvious
indiscretions in her drunken state.
Eric (Shawn Ashmore in his debut role) and Stacy (Laura Ramsey of The Covenant) are a seemingly
happy couple who are trying to deal with the tension between Jeff and Amy. Laura manages this by
trying to cover up and stop Amy’s promiscuous ways and Eric tries to make Jeff see them.
So now that you’re caught up on all the sexual indiscretions and drama of the characters we can move
on. The foursome are hanging out by the pool when a German tourist named Mathias (Joe Anderson of
Across the Universe) happens upon them and tells them about a Mayan ruins nearby that haven’t been
discovered by archeologists.
Intrigued by the possibility of “some culture” on his trip, Jeff latches on to the opportunity. He
eventually persuades the others to join him and the plot is set for doom.
The next day the crew heads out for the ruins and a taxi ride through the jungle and couple miles by
foot later they arrive at the ruins. They are all soaking up the beauty of the vine-covered pyramid when
Mayan natives with bow and arrows and guns bombard them.
After one of the crewmembers pushes the natives too far and loses his head in the process, pun
intended, the remaining five remaining take off to the top of the pyramid for safety.
Later they realize that the natives think that they have been contaminated by the vines that surround
the ruins. This is a rather astute observation as the plants are pretty much in the process of trying to
eat them as they are discovering this tidbit of information. From here on they must figure out a way to
stay alive as each person faces injuries and the plants move in on them.
At first glimpse of the trailer for The Ruins it did not occur to me that the antagonists in the movie
would be plants. This made for an interesting twist. For once there is not a monster or mutated human
hiding in the dark and thirsting for blood or some supernatural darkness that creeps up on you.
Plants turn out to be pretty creepy and it seems realistic that maybe some plants could evolve to
imitate sounds or take over a human being of course.
The story may seem a little far-fetched in writing but in film it becomes believable that some of these scenarios could be possible. This is helped out by the realistic portrayal of terror and paranoia displayed by the actors.
Ramsey does a particular good job in this movie. After seeing her in The Covenant I figured her talents
rested on being pretty and looking cute in underwear, but she really
showed that she could play a character in The Ruins. As she descended
into psychosis the audience really empathized with her and believed her
fears.
Tucker was another great surprise in this movie. He really brought logic and thought to the plot and was
responsible for most of the progression of the story. It was believable that he would be able to take
over the situation and try to protect everyone the best he could.
Malone’s character was one that was almost impossible to like. She was whiny and cold and you
began to wonder if she cared about anybody she was there with. In the end we begin to see that she
has a soul but it still proves difficult to not want to see her get eaten by a vine.
Overall the film was a pretty pleasant surprise. The story was strong and took a nice turn from your
typical horror movies today and the actors really brought the terror of the situation to life. I’ll venture to
say that this is one of the best commercial psychological thrillers that have been released in 2008 so far.
 |
Lifestyles 
Show/Hide comments
