The Ruins (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Ruins


caption = Promotional poster
director = Carter Smith
producer = Ben Stiller (executive)
Chris Bender
Spyglass Entertainment
writer = Novel & screenplay:
Scott Smith
starring = Jonathan Tucker
Jena Malone
Shawn Ashmore
Laura Ramsey
Joe Anderson
cinematography = Darius Khondji
editing = Jeff Betancourt
distributor = USA DreamWorks Pictures. Australia Paramount [ [http://villagecinemas.com.au/Movies/the-ruins.htm Ruins, The - Village Cinemas ] ]
released = April 4 2008.
runtime = 90 Minutes (Theatrical) 93 (Unrated)
country = flagicon|Australia Australia
USA
language = English, Spanish, Mayan
budget = $8 million
gross = $22,375,067
website = http://www.ruinsmovie.com/
amg_id = 1:392039
imdb_id = 0963794

"The Ruins" is a 2008 horror film directed by Carter Smith and starring Jonathan Tucker, Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey 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

The film opens with a girl crying for help and tries her cellphone for any signal that she might call someone for help. Suddenly she is yanked away.

Two American couples (Jeff & Amy and Eric & Stacy) decide to help a new-found German friend, Mathias, look for his brother Henrich, who supposedly joined an archaeological dig. The location is shown only on a crude map that Henrich drew before departing. Dimitri, one of a group of Greek travelers, goes as well, leaving a copy of the map behind with his fellow Greeks in search of his friend, a journalist who has also gone to the dig. Later we find that this is the girl who was shown in the first scene. Following the map, they first take a bus to a small town, where they attempt to persuade a taxi driver to take them the rest of the way. Initially he refuses, telling them their destination is a "bad place." However, when Dimitri offers the driver forty dollars he obliges. The six disembark from the taxi and begin the last stretch of the journey on foot through rugged terrain.

Crossing a river, the six encounter two children who ignore them. 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 an ancient looking temple covered in vines and red flowers. A Mayan villager suddenly appears on horseback, armed with a pistol. He wants them to leave, but more men, armed with bows and arrows, soon appear and they begin to shout at the group in a threatening manner. Panicking, Mathias shows the first villager his phone with the picture of his brother. The villagers take the phone but continue to shout and argue among themselves. Amy, trying to take a picture of the scene, backs up to get a better shot and mistakenly steps into the vines. The Mayans become even more hostile when Dimitri takes the camera from Amy and tries to give it to them, shooting him in the chest with an arrow, followed by a bullet in his head. The group panics and runs to the top of the temple. The Mayans remain at the bottom.

On top of the temple is an abandoned camp with a shaft in the center. The group try their cellphones but nobody has a signal. Mathias says that he did previously, but the Mayans now have his phone. From the bottom of the shaft, they hear what sounds like a cellphone and Mathias recognizes the ringtone as his brother's. Thinking they may be able to call for help, the group lowers Mathias into the shaft. Halfway down, the rope breaks, sending Mathias falling into the darkness. They repair the rope and lower Stacy down, who cuts her knee on broken glass but finds Mathias. Unable to move his legs, he appears to have broken his back. 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. The cellphone is heard again, and Stacy and Amy are lowered down the shaft to find it. Stacy and Amy walk towards the sound of the cell phone, going through an archway of vines leading to a smaller room which is entirely covered in vines. They look around with their torches and notice a body in the vines. Amy turns it over and finds the girl from the beginning of the movie. Stacy notices she has a phone and Amy snatches it out of the girl's grasp. They see that the phone is broken. Suddenly, the ringing is heard again. Amy turns and walks slowly to some red flowers, where the sound is coming from. The flowers are vibrating and screeching, making the ring of the cell phone. Amy reaches out and touches a flower, only to have vines wrap around her hand. Amy pulls away, but all the vines in the area begin to move and shake. Amy's torch is taken out of her hands by the vines. Amy and Stacy escape as the vines reach out for them. Eric and Jeff take Stacy and Amy off of the harness at the top of the shaft. Eric tries to comfort Stacy, but she moves away, still shaking. Amy later tells Eric and Jeff that it was the flowers making the cell phone's ringing, and Stacy says that the vines are sentient.

The group begins to realize that the vines are deadly and that the Mayans are actually trying to keep them quarantined. 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 vines from growing further.

With Mathias' condition deteriorating, Jeff amputates Mathias' legs with Eric's assistance. However, Mathias is killed as the vines invade his body through his mouth, making him suffocate.

Stacy shows the group that the vines are now growing inside her. Even after Jeff cuts her open to remove several of the vines, her paranoia grows and she demands to be allowed to cut herself more. After giving Stacy a drink the group notices vines moving inside her head (underneath the skin of her forehead). While the others sleep, Stacy cuts herself in a futile attempt to remove the vines. Upon discovering her bleeding profusely from many wounds, Jeff tries to help but Stacy slashes his hand with the knife. Stacy continues cutting and when Eric tries to grab the knife, Stacy stabs him through the heart, killing him. As the vines move in to take Eric's body, Stacy cries in Amy's arms, begging to be killed. The vine flowers mimic Stacy's supplication to be killed. As the sounds grow and become more distinct, Jeff takes the knife from Eric's body and kills Stacy.

Realizing the chances of rescue are slim, Jeff finally decides that they must try to escape. While distracting the Mayans to allow Amy to escape, Jeff is fatally injured by arrows. He collapses on the ground, and the vines start moving in on him, grabbing him and pulling him towards the pyramid. The eldest Mayan then kills Jeff with a gun shot to spare him too much suffering. The Mayans chase Amy but she makes it to the car and drives away. Vines can then be seen creeping inside her body, conveying her possible fate as well as a possible contamination or spreading of the vines.

Later, the Greeks arrive at the ruins, looking for Dimitri. They walk across the clearing and towards the hill, presumably to suffer the same fate as the others and leaving the movie open for a possible sequel.

The alternate ending shows Amy driving further down the path. The scene then cuts to a cemetery where a caretaker is walking among the headstones whistling Frère Jacques. He hears the same tune coming from a headstone marked Amy. Around the headstone lie a few of the same red flowers, and as the caretaker reaches for one the vine grabs his arm.

In the original theatrical ending, Amy is shown racing through the jungle and escaping in the Jeep. There is no sign of the vines, suggesting that Amy was not infected. The film then proceeds to the original ending where the Greeks arrive at the temple.

Production

Filming in Australia completed on February 7, 2008, and the film was released April 4, 2008. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963794/ The Ruins at IMDb] ]

Release and Box Office

The Ruins was released in the US on April 4 2008. In the US box office it debuted at #5 making $8,003,421. After 3 weeks it exited the top 10. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=ruins.htm The Ruins (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results ] ] As of July 7, 2008 it has grossed $17,432,844 domestically and $22,321,810 worldwide. [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=ruins.htm The Ruins (2008) ] ] Despite not being a huge hit, the film is still considered a success, as it made back its production budget ($8 million) in its opening weekend and more than doubled it overall.

In Australia, "The Ruins" was originally planned for a July 31 release however this was pushed back a week to August 7. These plans were scrapped when Paramount pulled out of distributing it to theatres, but however has not scrapped plans for a soon-but not-so-soon DVD release.

Critical reception

The film received generally mixed reviews from critics. As of August 18, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 46% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 74 reviews. [cite web|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_ruins/ |title=The Ruins Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes |accessdate=2008-04-05 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes]

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." [cite web|url=http://www.reelviews.net/movies/r/ruins.html |title=ReelViews Movie Review: Ruins, The |accessdate=2008-04-05 |author=James Berardinelli |year=2008 |publisher=ReelViews.net]

Audiences gave the film mixed-to-positive reviews, with a 53% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes among audiences as of August 18, 2008 (though most certified it "fresh") and a 6.3/10 rating on Imdb as of June 30, 2008.

DVD Release

"The Ruins" was released on DVD on July 8, 2008 in both R-rated and unrated versions. [ [http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-ruins.html The Ruins (US - DVD R1 > Releases at DVDActive)] ] It debuted at #4 on the DVD Sales Chart, selling 189,128 copies. As of August 3, 2008, "The Ruins" has sold 343,414 copies. [ [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/RUINS-DVD.php Movie The Ruins - DVD Sales - The Numbers] ] The R-rated edition includes a commentary by director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt, three featurettes (Making The Ruins, Creeping Death, Building The Ruins), additional scenes (Rain, Celebration, Going Over The Escape Plan, Alternate Ending), and trailers. The unrated edition includes the theatrical cut and extra material, and also an alternate ending and optional commentary with additional scenes. An unrated Blu-ray edition is also available with identical features. [ [http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/the-ruins.html The Ruins (US - DVD R1 > Releases at DVDActive)] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.ruinsmovie.com/ Official site]
*imdb title|id=0963794|title=The Ruins
*rotten-tomatoes|id=the_ruins|title=The Ruins
*metacritic film|id=ruins|title=The Ruins
*mojo title|id=ruins|title=The Ruins
*amg movie|id=1:392039|title=The Ruins
* [http://www.justin.tv/humanlabrat Human Lab Rat] (Viral marketing Justin.tv channel).
* [http://www.critical-film.com/reviews/R/Ruins/Ruins.html Critical analysis of the film by Critical-Film.com reviewer Jason Pitt]