THE RUINS TRAILER

Review Summary More disgusting than scary, "The Ruins" is the latest in a long line of horror films about upper-middle-class travelers being terrorized in unfamiliar environments. It is also, unfortunately, a movie that is nowhere near as original as its monster, a strain of malevolent, seemingly intelligent jungle vine with a taste for human flesh. Adapted by Scott B. Smith from his best-selling novel of the same title, and directed by Carter Smith (not related to the author), the film follows four attractive young Americans (Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore and Laura Ramsey) as they join a handsome German, Mathias (Joe Anderson), on a trip to jungle ruins in Mexico to meet up with Mathias's brother and his archaeologist girlfriend. In slasher-movie tradition, these happy wanderers prove as stupid as they are arrogant, disregarding the bad-omen appearance of a couple of spooky Mayan children, seemingly on loan from "Apocalypto" and rappelling down into the gloomy depths of a temple without a plan or a clue. Back in the day, Richard Pryor might have mined a comedy routine from this movie. — Matt Zoller Seitz, The New York Times

Author: ddid202
Keywords: MOVIE
Added: August 26, 2008