The Ruins

I was in one of the chain bookstores a few months ago looking for some new horror novel to read. Nothing was grabbing my attention, so I asked one of the workers if they had any recommendations for "something to keep me awake at night". She kindly told me that "The Ruins" was a book that she had recently read and it was pretty good. I told her "thanks" and went to find it. After finding it and reading the brief description on the back I decided that it sounded interesting enough to buy.

However, on my way to the cash register while looking at the front cover I discovered that it was "now a major motion picture". I promptly decided to put the book down on a shelf and go watch the film sometime instead.

One thing led to another and somehow I ended up not going and seeing it on the big screen. Anywho, last night I finally watched it and I must say I was pleasantly impressed.

It goes into the somewhat recently updated category of the "don't leave America because its scary everywhere else" type films which started with Hostel back in 2005. The Ruins follows a group of college students on their vacation to Mexico. Without giving too much of the plot away, the body of the film is about going to some ruins and having a run in with some nasty pumpkin vines.

Roughly 95% percent of the film takes place with the protagonists stuck on top of the ruins. Considering this isn't a dialogue driven script and that there really isn't that much action the film surprisingly managed to keep me entertained throughout.

I really cannot comment on the theatrical version, but the Unrated version had some pretty graphic scenes. I typically don't like gore if it is too realistic, but The Ruins had some really great scenes that made me go "ugh" more than once.

I truly enjoyed this movie and found it pretty disturbing. I might even read the book!