Patrick Sun

The Ruins - quick review

2 young couples, Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) and Amy (Gena Malone), Eric (Shawn Ashmore) and Stacy(Laura Ramsey) on vacation in Mexico are invited by a European, Mattias (Joe Anderson), to explore uncharted Mayan ruins and catch up with Mattias' brother. What happens to the group when they find a Mayan temple is strange, and horrific.

The film is paced pretty well, there's just enough character introduction to become somewhat vested in the fates of the young couples and their European "tour guide". The scares don't rely on the "Boo!" cliches of the horror genre, but simply allows the situations to unravel and the characters must make terrible choices just to give themselves a chance to survive their predicament.

If you enjoy the horror genre, it's a good matinee selection.

I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.

"I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar!"
Patcave | 2006 Films | 2007 Films | Dragon Con 2007

ChrisBEA

Re: The Ruins - quick review

Very suspenseful, well written/shot/acted. A very pleasant surprise following the terribly lackluster trailers. While completely different, but I was reminded of The Descent, still trying to figure out why...
Anyway, best horror of the year.

I am in the *** to ***.5 range.

2008 Film List / 2007 Film List / 2006 Film List / 2005 Film List / 2004 Film List
My Blog

Dennis Castro

Re: The Ruins - quick review

If this is the best horror movie of the year then I'm glad the year is still relatively young.

This was pretty much your standard horror flick. I didn't read the book but it seems like there could have bee so much more here. Just because people are talking to each other doesn't mean that there is character development. I wasn't invested in these people at all.