it starts getting scary. I REALLY recommend this movie for you hard-core horror fans.

seat the whole time. The acting is superb and their emotions shine through, the death scenes were fairly gory and very depressing but the ending only slightly tips me off.Overall, The Ruins is a new type of horror that you should consider seeing, maybe once, but just a piece of advice: I recommend that you read the original novel by Scott Smith first before seeing the film.

with a girl he met and hasn't returned yet their fates presumably revealed in the creepy opening scene . They go along, and after that, all hell breaks loose.Six people depart for the ruins, and when they get at the base of the temple, many of the locals surround them. Everything was fine until Amy steps on one of the vines, and the locals freak out, killing one of the group someone that no one really knows ...The locals threaten the other five, and they go up the temple where the locals wont follow them . Panicking, they try to think of a way out. Finally, they hear a cell phone ring coming from inside the temple. Mathias, the tourist whose brother has gone missing, notes that it is, in fact, his brothers cell phone ring tone. He volunteers to go into the temple via rope, but it breaks towards the top, and he falls down into the temple, paralyzed. Stacy goes down to help him, but finds that his back is broken. Amy goes down into the cave with a back board so that Mathias could be brought up . Once they are back up on the temple, it is realized that the cell phone is the only way that they could help Mathias, as he is in a terrible condition.Amy and Stacy go into the temple to search for the phone, but find the source of the ringing, which, needless to say, is not actually a phone. Amy finds, to her horror, that the flowers, by vibrating the stems, can imitate sound. She touches the flower, and the vines begin to attack. They run back to the rope, and get pulled up.Stacy has a deep cut near her knee and Mathias is in terrible condition. They go to sleep, slightly frazzled and think they are going insane, and wake up to find that Mathias's legs have been completely overrun by the vines, and Stacy's leg is also covered, and a vine has entered her wound.That's where I will leave off with the summary, as it truly needs to be witnessed in order for the full effect of the movie.However, after this, the movie changes from just an ordinary, sub-grade horror film, to an actually intellectual story. Hunger, thirst, and paranoia set in especially in Stacy--who wholeheartedly believes that the vines are crawling around in her , and she begins to descend into madness.This movie has two of the most disturbing scenes I have ever seen in a movie. I will not reveal what these are, but, trust me--after you have seen it you will Definitely know what ones I am referring to.It turns out, the locals were at first trying to protect the tourists, until Amy stepped onto a vine, when it turned into a quarantine. This is revealed in a chilling scene where Amy throws a peace of the vines at the locals, and it comes into contact with a young boy. The men tell him to get with the others by the temple, to which he refuses. The men reply with a bullet in his head. The vines grow anywhere--they even begin to grow on the tourists clothes.Go see this movie, it truly is a thought-provoking, stomach-churning, and disturbing movie. As I left the theaters I felt mortified in a good way about what I had just watched. It was spectacular, gory, intellectual, horrifying fun.

jackasses sitting behind me and surprise surprise, they didn't like it. So if you fall into that category than do yourselves and anyone who can enjoy a straight shot horror film a favor and stay away.

although reluctant, decide to tag along and have some fun on their last day. Boy did they have the wrong idea.Soon after they find the foreboding hidden path deep in the jungle, they stumble upon an abandoned archaeological dig amidst an ancient pyramid covered in vegetation. The local Mayans show up and after they shoot one of the other tagalongs and force the group up the trail, keeping guard around the pyramid, it becomes clear that the vacationers are being held hostage. Fear, hunger, and insanity begin to set in as over a three day period the group's mentalities begin to diminish. One by one, they fall prey to the evil vines that reside on the ancient ruins and it slowly becomes clear that they're probably not going to make it out of Mexico alive. Does this sound stupid? Sure. Killer vines, that's laughable. But during their stay you slowly begin to realize this isn't funny at all. It's hardcore chilling, and the vines are nothing to laugh at. They're used to a terrifying effect, especially in a chilling scene when Amy and Stacey descend into the pyramid and the vines try to kill them.As far as quality, the acting is top notch, especially from Jena Malone and Laura Ramsey. Ramsey's Stacy suffers the worst physical harm and her performance is the best as she clearly goes insane when some nasty vines nestle in under her skin. All of the actors are exceptional and the audience will feel very attached. It's especially hard to watch when they start dying. These are real people in a horrifying situation. This isn't a mild horror film, it pulls no punches. It's straightforward, and although it is about killer flowers, it's as good as a horror movie can get, and the tension that director Carter Smith builds through the great pacing is unbearable. Kudos also goes to Jena Malone, who has broken free of her childhood performances and is getting into much more mature work. She is promising here.I won't spoil the outcome of the character's fates but I will say for fans of the novel that the story is twisted around somewhat. Scott Smith adapted this from his book. The same events basically happen, but he's switched up his characters and the end starts to stray further and further from his novel. That's not to say that it doesn't work, for I think that it makes the experience better, you can go in expecting some new scares even if you've read the harrowing novel. I was supremely pleased at this take on the horrifying story and I was surprised to find myself shaken when it was over, particularly during the grueling scene when Stacy cuts into herself repeatedly with a hunting knife to pull out vines. This is one of the most unsettling scenes depicted in a horror film recently. You won't forget "The Ruins" and it's one of the best horror movies in a long time.

but used a tone of dread and hopelessness to get to the viewer. Check it out if your looking for that type of film, cheers

that is only one of the plus points in this good horror movie. There are many more.The script, written by Scott B. Smith based on his own novel, is pretty good. The characters are well written, and the plot as it unfolds takes it's time to play out, which again is refreshing. Most American horror movies seem to want to rush through the opening scenes, to get to the so-called scare moments, but Smith takes time with his plot, as he did with his other script, the brilliant A Simple Plan. This movie isn't as good as that but it is still good. One of the key things is he never explains how or why the temple is doing what it is doing, yet you never really question it. He allows some intelligence in not only the characters but also in the audience watching. Again, a refreshing change.The performances from the cast are good. The script allows time for the cast to make their characters believable for a horror movie and as the horror and terror mounts, they react in different ways.The direction by Carter Smith is good. He creates a sense of dread as the the events play out. While the movie is not particularly scary, he creates a sense a good sense of dread, right up to the end, and also doesn't try and cop-out at the end, or allow for some awful twist. Again a welcome change.The movie does have some scenes that are bloody, or graphic and gory, it's not over the top. There is a reason for the violence in the movie, and also the blood and gore. It's not simply there to gross-out the audience though the scene with the makeshift amputation will have that effect, no doubt!! .At a time when most of the American horror movies are either remakes or sequels, it's nice to see a horror movie that while not original at least is different. And for that reason alone, it's worth watching.

next to the other conflict of being stranded upon the Mayan ruins away from all civilization except the natives who are hellbent on letting them die up there, and I thought while the characters were stupid, that was the right way to handle the situation considering that most people would lose their wit in situations like that after some time, and I always like it when horrors try to make their characters believable, because that makes up for them not being special. It was so compellingly good just to watch what all happened, and I really enjoyed the scenes and thought that it had excellent suspense and a wonderful atmosphere of claustrophobia and paranoia.Yes, it gets a little bland around the edges, and like I said, it's not like it ranks among the greatest films of all time, but I truly do think it is a satisfying taste of what effective, legendary horrors could do if they were made with better care, because it has all the right substances, but just falls flat a little with it's slight mediocrity. Regardless, it is nonetheless very amusing and indulging. I praise the creators for coming as far as they did with a poor direction, and for toppling over a lot of horrors that have been made in the past decade. Too bad more people didn't see what I did, because it is quite underrated and under appreciated, I think.