The Ruins (2008)

A group of friends whose leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when they, along with a fellow tourist embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins.

Director:

Carter Smith

Writers:

Scott B. Smith (screenplay), Scott B. Smith (novel) (as Scott Smith)

Stars:

Shawn Ashmore, Jena Malone, Jonathan Tucker

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jonathan Tucker	...	Jeff
Jena Malone	...	Amy
Laura Ramsey	...	Stacy
Shawn Ashmore	...	Eric
Joe Anderson	...	Mathias
Sergio Calderón	...	Lead Mayan
Jesse Ramirez	...	Mayan Bowman
Balder Moreno	...	Mayan Horseman
Dimitri Baveas	...	Dimitri
Patricio Almeida Rodriguez	...	Taxi Driver
Mario Jurado	...	Mayan Archer
Luis Antonio Ramos	...	Mayan Rifleman (as Luis Ramos)
Walter Quispe	...	Mayan Rifleman
Pauline Whyman	...	Wailing Woman
Nathan Vega	...	Mayan Boy

Storyline

While on vacation in a resort in Mexico, the Americans Jeff, his girlfriend Amy, her best friend Stacy and her boyfriend Eric befriend the German Mathias in the swimming pool. Mathias invites the group to visit the ruins of a Mayan temple with his Greek friend Dimitri in an archaeological field where his brother Henrich and his girlfriend are camped eighteen kilometers from the resort. They hire an old taxi and when they reach the spot, they are surrounded by Mayan villagers armed with revolvers, rifles and bows-and-arrows that kill Dimitri and do not allow the group to leave the place. They climb a construction covered by creepers with red flowers, and remain under siege of the locals. When they hear a cell phone in the bottom of a well, Mathias decides to seek the apparatus using a rope that breaks and he has a serious accident breaking his back. Amy and Stacy go to the bottom of the mine to rescue Mathias and they find many corpses covered by the climbing plants; further, they ...

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Plot Keywords:

ruins | group of friends | bow and arrow | rifle | corpse | 

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Taglines:

Terror has evolved.

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

18A

Details

Official Sites:

Dreamworks [United States] Official site [Australia]

Country:

USA Germany Australia

Language:

English Maya Spanish Greek German

Release Date:

4 April 2008 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Les ruines

Filming Locations:

Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$8,003,241 (USA) (4 April 2008)

Gross:

£123,507 (UK) (20 June 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks SKG, Spyglass Entertainment, Red Hour Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 93 min (unrated)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The opening scene featuring the characters talking by the swimming pool was the first scene to be shot.

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Goofs

The style of the pyramid does not resemble the style of actual Mayan pyramids. For example, steps are solid. Here they are shown with a basal step with a thin flat rock on top.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Archeologist #2: [She is sobbing, then begins to scream:] Help me! Somebody, help! Somebody! Help! Help me!

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Ashton Kutcher/Gnarls Barkley (2008)

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Soundtracks

Mexico Mi Amor
Written by Marc Ferrari, Matt Hirt and 'Julisa Kruydenhof'
Performed by David Gomez
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

Creepy horror tale will stay with you

One of the better horror films of recent years, is creepy and scary and the sort of thing that makes your skin crawl. Its a simple story- several tourists go to a temple in the Mexican jungle that happens to be off the beaten path. There is of course something there and the locals are not happy about visitors. I won't say more since I'm going tempted to tell you way too much...which would be too much since the plot is simple. Its almost too simple. The reason the film works is that the film has decent characters and it does things that are decidedly not your typical horror movie choices. Its short, its sweet and it works. Its not perfect, there are one or two things I didn't like, but on the whole its a very good very creepy film. Frankly while Brazil got upset about Touristas a year because it might make think people about going there, Mexico should worry since this film will make anyone think again about going into ancient ruins. (7.5 ish out of 10 on the horror scale because thinking about the screams makes my skin crawl)