Review of The Ruins (1984) by Armand E — 11 Jul 2009

When I first read "The Ruins" two years ago, I remember enjoying the tense atmosphere created by the author and was wondering how the book would translate into a movie. Well, they did make a movie out of it, and predictably, a couple of things get lost in translation. The book was highly atmospheric and tense - these are a group of young people who get trapped on a sort of pyramid for days, battling their fears, sense of isolation, and the very real threat posed by the vegetation that grows around the place.

In the movie, the roles of the young people are ably portrayed by Jonathan Tucker as Jeff, Jena Malone as Amy, Shawn Ashmore as Eric, Laura Ramsey as Stacy, and Joe Anderson as Matthias. It all begins on a lark - Matthias is trying to locate his brother, who is working on a dig somewhere deep in the forests of the Yucatan Peninsula. The two American couples decide to go along with him for fun.The idea of exploring some unexplored ancient Mayan ruins is just too irresistible and eventually they do locate the place, only to find themselves trapped there as the locals will not let them leave the ruins.

The cast is the strength of this movie - the actors really do get into their respective roles and the chemistry comes across as natural and not forced. These are characters that one comes to genuinely care about and sympathize with, unlike other B-grade horror flicks where one couldn't care less what happens to the mostly idiotic and immature cast.

The effects are not shoddy either - and there are some really gory effects in here - involving cutting out the creepy, 'malicious' vines out of bodies etc, not for the faint of heart.

In adapting the book for the big screen, some liberties have been taken with the plot, and even the characters are portrayed as doing stuff that is different than in the book. The ending was a disappointment to me as it was totally different than the book, but all in all, this is a pretty decent horror thriller and the suspense holds for much of the movie.