TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — “The Ruins,” an uncommonly effective horror-thriller from first-time director Carter Smith, is the only film I have seen in my 21-odd years of life and two-odd years of semi-professional film criticism to ever elicit a physical response from me.
Indeed, there are scenes in “The Ruins” that sent more than one person running from the theater and made me feel nauseous - honest to God, the first time I think that’s happened. So, I can’t honestly say that I enjoyed “The Ruins” - I’ll probably see it again one day, when I’m ready - but that’s certainly a testament to its skill at provoking a reaction - after all, that’s what horror movies are all about.
Based on the best-selling novel from author Scott Smith (who adapted his book for the screen), “The Ruins” tells the woeful story of four American tourists in Mexico who make a pretty bad decision to visit a supposedly “secret” Mayan ruin not included on any tourist maps.
Most of us would hopefully assume there was a reason for that and let that particular flight of fancy go (and if you wouldn’t now, you won’t be visiting any secret ruins after you see this movie), but nevertheless our four tourist protagonists, a German tourist they met on a beach (Joe Anderson) and some other guy who isn’t alive long enough to make much of an impression take a long hike to the ruins.
Our protagonists arrive at the ruin, a large Mayan pyramid covered in leafy vines, and almost immediately, the sixth guy is killed by a group of angry residents intent on driving the five luckless tourists up onto the pyramid and keeping them there … in all likelihood, to die. Even more unfortunately, they have limited food, limited water and, oh yeah, something atop the ruins is menacing them.
From here, I don’t want to spoil anything. Why would the locals want to prevent them from leaving? I suspect the trailers have already spoiled enough of what “The Ruins” is about - you can guess the “monster,” I’m sure. It’s not as dumb as it sounds. The “monster” has a pretty low body count, actually.