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The Ruins

The Ruins

2008
Suspense/Thriller, Horror
1h 30m
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. (imdb)
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The Ruins

2008
Suspense/Thriller, Horror
1h 30m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 30.79% from 1058 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(1058)
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Rated 05 Jul 2011
45
21st
A bunch of extremely unlikeable American college students trek into the Mexican jungle to seek out a hidden Mayan temple against the dire warnings of the locals. When they get there, they get eaten by a carnivorous CGI plant. Seriously one of the dumbest ideas ever, only saved from being a total dud by a handful of choice gore scenes. From the trailer, I thought it'd be a grown up version of The Goonies with ancient booby traps inside the temple and shit, but I was so wrong.
Rated 22 Dec 2012
10
12th
Put up a sign, "DANGER: CARNIVOROUS PLANTS. KEEP OUT". Problem solved. Bunch of dumb American teens get stranded in the deepest Mexican jungle. They got a cab ride there from the nearest town 18km away. Sadly, since they never learned the metric system they fail to realise they're only an afternoon's walk away from civilization. Dumbest horror movie I've seen in a long time.
Rated 15 Oct 2021
45
15th
An intriguing idea and setting, tapping tentatively into stuff like Green Inferno and its inspirations, and featuring some pleasingly gory scenes. I just couldn't get on board with the characters, though. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be, so that was a pleasant surprise, but overall I just didn't care what happened to anyone. The ending was particularly unsatisfying as well. Approach with caution.
Rated 08 Apr 2009
30
5th
are you serious spoiler alert: the plants kill people but at least you see some boob
Rated 20 Mar 2012
20
22nd
Probably should have been called "Breaking a Guy's Leg with a Piece of THE RUINS." You know you're in for a treat when the ultimate peril facing our heroes is a short, frayed rope and some foliage that oddly resembles what half the crew was probably smoking. Something leads me to believe that the filming of this movie was nothing more than an elaborate plot devised by the director to get a free vacation in Mexico--the film being thrown together in the last few days to cover his tracks.
Rated 14 Sep 2022
80
87th
Un film d'horreur stupide, en apparence. Des plantes carnivores, ça fait bander qui ? A part quelques masochistes qui trouvent leurs sensations au rayon Z. En fait, Les ruines est un film d'horreur très intelligent. Le scénario est cruel, et enfonce ses personnages dans une noirceur abyssale. Je ne connais pas le livre mais je suis curieux et certain, que le traitement des personnages est bien respecté. Et ça fait plaisir de voir la bombe sexuelle Jonathan Tucker en chef de groupe.
Rated 06 Oct 2012
60
68th
Actually pretty decent. The characters aren't fully fleshed out or anything, but you do somewhat care about what happens to them. I had expected something like The Descent [ie, monsters in a cave], but it had neither of those things. Less generic than most mainstream horrors and is a pretty interesting watch.
Rated 24 Aug 2017
55
18th
The sub-genre of tourists-go-abroad-and-bad-things-happens is riddled with some very bad films. The Ruins is one of the better films in this group, but suffers from the same pitfalls: stupid character choices, unlikable characters, language barriers wrecking everyone's day, ect. The premise is interesting enough, and credit must be given for skipping the usually tedious explanations and for some real choice gore.
Rated 30 Jul 2008
45
15th
The Ruins is standard fare for Suspense/Horror with sub-par acting and less than thrilling scares. There's really not a lot to say about this movie other than it's completely cliche and not worth a watch unless you like this style of movie.
Rated 02 Jan 2013
55
18th
I'm all for mindless violence. Truly. But there has to be some logical reason for it to occur. The writers of this movie evidently could find no good reason for the atrocities to happen to these characters, so they had to force them to be the MOST IDIOTIC PEOPLE ON THE PLANET. I can accept characters making dumb decisions in horror films, but this movie completely relies on one stupid move after another. If I spend more time yelling at the screen than enjoying the film, there's a problem.
Rated 27 Jul 2008
68
44th
Great gore and disturbing in parts. However, it would've been more fun had it been played up as a comedy with the somewhat absurd premise.
Rated 30 Jul 2008
40
23rd
Some great gore and it has some very disturbing and shocking scenes. Other than that, it sucks.
Rated 06 Jul 2008
75
71st
Good story, above the average acting and some cruel and violent scenes make "The Ruins" a highly enjoyable horror movie.
Rated 01 May 2021
5
43rd
This doesn't overly impress, but there is a bit of good bodily horror that makes it at least a little bit disturbing. It's antagonistic entity is creative and interesting, but way too goofy for me to really buy into. The cast are more so the typical disposable bodies you tend to see. It's tropey and isolated, so the whole setting is one area and it doesn't do enough to sustain its short 90 minutes runtime. I'm fine with this, but I think is a movie that deserves a redo.
Rated 04 Jul 2021
69
50th
When the plants start screaming I would just jump the fuck off the ruins. A good take on the whole western tourists finding themselves in situations they have no business being involved in. Good gore
Rated 06 Jul 2011
20
0th
haha! plants coming alive.... this was so boring!
Rated 18 Jan 2009
85
82nd
Nice and fucked up without being pretantious. Especially considered because it seemed like a lesser film from watching the trailer. Turned out alot better than expected. Most modern horror movies are afraid to try new things and be dangerous and of earning R ratings, but thankfully none of that is here. I also saw a couple of things I have not seen done in horror before in this film. DVD has some extra stuff that make this worth wasting your time on. Especially the alternate ending.
Rated 21 Dec 2009
2
1st
Some tourists are killed by a long process of repeatedly forgetting to pay attention to the slow moving killer vines. I guess it takes more than seeing a few of your friends devoured and pulled away to their doom to get it into your head that you should...welll...watch out for that.
Rated 14 Jun 2014
74
42nd
Gross, bloody, horrifying and fresh new take on plants fighting back. lol wasn't disappointed!
Rated 28 Jul 2008
15
3rd
The bush just wanted to get fresh, what's so wrong about that? *GONG*
Rated 26 Aug 2008
40
25th
A stupid idea, but gorewise well executed - there's plenty of painful scenes and the overall athmosphere gets surprisingly haunting by the end. The decision not to use jump scares is a definite plus, but even that can't save the film from mediocrity. It's kind of sad that Jena Malone still can't get better roles, her talents are wasted once again. Oh yeah, and the ending is dumb.
Rated 24 Apr 2008
57
55th
Major props for not using "jump scares" but an actual sense of dread and building forboding. Unfortunately, one really incredible reveal is not enough to sustain this movie, and it ends up a gorehound fest and little more.
Rated 10 Nov 2011
60
6th
It wasn't that much of "horror" as in "this doesn't happen to Americans like ourselves, because, k'know, we're from AMERICA!"
Rated 09 Mar 2009
35
37th
Like the book its pretty original as far as horror/suspense goes. The eerie quality of the vines being able to mimic sounds and voices does not translate well in the film. The change in endings was easily my least favorite thing about this movie. The girls played thier part well while the guys were pretty wooden overall.
Rated 19 Dec 2008
15
6th
Avoid this.
Rated 21 Jan 2012
2
39th
Lower your expectations and you will appreciate this for what it's worth: decent effects, acceptable acting and good tension-building. The ending is anti-climatic.
Rated 08 Sep 2008
30
0th
Boring throughout the whole movie with no noticeable climax. Some disgusting effects (though not enough to even look real). When one of the girls goes mad with a knife though, it lifts the movie up 30 points. Waste of my time!
Rated 16 Nov 2009
35
21st
More cringeworthy than scary, The Ruins is easily lost in the shuffle of the new batch of experimental twists on the horror genre we saw in the end of the 2000s. If you are thorough with your horror watching, please watch. Otherwise, read the book.
Rated 06 Sep 2008
70
49th
A surprisingly terrifying experience. Simple plot, relatively fresh faces and not a 'Saw' movie... but gruesome, nonetheless.
Rated 27 Jun 2008
65
37th
pretty good for a film with no real story ;)
Rated 11 Nov 2019
48
19th
A promising premise aaaannnd thats it. With more violence and schlocky plant monsters this could have been a fun romp. In this form it's pretty bad. Also, female characters from hell.
Rated 08 Aug 2009
68
22nd
A nice little low-budge horror/thriller that speeds along and goes down easily. Good setting, unique enough premise, capable actors, and a script that actually allows them to do things instead of just run and hide from shit. I get the feeling that the book is probably a lot better and if Mr. Smith had put as much character into the screenplay as I'm sure he does in the novel, than it might have turned out to be something a bit less forgettable...or perhaps if Herzog, Cronenberg, or Carpenter dir
Rated 26 Oct 2009
74
38th
Very decent and mildly scary.
Rated 01 Mar 2010
72
9th
It certainly won't ruin your day, but this is hardly a find of any significant note. Explore somewhere else!
Rated 25 Oct 2013
57
23rd
Rewatched in 06.2021 and liked it a bit more than the first viewing! Raised my rating from 50 to 57...
Rated 16 Jul 2021
55
32nd
I hear the novel is genuinely scary. The movie is at least effectively gross.
Rated 26 Jul 2008
15
1st
It had a moment of two that was pretty good but it had forced drama, and I really wasn't buying somethings from it. I went from a mild recommendation to not recommending it but only missing the mark by a bit to definitely not recommending it. This was like torture porn with no real scares.
Rated 27 Jul 2008
65
51st
+ recommended
Rated 25 Oct 2012
43
13th
A Perfect Getaway (which was better than I expected) meets The Happening (which is The Happening) so, no. it is not good.
Rated 16 Aug 2009
65
17th
Nice gore, liked the locale. The whole parasitic plant idea was fine with me, even though I didn't understand why the tourists didn't just try to burn the plants.
Rated 09 Aug 2008
85
55th
Gore upon gore...very painful to watch at times.But excellently acted and filmed.
Rated 08 Sep 2009
41
8th
Very random, had some good acting but wasnt really that good.
Rated 14 Aug 2009
63
61st
Teenagers torn asunder by allegory.
Rated 26 Mar 2009
55
23rd
They ruined it. Here we have good actors, a good setup, yet once again because it's a horror flick they have to make the characters do idiotic things. Why? Because it's a horror flick that makes it ok? It was made in 2008, can't we get past that by now? It pisses me off. Not one person on the set said: "hey wait a minute, this is not how a real person would react in this situation. Let's change this." I don't give a shit if it was in the book. If it's stupid, change it.
Rated 10 Aug 2008
70
61st
Monster of the story was a bit stupid but otherwise it was a pretty well made horror movie.
Rated 21 Oct 2010
20
41st
"The film's depiction of deteriorating-under-pressure group dynamics comes to an abrupt end just as it gets going." - Nick Schager
Rated 11 Aug 2009
56
32nd
Not so much a scary film as it is an interesting one. A level above most horror fare nowadays, anyway. Oh yeah, and Jena Malone is hot as all geddiup.
Rated 08 Jun 2009
87
65th
A pretty good movie knowing that I have never heard of it and boy was I surprised. Kind of boring at moments but pretty cool
Rated 19 Mar 2009
20
23rd
"...a character study wrapped in horror trappings that has too little of the former and just the right amount of the latter."
Rated 09 Jun 2010
74
52nd
The killer flytrap I was expecting a little shop of horrors musical number..this movie has one scene that freaked me out..and that is the bone scene that is all i will say...
Rated 22 Apr 2009
80
70th
"It's both craftily creepy (in a subtle way) and powerfully visceral (in a kick-ass way), plus it delivers its payload in a slick and efficient 91-minute burst of nastiness."
Rated 18 Feb 2009
30
37th
"...it's only after you've left the theater that you realize just how totally, utterly ludicrous the movie really is."
Rated 26 Jun 2008
22
17th
This flick does not impress on actors, story or directing. Idea is okay, but movie ridiculous and monsters funny; story is rip-off from Clark Ashton Smith's short story (1933), The Seed from the Sepulcher (story was well adapted by Richard Corben as a comic story). In the movie there is some amount of gore which rises the points. Place is exotic, but they do not exploit that leven even as much as they could. One well developed actress is butt naked in the beginning of the story. That's it.
Rated 26 Jan 2009
65
30th
Amusing horror
Rated 06 Jul 2008
40
19th
Not that bad.
Rated 09 Jul 2008
64
63rd
Despite a rather simple story and plot, and a very modest budget, The Ruins manages to be quite effective. There aren't a lot of cheap thrills here or scenes that will make you jump out of your seat, but the tension is high and there is plenty of gore. In fact, it's a nasty movie! The ending is pretty horrible, but that's expecting in movies like this one.
Rated 12 Jun 2010
72
47th
Combination of gore and usual bad decision making keeps this movie flowing along. Sometimes quite witty but struggles with the premise.
Rated 09 Sep 2010
90
69th
Interesante... y aterradora cuando se descubre la verdad
Rated 27 Jun 2008
40
36th
watchavle
Rated 16 Jul 2009
62
38th
Decent horror. I agree with the user that said they could have done more with the setting.
Rated 29 Jul 2008
20
2nd
liked the idea of the story
Rated 06 Jun 2010
65
50th
A solid horror flick that takes its goofy premise completely seriously, to it's merit.
Rated 05 Apr 2011
50
24th
lol. it has its moments iirc
Rated 21 Oct 2008
55
67th
Don't understand the dislike for this one. It's a horror film and yes they make terrible choices, they take forever to realize what is going on, and they don't talk things through, preferring to rely on spur of the moment decisions, but it's fun, reasonably gory and not too silly. One complaint is that considering the setting is fantastic, they could have done much more with it.
Rated 22 Jun 2008
40
6th
Had some good scares, but right around the time I realized what the monster was I stopped being scared and started laughing. It also felt like some scenes were thrown in there to increase the gore level.
Rated 07 Sep 2008
0
3rd
WORST MOVIE of 2008 winner!
Rated 06 Apr 2008
69
21st
I'm not a firm believer in the "so bad it's good" ideology, but this is one flick that pushes its ridiculous concept to the extreme with a deadpan, serious face. This is a movie about killer vines and it takes itself seriously. Forget the stereotypical characters, the vapid dialogue and the terribly cheesy gore effects... the only point of value is the seriousness with which the film looks at itself. Smith actually thought that this was an excellent film. And that is a great joke in itself.
Rated 17 Jun 2009
65
41st
The ruins is kind of misleading, since it's not about them at all. Never gets scary though, and that means failure.
Rated 09 Jul 2010
83
50th
A lot better than you might think. This one kept me nervous for quite some time.
Rated 21 Jan 2011
1
16th
Speaker flowers. Really? Other than that, great boobs.
Rated 11 Dec 2008
60
48th
Reminded me of Cabin Fever a bit, but this was better. Nice gore and had some good moments of shock. I was surprised to see Ben Stiller as an executive producer.
Rated 17 Jul 2008
49
25th
Although not as terrible as many horror movie that have come out recently, it still wasn't all that great. Most the main characters sucked and I couldn't really root for any of them to live. The ending was weak. There were A LOT of scenes that were just unnecessary. An I just feel not too much happened.
Rated 20 Nov 2019
39
4th
Making the characters so terrible that the audience will want them to die has never been a recipe for enjoyment for me.
Rated 28 Jun 2021
4
51st
Covid canon
Rated 30 Jul 2018
47
24th
Well, the title ruined it for me
Rated 04 Sep 2018
70
77th
One of the better horror movies I've seen in quite some time. The filmmakers add some interesting and different elements to the flick using the location it is mainly shot in.
Rated 06 Oct 2018
34
32nd
There is some decent body-horror elements here but the entire film is just too weak to recommend beyond a few brief solid gore scenes.
Rated 05 Sep 2021
65
46th
Not a terrible "Ignorant Americas vs the Jungle" movie. It probably would have been a lot better if the plants didn't go all Audrey II midway through.
Rated 29 Aug 2021
20
4th
I hate to be one of those pretentious assholes saying the book is better than the movie… But I am gonna go ahead and say it. I don’t understand some of the choices made here, why switch characters and what happens to them? Even the ending? The source material is a slow burn but effectively creepy, bleak, full of tension. The movie lacks any of it. Big disappointment.
Rated 07 Apr 2022
23
15th
Just insanely stupid all around. Trash.
Rated 29 Aug 2022
75
56th
Watched it again last night and I gotta say I don't understand the hate and poor ratings. This is a good idea, some very decent gore, great performances all around.
Rated 13 Oct 2022
55
34th
It might follow the typical "teenagers/young adults lost" horror trappings, but within that framework this one still manages to be quite effective, even if mostly thanks to the character Jeff, and Tucker's performance.
Rated 11 Oct 2023
36
14th
Standard mid-2000s horror movies had two distinct, required elements. T&A and gore. The Ruins shoehorns in both, and then holds the distinction of being a unique premise, but also very dumb. There is potential, but it is squandered. Shyamalan would be proud.

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