This is a very good psychological horror adapted from a well-received book. The story concerns two American couple who somehow end up perched on a Mayan pyramid in the middle of nowhere, with the indigenous people waiting for them with bows and arrows on the other side. Also, the pyramid has some evil spirit or something that makes the vines and bushes growing on the pyramid so strange things. The direction is good and the characters are well etched- in fact the first half hour or so is simply buildup. This is a psychological horror and you will be surprised by it.

Well, I finally got a chance to experience a film that I had wanted to see, for some obscure reason, ever since it was released in 2008: "The Ruins." This is an Australian/U.S. co-production that, as it turns out, is an extremely effective horror thriller indeed. In it, two young American couples are on vacation at a Mexican resort. They befriend a young German who tells them that he is going to an off-the-maps Mayan ruin the next day in the jungle, with another friend of his, and so, off the six go, on what turns out to be a vacation detour from hell. Once arrived at the pyramid, modern-day Mayans appear with guns and arrows and force them to stay on top of the pyramid; they are prisoners there, and cannot leave. Even worse, the youngsters soon realize that the vines that cover the pyramid, inside and out, are very much alive...and murderous, to boot. These vines can imitate the sounds that humans and cell phones make, and they have a nasty habit of devouring people, sucking out their blood, carrying them off, and crawling down their throats. Their spores, once inhaled, cause the plants to grow inside the human body, as well! What follows is an escalating exercise in horror and suspense that is most assuredly NOT for the squeamish viewer. There are indeed several scenes that are a bit hard to watch. In the first, one of the kids must have his infected legs amputated by the others; in another, one of the women must have her body slashed by a knife so that the plant life within her can be removed. The four leads--Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey and Shawn Ashmore--are all very effective here, and director Carter Smith does a wonderful job at ratcheting tension. My stomach was in knots by the end of this 90-minute thrill ride, a sure sign of an effective film and a job well done. As one of my reference books, "Horror: 333 Films to Scare You to Death," puts it, "Not since the seedpods of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' has chlorophyll been put to such terrifying use." The film comes more than highly recommended by yours truly....

A couple of years ago I had found the book The Ruins it was an excellent book it's very descriptive so I watched the movie it was kinda disappointing at first because they left out major detailing and they changed a lot of parts so I reread the book and I realized why they changed them cause it was similar to a couple other books and movies but The Ruins is an extraordinary read and movie it has a lot of graphic moments definitely not for anyone under 13 there are some inappropriate scenes that include violence swearing drinking etc. it's a very excellent movie it deserves a 10/10 I highly recommend it for sleepovers movie nights a at home movie date a black hearts party anti valentines day and many more

This was not an entirely bad movie, nor was it a very good movie. The story was good. I really liked the mysterious plant idea and I don't care that after warts you don't know how and why. The only thing I am really bugged about is this. The Mexicans chased them ( in the begging) on the temple (because they where already infected). Why don't they scare them off before going into the infected area? It could have saved a lot of trouble and the people would still all be alive! But yeah, then you wouldn't have a movie. It's one of those things you think of after seeing the movie. It's just one of those holes you sometimes counter in a movie.The acting was okay. It's just the same group of teens you see in almost every horror movie except these teens weren't dumb, they where actually quite okay/smart for a horror movie.It was an okay horror movie. Not bad not good. It didn't get to me and it wasn't anything special either.