The Ruins
Director: Carter Smith
Writer: Scott B. Smith
Based on: his own novel
Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Laura Ramsey, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, Sergio Calderón
Seen on: 23./24.7.2026

Content Note: racism

Plot:
Amy (Jena Malone) and Jeff (Jonathan Tucker), as well as Stacy (Laura Ramsey) and Eric (Shawn Ashmore) are on holiday in Mexico together, and are having a grand old time. Having connected with a German tourist, Mathias (Joe Anderson), they are ready to go on a bit of an adventure when Mathias tells them about an archaeological dig his brother went to. The digsite is in the middle of the jungle, and Mathias only has a hand-drawn map. The five of them, plus a Greek tourist they partied with (Dimitri Baveas) set off. But they are not prepared for what the jungle holds for them.

I saw The Ruins when it came out in 2008 and it deeply impressed me back then. So, after having finally read the novel it is based on, I thought, I’d give the film another go, too. I have to admit that it didn’t leave quite as much of an impression as it did then, but it is still pretty good.

As you can probably tell by this blog, I watch quite a few movies. Among many other things, this tends to mean that I quickly forget details about the, although more often than not, an overall impression remains. So, I was quite surprised while reading the book that I remembered quite a few details about the movie. That’s how much it hit me back when I saw it the first time. (There is the possibility that I just built up my memory of the film, of course.)

The second time around I can’t say that it hit me the same way. Part of it was certainly due to the fact that I knew where things were headed, and that I have also learned to treasure the hope that is in endings where somebody actually gets away. Another part is that with the book fresh in my mind, I compared as a matter of course, and the book mostly got the better marks (sidenote, I found the switches in character between Stacy and Amy compared to the book pretty interesting, and it would probably warrant a deep dive if one were so inclined). And a final part was that the film hasn’t aged all that well. Or maybe I have grown more critical. Either way, the acting only worked some of the time, and more importantly, the entire film is incredibly white in just about everything which makes it a racist affair.

Now, that might sound like the movie is atrocious – it is not, far from it. It is still a decent film that manages to set up some pretty good moments, and every once in a while strikes gold with its cast. The pacing is good, the camera is good and I was definitely engaged throughout. And the big bad here is still a very effective thing.

So overall, it is a film that is probably formative for me as a horror aficionado and it’s not like I’d recommend staying away from it, but it is not necessarily a film that needs to be included on The Best of Horror lists. Still, fun is to be had here.

Summarizing: entertaining enough, but I remembered it better than it is.