by Spencer Hawken

Created on: June 24, 2008

Sliding along in the wake of Turistas AKA Paradise Lost, The Ruins teaches us the dangers of travelling in unknown locations, and most importantly treating ancient temples and customs with respect.

While on holiday in Mexico five friends enjoy some downtime by their hotel swimming pool where they encounter the kindly Mathias (Joe Anderson). He tells the five travellers about his intentions to travel to an ancient temple the following day to meet with his brother. After some debate the five Americans decide to follow Mathias on his adventure being as it is their final days of their holiday, and figure that this would be an ideal way to finish off their holiday.

No sooner have our travellers arrived at the ancient temple than they are surrounded by an angry looking mob. Trying to cool the situation down due to the misunderstandings of no knowledge of each other's language Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) the groups self appointed leader steps forward to make amends. His five travellers look on as he is cruelly murdered by the mob, causing them to head for the temple. Surrounded at the base of the ancient ruins by a fifty strong army the travellers, the group try to debate their escape, but what lies in and on the temple is far worse than the terror below.

The trailer for the Ruins gives a viewer little inspiration to begin watching this movie, looking rather bland and similar to a lot of other movies, however it fails to illustrate the complexities of the plot and what appeared to be familiar horror fare turned out to deliver well beyond believable expectation, and for a movie that comes from Hollywoods Dreamworks studio, it's surprisingly dark.

The Ruins wastes no time getting straight to the heart of the action, having introduced the characters and their foibles, you are then rushed to the ancient ruins; where rather like fireworks you are given a quick succession of shocks. Considering the limited amount of space the cast have to manoeuvre around and the limited cast, there is an awful lot to The Ruins, more than you could ever expect in fact. Initially climbing the ruins filled with hope, the travellers are presented with a series of horrors that cause their hopes to slowly become diminished.

The big horror of the movie is the terrible vines that cover the ruins, and nothing is being ruined by this disclosure. Seemingly having a life of their own the vines can move, communicate, and most importantly devour our cast in a matter of seconds. You could call this horror a

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