January 10, 2008 Reader Shattered68 chimes in with the first ever review of "The Ruins"! It's spoiler free.



And here it is:

This past Wedensday night, I saw what was supposedly the very first test screening of “The Ruins” on the Paramount Studio lot. Although my expectations weren’t very high (I hadn’t read the book and the trailer is ok at best), I am pleased to say that “The Ruins” delivers.

The audience was warned that it was not yet finished, it needed color corrections and that most of the FX shots were not in place and would be represented by story boards in their place. I was happy to find that it was indeed a finished film (with the possibility of some slight color correction), and all the FX shots looked good to great.

"The Ruins" wastes little time getting going. We are at the ruins with the main story and characters in less than the first 15 minutes of the movie’s approximate 1hour and 50 minute running time. This isn’t a body count movie, there are only 5 kills, but director Carter Smith makes the most of them. Two of the main characters suffer hideous slow deaths that had the audience gasping and squirming in their seats.

The lead actors were above average, and created characters that the audience could care about. I did like the fact that the 5 leads were different (although not ethnically) and easily distinguishable from one another. Too many movies have a group of characters that are almost impossible to tell apart; they look the same, act the same and sound the same.

There were a few minor flaws with the film. The lead character “Alice” in the beginning of the film is stupid and annoying (maybe this was intentional); but ultimately, she ended up being sympathetic and I found that I cared about her. The story is slightly similar to Eli Roth’s “Cabin Fever” (not a necessarily a bad thing). The actress Laura Ramsey who plays “Stacy” looks like Tara Reid (which was a little bothersome); although Ms. Ramsey is a much better actress and her character was very likable. The only other minor complaint was that while the movie definitely delivers on the blood and gore, it wasn’t scary (very few movies scare me however).

About the level of gore and violence….WOW! This isn’t a PG-13 whitewash. It went above and beyond in this department. While it wasn’t excessive, it had the audience cringing and screaming out. There was a dismemberment that was a jaw-dropper…it looked painful and was at times not easy to watch, which is what what horror flicks is supposed to be. The story held my attention and had a great pace even though there is essentially only one set. It was fun ride that I would gladly pay to ride again. I just pray that Paramount/Dreamworks doesn’t screw with it too much (this was a test-screening after all) as it is a near classic as is.

"The Ruins" is directed by Carter Smith and tells the story about a group of tourists on a Mexican holiday, who embark on a remote archaelogical dig - and find a supernatural evil among the ruins.
The film stars Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Jonathan Tucker.

It's slated to hit screens in April.


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