The Ruins
The Ruins takes us to Mexico where two couples in their early 20’s are enjoying their last couple of days of lolling around the pool sipping margaritas. Unlike a lot of gross-out films, this one features actors with some chops. Richmond’s Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from The X-Men), Jonathan Tucker from The Black Donnely’s, Jena Malone from Into The Wild, and Laura Ramsey star as Eric, Jeff, Amy and Stacy respectively. Joe Anderson from Across the Universe with a spot on German accent plays Mathias, a fellow reveller who tempts them into one last shot at adventure before heading back to school by visiting a little known archaeological dig. Despite trepidations expressed by the locals they venture off to a vine covered pyramid but once they climb it they are forced to stay by armed villagers who speak an unknown language. The vines as we find out have some nasty abilities not the least of which is being able to do more impersonations than Rich Little. Conveniently Jeff is a med student which allows for a fair amount of surgery that is continually required - of course without anaesthesia. From the best seller The Ruins, author Scott B Smith also wrote the screenplay for this squirmy, turn-your-head-away yet oddly satisfying movie