The Ruins

The Ruins (Rated R)

Running time: 1 hr 31 mins

Cast:

Jonathon Tucker
Jena Malone
Laura Ramsey
Shawn Ashmore
Joe Anderson

Critical consensus (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/):

** out of *****

My consensus:

**** out of *****

The premise: A group of friends whose leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when they, along with a fellow tourist embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins.

My review: I was very shocked by this film. Not by the material, but was shocked on how much I really enjoyed the movie. This is what a horror film should be. The premise was original, and the "villian" wasn't actually a person but a plant. Sounds weird, but it works so well. It takes away from the stupid horror movie villian who walks slowly through a forest picking off his victims one by one with a machete and dawning a mask of some sort. It allowed us to actually focus AND care about the characters. Which is something we are so rarely allowed to do in these movies: care about the people involved. We get to know them, and eventually get nervous for them when peril strikes. I loved that! It helps that these young actors handled their roles well too, there were some pretty good performances. This will probably be one of the top five horror films of the year.