The Ruins

I stumbled across the book The Ruins through Amazon.com's suggestive advertising during the summer of 2007. It sounded interesting and up my ally. I'm always looking for great Survivor books as well as movies. I bought the book about 6 months before I even learned they were making a movie, but I didn't read it right away. As soon as I saw a preview for the movie I quickly tried to finish the current book I was reading (what a bore it was) and start on The Ruins. Once I started reading The Ruins I could not put it down; it was that good! Not extremely exciting, but written very well.

The movie, on the other hand, was a different experience. I'm not a fan of standing behind cliches, but yea, the book was better. It's the same basic story in both the movie and book - at least they didn't try to change that - but the fact that they changed the ending just to appease "stupid" American audiences is what really made me dislike the movie. It ruined the movie. There were a couple other things including a rushed feeling that the movie gave off, which I think could have been done better. I don't blame the movie for rearranging what happens to who because I'm sure they wanted to create some surprise for people who had read the book.

Synopsis: When a group of tight-knit college friends visit the site of an undisturbed Mayan ruin, they stumble into an ancient trap: an unspoken evil waiting to drag its victims into an endless nightmare. As fear and paranoia eat away at their sanity, their only chance at escape is to commit the unthinkable.

My favorite element of The Ruins is without a doubt the herbal antagonist. I think I can safely say that The Ruins will be the only movie to appear on this blog that features killer plants! What happens is the 6 friends get too close to the ruins (pictured above), which is heavily populated with these docile man-eating vines. These vines get in you. They suffocate you. They suck you dry. Once the college friends step foot on the ruins, an army of local Mayans surround them and prevent them from leaving for the fear of carrying the evil vine's seed outside the quarantined vicinity (notice the moat of salt surrounding the ruins). The friends get stuck atop the ruins waiting for someone to come and rescue them before starvation or the vines kill them first.

Cast:

Amy (Jena Malone) is Jeff's girlfriend. She's hesitant on traveling to the ruins but persuaded into going.





Jeff (Jonathan Tucker) is Amy's boyfriend. He's the group leader and wants everyone to see something unique before leaving Mexico.


Eric (Shawn Ashmore) is Stacy's boyfriend. He's the most laid-back of the group.




Stacy (Laura Ramsey) is Eric's girlfriend and Amy's best friend. She tends to agree with whatever Amy says.


Mathias (Joe Anderson) is from Germany. His brother is an archaeologist with a dig site at the ruins and invites him to come visit. Mathias invites the others too.



Dimitri (Dimitri Baveas) is a Greek boy the group meets near their hotel. He tags along leaving his other Greek friends a map to follow later. He doesn't speak English.


Movie Scene:



Click here for Spoilers

The Ruins Movie
First Victim: Dimitri. Before they even climb the ruins, the Mayans kill him.

Second Victim: Mathias. He falls down the shaft breaking his back. The vines eat off his legs and later suffocate him.

Third Victim: Eric. Stacy goes crazy over the vines crawling inside her that she accidentally stabs Eric in the chest when he tries to stop her from cutting her own body open.

Fourth Victim: Stacy. Her body is so bloody and ripped open at this point from trying to cut the vines out from under her skin that the others put her out of her misery.

Fifth Victim: Jeff. He creates a distraction so Amy can escape. The Mayans shoot him in the chest with several arrows.

Survivor: Amy

The Ruins Book
First Victim: Amy. The vines suffocate her during the night when she sleeps outside the tent. They put her body in a sleeping bag and later are shocked to see the bag moving...

Second Victim: Dimitri (called Pablo in the book). He falls down the shaft breaking his back. The vines eat off his legs and later suffocate him.

Third Victim: Jeff. He tries to escape but the Mayans shoot him through the throat.

Fourth Victim: Mathias. Eric goes crazy over the vines crawling inside him that he accidentally stabs Mathias in the chest.

Fifth Victim: Eric. Eric is so bloody and beaten up at this point from trying to cut the vines out from under his skin that he asks Stacy to kill him.

Sixth Victim: Stacy. All alone and with no hope to escape she slits her wrists.

Survivors: None


Notice how in the movie they're killed in pretty much the reverse order of the credits (typical movie fashion) whereas the book is done almost randomly (uh hello? better!). The minute the story got under way I figured Dimitri would be the first to die and then Mathias. The movie followed suit and I was not surprised (yaaawn, yaaawn). The book astonished me. Etc, etc, I could go on and on with points that made the book better.