If The Ruins had been made in the 1970s it would have been the second feature at a drive-in double bill and it would have starred mostly older actors, people in their 30s and up. Instead of being about a quartet of American college age kids getting into weird trouble at a pyramid in the jungles of Mexico, it would have been about a group of archaeologists getting into weird trouble at a pyramid in the jungles of Mexico. I would have liked that film better. Which isn't to say that I didn't like The Ruins - I did, and found it effective - but it's to say that the demands placed on it by the modern studio system really hamstring the film.

Based on the novel by Scott Smith (who adapted it himself), The Ruins takes place in essentially one location, atop a Mayan pyramid where a group of partying kids are trapped by the local Indians. Something is up there on that pyramid with them, and it's hungry. Okay, I'll spoil it - it's a man eating vine. Which is both silly and cool - I think the advertising tries to sell this as Hostel: Viva Mexico when in fact it's a monster movie. It's a weird monster for sure, and it doesn't 100% work cinematically (leaves moving of their own accord isn't the scariest image you'll see this year. Or even this night at the movies if the You Don't Mess With The Zohan trailer plays in front of the film), but the monster seems almost secondary. What director Carter Smith (no relation to Scott) is more interested in is good old fashioned survival horror. It's hard to find the relatable scare in a man eating vine, but it's easier to find the scare in being gravely injured and very far from modern medical care. The Ruins almost certainly sets a record for squirm-inducing field surgery in a major motion picture this decade, and that's where the impact comes in, not from the creeping foliage. In fact I'll go on the record as saying that The Ruins features one of the all-time great amputations ever.

The killer vine also takes a back seat to the deteriorating mental conditions of the people trapped atop the pyramid; in fact the vine totes up the lowest kill count of any group in the film. It mostly waits around for you to bite it before pulling you into the green leafy mass and doing what it does. The characters breaking down (or finding unexpected inner strength, depending on their arc) would have carried more weight if we weren't watching a bunch of 20-something. Characters with lives or families to get back to would be easier to get down with than these kids who are having the worst spring break ever.

The Ruins marks Carter Smith's feature directorial debut, and he does a fine job. He builds (and more importantly sustains) tension very nicely, and he goes for the intense and bloody scenes with a real visceral gusto. Before the film becomes stuck in the pyramid location he takes the opportunity to create some really nice shots, and once the action does become confined he maintains the sense of geography while finding interesting ways to shoot the same area. I would nitpick that the end of the first act/opening of the second act is a little breathless and doesn't allow for the proper build up of doom, but he does everything else so well that it's hard to complain.

I also have to give the movie credit for staying small; the film doesn't spiral out of control into some kind of action extravaganza in the third act. This, I'm sure, is going to be a problem for a lot of people as the movie doesn't have the sort of big bang that we've come to expect from our studio pictures over the last few years, but I think over time it's this refusal to shoe horn in big set pieces that will make folks appreciate The Ruins. Having said that, the film could have used one more bit of oomph in the last act, one extra beat.

The problems I have with The Ruins have to be laid at the feet of the other Smith, Scott. His characters are slightly less than archetypes, people who feel just a little bit blank. The character played by Shawn Ashmore has one defining characteristic: he likes blow jobs. Thankfully Ashmore is a charismatic actor who brings the illusion of life to his character, but there's nothing much in the script for him to work with. One thing that I will give Smith, though, is that this is one of the rare horror films where I never felt exasperated at how people were reacting. Whether people were making good decisions or bad ones, they were all believable to me within the context.

It is neat that The Ruins got made at all. It doesn't fit any current genre trend, and it certainly has the most left field villain of a major release in years. It's also extraordinarily brutal at times. It's a good first effort for Carter Smith, and while it's no great work it certainly deserves better than it got this weekend.

7.5 out of 10