A few years ago the word " torture porn " became a more and more common phrase involving cinema . With the exception of PASSION OF THE Christ they seemed to revolve around a formula of " Backpackers meet up abroad , get kidnapped by indigenous nutters and get explicitly tortured to death . The end " On the surface THE RUINS may be just another horror film where horny teenagers get bumped off one by one but dig a little deeper and you'll find something different . Oh and isn't that last sentence appropriate as to happens to these characters ?
Set in Mexico some American backpackers meet a German who suggests visiting an ancient Mayan temple which the backpackers agree to , only to be attacked by some locals who kill one of their party and chase them up to the top of the temple . Why do they do this ? Strangely this inciting incident is never really explained but this shouldn't be taken as a massive criticism because it's an enigmatic horror film that whilst having some truly stomach churning effects never really talks down the audience . Both the director Smith and the screenwriter Smith combine to tell the story via the characters situation . By this I mean the audience are never one step ahead of the characters . When a plot turn - of which there are many - happens both the audience and characters see the revelation on screen at the same time . Certainly the whole premise of people being murdered and mutilated by semi intelligent flora is ridiculous but it's written , directed and acted with such conviction that the laughable becomes very credible within the film's running time .
What THE RUINS sets apart from other films in the sub genre of torture porn is that there's a strong element of body horror along with character's optimism being crushed . These two aspects are summed up with one of the characters finding out that there's vines growing inside her . She has them graphically cut out " Ah she's saved " gasp both the backpackers and audience . She screams that they're not all been purged and cries that there's one inside her head . Sure enough a small bulge in her forehead moves around . Hopes are built up and quickly dashed in this pessimistic shocker
All in all this is a rather memorable horror film . It's a film however that will not appeal in any shape or form to those who don't like gore . Interestingly enough I once had a conversation with a professional film critic that the banned video nasties of the 1980s are often tame compared to more mainstream horror films of the early 21st century and he agreed . You'd be very hard pressed to name a more stomach churning film than THE RUINS but that said it also concentrates on suspense and mystery and struggling against natural adversity which while perhaps not making a great horror certainly a very memorable one
Set in Mexico some American backpackers meet a German who suggests visiting an ancient Mayan temple which the backpackers agree to , only to be attacked by some locals who kill one of their party and chase them up to the top of the temple . Why do they do this ? Strangely this inciting incident is never really explained but this shouldn't be taken as a massive criticism because it's an enigmatic horror film that whilst having some truly stomach churning effects never really talks down the audience . Both the director Smith and the screenwriter Smith combine to tell the story via the characters situation . By this I mean the audience are never one step ahead of the characters . When a plot turn - of which there are many - happens both the audience and characters see the revelation on screen at the same time . Certainly the whole premise of people being murdered and mutilated by semi intelligent flora is ridiculous but it's written , directed and acted with such conviction that the laughable becomes very credible within the film's running time .
What THE RUINS sets apart from other films in the sub genre of torture porn is that there's a strong element of body horror along with character's optimism being crushed . These two aspects are summed up with one of the characters finding out that there's vines growing inside her . She has them graphically cut out " Ah she's saved " gasp both the backpackers and audience . She screams that they're not all been purged and cries that there's one inside her head . Sure enough a small bulge in her forehead moves around . Hopes are built up and quickly dashed in this pessimistic shocker
All in all this is a rather memorable horror film . It's a film however that will not appeal in any shape or form to those who don't like gore . Interestingly enough I once had a conversation with a professional film critic that the banned video nasties of the 1980s are often tame compared to more mainstream horror films of the early 21st century and he agreed . You'd be very hard pressed to name a more stomach churning film than THE RUINS but that said it also concentrates on suspense and mystery and struggling against natural adversity which while perhaps not making a great horror certainly a very memorable one