The Ruins

I've come not to expect much from the horror films being offered to the teen set these days and THE RUINS was no exception. I had no idea it was based on a book, which I've since been told is quite good, nor that Ben Stiller was friends with author Scott B. Smith which I gather is why this one was produced which is excellent because this is one of the best offerings I've seen in ages. Simple plot has a group of travelers checking out an Incan pyramid and running into some serious shit with the locals and a bunch of blood hungy weeds. Yes, weeds and not the good stuff either!~ While this sounds ridiculous director Carter Smith (never seen his work before and I have no idea if he and Scott are related) dares to take the material seriously as does the cast making for a very disturbing little piece of work. Laura Ramsey who at first looks to be simply there for a bouncing bit of T & A cranks out a scene which will have you squirming in your seat when you see it. Speaking of scenes, the message boards on IMDB lit up over the hand-job scene more than any other topic I've seen in recent history so those who want to know more about "that" can check it out there as I feel no need to crawl down into the gutter to discuss such sordid matters. No, I'll save that for MOULIN ROUGE! or something.