A Frank Review of "The Ruins" (2008)

The Short Version? Young WASPs eaten by evil plants in Mayan temple.
What Is It? Horror
Who's In It? Jena Malone
Should I See It? Maybe.

The Ruins is about as serious and high quality a production as one could expect from a killer plant movie. Jena Malone is as always excellent, taking a slight, potentially irritating character and giving her the presence of an actual person. The rest of the pretty twenty-something cast, including Shawn "Iceman" Ashmore, are less successful. Still, you believe they're suffering, and that's all they exist for. I mean, come on-- we're not here for high art. This is about people dying in long, painful, gruesome ways that make you and your friends howl and squirm. Done. We've got things sliding into the human body that ought not to. We've got amputation and mutilation. We've got head shots that enter through the nose. We've got the Audrey II at maximum overdrive. If that's your thing, what more need be said, except perhaps to make a point of watching the darkly comic alternate ending?