The Ruins
HEADLINE: ** Pagan Attack of the Killer Vines **
Title: THE RUINS
Quality: * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: VVV
Sex: S
Nudity: NN
RATING: R
RELEASE: April 4, 2008
TIME: 91 minutes
STARRING: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Joe Anderson
DIRECTOR: Carter Smith
PRODUCERS: Chris Bender, Stuart Cornfeld and Ben Stiller
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Trish Hofmann
WRITERS: Scott B. Smith
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY: Scott Smith
DISTRIBUTOR: DreamWorks SKG/Paramount Studios/Viacom
CONTENT: (PaPaPa, C, LLL, VVV, S, NN, AA, M) Very strong pagan, demonic worldview with unexplained horrors that offer nothing redemptive and no real redemptive moral tone other than one character sacrifices himself so that another might escape; at least 23 mostly strong obscenities, five profanities and man seen urinating; extremely graphic violence such as people shot with arrows, man shot in head with gun, guy falls and breaks his back, little boy is shot because he is believed to be infected, vines eat flesh and devour people, legs are graphically amputated, girl cuts herself up with a knife to the point of bleeding to death, man stabbed, woman is covered in blood, man throws up from imagery, dead bodies and bones are seen in vines; implied fornication, unmarried couples living together, unmarried kissing, drunk girl tries to kiss man other than her boyfriend, couple bets each other with sexual favors as the wager instead of money and it is implied that the loser makes good on the bet; upper male nudity, rear male nudity, upper female nudity, rear and side female nudity, women in bikinis, cleavage, woman seen in underwear and see through night shirt; strong alcohol use, depicted drunkenness and woman throws up from drinking too much; no smoking; and, gambling with sexual favors and young adults are bad role models.
GENRE: Horror
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
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Brad Grey, Chairman/CEO
Paramount Pictures
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SUMMARY: THE RUINS follows two unmarried couples on vacation in Mexico who find themselves trapped on top of an ancient Mayan pyramid infested deadly, flesh-eating vines. THE RUINS is another hopeless glorification of gruesome gore, with strong foul language, nudity and some sexual references.
IN BRIEF:
THE RUINS follows two unmarried couples who steal away to Mexico for a leisurely vacation. They meet a young man from Munich trying to find his lost brother, an archeologist who went missing several days before. The young man convinces the fearless foursome to join him. They explore some uncharted Mayan ruins way off the beaten path deep in the heart of the jungle. After they arrive, they find a large Mayan pyramid overgrown with strange-looking vines. A local village mob forces them at gunpoint to the top of the ruins. The young couples find that the ancient evil lurking in the ruins are deadly, flesh-eating vines. One by one, the trapped travelers not only fall prey to the deadly vines but also to madness and hopelessness.
THE RUINS is simply another vile, graphic horror movie that focuses on bloodletting and gruesome imagery rather than suspense and true fright. The plot pacing is off, the bloodthirsty vines are never explained, and the evil is never seen as anything that can be stopped. The movie becomes a hopeless glorification of gluttonous gore, with strong foul language, nudity and some sexual references.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
