Even the most ardent of horror fans would admit there’s a fine line between utilizing gore to enhance a story, and simply throwing buckets off the stuff into every scene for the sake of cinematic shock tactics. Nobody involved in the making of 2008’s The Ruins seemed to pay much heed, though, because plot and character could have really used as much attention as the stomach-churning effects.
Scott Smith adapted his own novel for the screen, but while the source material received widespread acclaim, the live-action version of The Ruins could only rustle up respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 49 and 30 percent from critics and audiences. To rub salt into the huge, gaping, oozing wound that’s incredibly difficult to look at, the film couldn’t even recoup its $25 million budget from theaters.
There’s a strong central cast in play, it should be noted, with the severely and perennially underrated Jonathan Tucker heading up an ensemble that also features Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Joe Anderson, and Laura Ramsey. Four friends and a fellow tourist head out on a remote archeological dig deep in the Mexican jungle, only to quickly discover that the ruins have been abandoned for a very good and utterly terrifying reason.
Those with a soft spot for unrelenting and regularly queasy scenes of body horror will no doubt get a kick out it, but a lot of folks were put off by The Ruins‘ unquenchable thirst to push the envelope. That being said, based on the fact FlixPatrol has revealed it to be the unlucky 13th most-watched title on Netflix’s global most-watched list after entering the Top 10 in 19 countries, dispositions among the subscriber base are strong.
