The Ruins

Four American college kids (Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore and Laura Ramsey) in Mexico take a detour with a German traveler (Joe Anderson) to a hidden Mayan ruin and wind up victims of an "unspeakable horror" in Scott B. Smith's screen adaptation of his own best-selling novel, directed by first-timer Carter Smith. "'The Ruins' abandons all hope that ye who enter here will experience any subtlety or real surprise," writes Variety critic Dennis Harvey. "Instead, it leans on the 'ewww' factor as characters have their bodies invaded by virulent vines and practice gruesome amateur surgery on themselves ... The novel offered a certain psychological depth; not so the film, which comes off essentially as routine, conceptually silly horror content." The DVD comes in separate R-rated theatrical and unrated versions, the latter featuring an alternate ending, commentary by director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt, deleted scenes and three featurettes on the film and the effects. Also available on Blu-ray format.