The Ruins

Four young Americans, two couples on holiday in Mexico, are persuaded by a German tourist to join him in searching for his brother, who vanished after setting out for a Maya ruin in the jungle. They make their way to the site and find the pyramid overgrown with an unusual creeping plant. What begins as an excursion turns into a struggle to survive, as the group is cut off from the outside and menaced by hostile forces at the ruins.

The Ruins was directed by Carter Smith and written by Scott B. Smith, adapting the novel of the same name. It was Smith's second feature, following Bugcrush in 2006 and preceding The Passenger in 2023. The cast includes Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson and Sergio Calderón. Chris Bender and Stuart Cornfeld produced. The film runs 91 minutes and was made for 8 million dollars, going on to take about 23 million worldwide, a return of roughly three times its cost.

The film was released on April 2, 2008. Critics rated it 5.6 out of 10 across 97 reviews, close to the audience scores: 5.9 on IMDb from around 91,000 votes and 6 on TMDB from about 1,500 votes, indicating a modest reception from both professional reviewers and viewers.