The Ruins

(USA/Germany/Australia, 2008, 93 minutes)

A group of young vacationers in Mexico travel to a Mayan ruin off the tourist path and find themselves at the mercy of a strange species of carnivorous vine. Claustrophobic horror movie whose slick handling and good production values are put at the service of an intriguing but underdeveloped premise.

Dreamworks Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present a Red Hour Films production; produced with assistance from the Queensland Government's Pacific Film and Television Commission; produced in association with Internationale Filmproduktion Prometheus. Starring Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson. Directed by Carter Smith; produced by Stuart Cornfeld, Jeremy Kramer, Chris Bender; screenplay by Scott B. Smith, based on his novel The Ruins; music by Graeme Revell; director of photography (Atlab/DeLuxe, Panavision), Darius Khondji; production designer, Grant Major; costume designer, Lizzy Gardiner; film editor, Jeff Betancourt; visual effects supervisor, Gregory L. McMurry.