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The Ruins (2008)

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Ruins can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963794/parentalguide.

The Ruins by Scott Smith. Smith also wrote the screenplay.

There are some changes. For example, the movie sets the story in a temple rather than on a hill. There are some changes in the characters and what happens to them. Also, the ending is slightly different in that Amy gets away.

Yes. http://www.ruinsmovie.com/.

The ruins are the remains of an ancient Mayan temple inhabited by carnivorous vines.

Eleven miles west of the city of Cobá in the northern part of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. For a map of the Yucatán Peninsula, go to http://www.travelyucatan.com/yucatan-peninsula-map.php. However, the movie itself was filmed in Australia.

Somewhat. The vocal abilities of the vines were toned down for the movie. In the book, they can create full sentences using various words they heard; in the movie, you really only hear them mimic laughter (in the very beginning), the ringing cell phone, noises that made Stacy think Eric and Amy had sex, and Stacy's pleas to kill herself.

No one knows. Their origin is not explained in the book or the movie. There has, however, been some speculation. One theory is that the vines evolved to have a taste for blood due to the Mayan sacrifices that took place on the ruins. Another is the old standby -- they came from outer space, like Audrey II in The Little Shop of Horrors.

No, because the group could not communicate with the Mayans to learn about the vines, and the author did not give the reader any details in the text. Jeff tells the others that the vines must have been there for a long, long time because there were no birds or insects in the area and they must have learned not to go there, but this is just a guess on Jeff's part. The vines could be a recent growth that just showed up a few years ago. It's anybody's guess.

This was never explained either in the book or the movie. Some reasons that have been suggested are that the native Mayans (1) don't want the vines to spread beyond the temple and (2) consider the vines and the ruins sacred such that, once a person touches the vines, he or she must be sacrificed. A third possibility is that the Mayans and the vines have a truce: you don't eat us, and we'll give you anyone who is unfortunate enough to stumble upon your temple.

One possible explanation is that the natives didn't want to be murderers and were only there to keep the group from escaping and spreading the vines. Another explanation is that the natives saw the vines as some sort of religious beings and/or it was their duty to "feed" the vines. Other explanations are that (1) the vines were like vampires and could only feed on live flesh and blood or (2) once the vines were alerted to Amy's presence (when she stepped on one), the vines would have spread in search of their prey and the natives were trying to contain them as best as they could.

Probably a dialect of Mayan. According to http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/November2005/mayan.html: "The Mayan language family is a group of 69 related languages spoken today by over 6 million people in Central America." The largest populations of Maya speakers can be found in the Mexican states of Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Chiapas, and in the Central American countries of Belize, Guatemala, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador.

For various reasons, Mayan culture began to decline nearly 2,000 years ago, most particularly during the later years of the first millenium A.D. Mesoamérica's native populations suffered a further blow from diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and measles brought by Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century. During the next 100 years, 90 percent of the native populations were killed off. The remaining 10 percent assimilated and, although their culture was destroyed, their descendents can still be found in various places in Mexico and Central America. For a detailed timeline of the Mayan civilization, go to http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/travel/ldumois/maya/ldmayatimeline.html.

Septicemia or, more commonly, "blood poisoning." It's a condition where infectious bacteria get into the blood and rapidly spread throughout a person's body. If not treated, the person can go into septic shock. Half of all cases of septicemia result in death.

After seeing the movie, many viewers have suggested that the group should have used their liquor to burn the vines. Outside of the obvious fact that, if they burned down all the vines, it wouldn't have been much of a movie, several reasons have been suggested as to why such a plan would not have worked. First of all, green plants don't burn. They need to be dried out before they can catch fire. Second, the group didn't have the resources to start a fire large enough to burn all the plants inside and surrounding the temple. Third, when Amy and Stacy were down in the shaft, the vines grabbed the torches out of their hands with no problem. The fire didn't hurt them. Fourth, even if they somehow set the vines ablaze, they'd probably be engulfed by the flames. If they tried to escape, the Mayans would probably kill them anyway. Trying to burn all the vines in the area just wasn't a viable plan. Napalm, Agent Orange, or even plain old DDT might have done the trick, but the group wasn't carrying any of that stuff.

Who is to say that they hadn't already tried and been unsuccessful at it?

At any rate, fire isn't the be-all/end-all solution for getting rid of unwanted plants. For example, bamboo can be burned right down to the ground year after year and still come back. Jack pine requires fire to open its cones so that the seeds can get out, so fire is actually beneficial for helping the plant to spread. Native prairies relied on occasional fires to sustain the native plants and destroy invading weeds and trees. In rural areas, controlled burning is often used in the fall to burn down standing weeds in ditches along the road or in fields so that uncontrolled fires can't spread through the countryside. Next spring, all those plants come back as usual.

In the case of the vines, burning them might not have stopped them, and the natives might already have figured this out. The vines were growing everywhere, including deep down underground in the shaft. Even if the surface vines could have been burned down, it's likely that the underground plants would simply resurface.

Salt inhibits plant growth. Salt is also used in magical practices to draw circles that either contain demons and evil spirits or to keep them away, because evil spirits (the vines?) supposedly can't cross over salt.

Good idea, but let's look at it a bit more critically. Salt isn't easily obtained in a jungle, although it could be procured from ocean water. However, check this link to a map of the Yucatan Peninsula [http://www.travelyucatan.com/yucatan-peninsula-map.php] and locate Cobá. According to the book the ruins are located 11 miles west of Cobá, and Cobá is not a coastal city. How are some natives with their bicycles and horses going to be able to process enough salt from the ocean, transport it some 30-40 miles to the ruins, and then cover them with salt?

Amy tossed down some vines that hit a Mayan boy, and he was shot because of it. The Mayans wouldn't let that happen again. If the group started tossing vines, they'd be shot down in seconds.

Most viewers think it was put in the movie to drive home the point that the Mayans weren't just killing foreigners. They were going to kill anyone, even themselves, who came in contact with the vines.

Yes. In fact, there were three endings shot. On the DVD (released 8 July, 2008), the movie ending has Amy getting away in the jeep. As she drives off, there is a close-up of her face, and the vines can be seen under the skin around her right eye. Two other endings are presented as deleted scenes. In the ending called "Original Theatrical Ending", Amy drives off in the jeep, but no vines can be seen on her face in the close-up. In the "Alternate Ending," Amy also gets away, but there is an addition scene set in a cemetery. A groundskeeper hears a ringing noise, kneels down in front of Amy's grave, and starts to examine one of the red flowers growing on it. The flower appear to be whistling the same tune that the groundskeeper was just whistling.

Dimitri is shot with an arrow in the chest by a Mayan and then killed by a bullet in the face by another.

Second is Mathias. Breaks his back falling down the shaft and then his legs are stripped away of flesh by the vines, which forces the group to amputate them. He is finally suffocated by the vines at night and dies.

Third is Eric. Stabbed in the heart by Stacy.

Fourth is Stacy. While going down the shaft, she cuts her leg. The following night, she finds the vine crawling in the skin around the wound. She then becomes obsessed with getting it out. After cutting so much of her skin, she finally asks Amy to kill her.

Fifth is Jeff. After smearing Stacy's blood on Amy's face and carrying her down the ruins to the Mayans, he begins walking away from her body in order to distract the Mayans. When he begins approaching them, they shoot him with arrows three times. He falls and is finally killed with a gun by the old Mayan. The vine takes his body.

After that, Amy makes a run for it. As the Mayans chase her through the jungle, she finds a jeep left by Mathias' brother and escapes.

NOTE: This is VERY different from the book.

The last survivor, Stacy, descends to the bottom of the hill and sits there, the Mayans keeping their eyes on her. She takes several swallows of tequila, then slits her wrists. As the vines come snaking toward her to slurp up her blood, the Mayans begin to break their camp. The vines then cover her and drag her off the path to finish the job. Three days later, the Greeks arrive, accompanied by some Brazilians. The path to the ruins is easy to find, having been well-used the past few days. As they approach the hill, they notice a young Mayan girl jumping up and down, waving at them. She runs off into the jungle. They start up the hill. By the time the first horseman arrives, they are already halfway up the hill, calling Pablo's name.

Several people have commented that The Ruins reminds them of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening (2008), in which plant-life revolts against pollution and global warming by releasing toxins against human-life. If carnivorous plants are your thing, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and its musical remake, Little Shop of Horrors (1986), introduces Audrey II, an alien plant that needs to feed on human blood. Another movie that's been mentioned is The Day of the Triffids (1962), in which alien spores arrive on earth in a meteor shower and grow into plants that can walk around and feed on humans. The portmanteau movie Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) contains a segment in which Alan 'Fluff' Freeman does battle with a homicidal garden plant. Other movies that have been mentioned include Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!, which needs no explanation, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and its two remakes, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Invasion (2007), in which plantlike pods produce perfect duplicates of humans that replace them while they sleep.