The film stars Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, and Joe Anderson.
The story follows a pair of couples on vacation in Mexico who join a tourist to visit a remote Mayan ruin, that unfortunately is inhabited by a carnivorous vine growth.
In anger, Amy throws a clump of vines which hit a young boy, whom the Mayans promptly kill.
In a small, vine-covered room, the two find the body of the young archaeologist, Heinrich's friend, and a broken phone.
In the morning Eric brings Amy and Jeff into the tent and tells Stacy to show them the vines underneath her skin.
The rest of the group watches her as a vine moves under the skin in her forehead, revealing that her fears are true.
In the unrated version, as Amy manages to drive away in the jeep, a close shot of her face is shown crawling with moving vines, indicating she too is infected.
Director Carter Smith told an interviewer, "We shot a bunch of different stuff to see which one would work best with the finished film.
There's a testing process you go through with a studio movie and as frustrating as it can be, it also really gives you a good sense of how an audience feels about an ending.
According to The Miami Herald, "Smith was two-thirds done with the book when Ben Stiller's production company, Red Hour Films, bought the screen rights based on an outline.
'"[2] Director Carter Smith said, "If the audience is going to buy that this vine moves and can get into your body and all that, the world of the film has to be absolutely realistic.
The site's consensus reads, "Despite a solid cast and truly frightening source material, The Ruins flounders, thanks to a weak script and an excess of gore.
[5] James Berardinelli gave the film three stars out of four, saying, "The Ruins does what a good psychological horror movie should do: rely on tension rather than gore to achieve its aims.
This bleak, edgy motion picture isn't concerned with appealing to the masses that flock to multiplexes to enjoy the spatterings of the latest serial slasher or the hollow weirdness of a PG-13 ghost story.
"[6] The Miami Herald gave a mixed review: "The Ruins is, with one major caveat, about as good an adaptation of Scott Smith's bestselling novel as Hollywood was ever going to make...except for a stray shot here and there – like a glimpse of the vine's tendrils making off with a severed foot – the great potential for unintentional guffaws is mostly avoided.
[9] The R-rated edition includes a commentary by director Carter Smith and editor Jeff Betancourt, three featurettes (Making The Ruins, Creeping Death, Building The Ruins), additional scenes (Rain, Celebration, Going Over The Escape Plan, Alternate Ending), and trailers.
The unrated edition includes the theatrical cut and extra material, and also an alternate ending and optional commentary with additional scenes.