Books Turned Into Movies: Scott Smith's book The Ruins

The Book: The Ruins by Scott Smith
Release July, 2008

The novel follows a group of tourists on vacation in Cancún who find themselves prey to a deadly presence while looking for some Mayan ruins.

Four Americans (Jeff, Eric, Stacy, and Amy), along with their German friend Mathias and a Greek traveler known as Pablo, go looking for Mathias' brother Henrich, who has joined an archaeological dig at some unknown mineshaft. The trip does not begin well, as Jeff decides that they will search for Mathias's brother despite his friends' reservations. Once they get to their destination 11 miles outside of Coba, they dismiss the taxi, leaving them no way to get home. The taxi driver tells them their destination is a "bad place" and tries to convince them to leave, but he fails at the attempt and the six friends head into the jungle.



The Movie: The Ruins, Director: Carter Smith
Starring: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone
Release: April 8th, 2008
Tagline: Terror has evolved.

Six friends on vacation in Cancun go on an excursion to visit an archaeological dig near Coba. The friends include Jeff, a type A guy who is set to begin medical school in the fall; Amy, Jeff's girlfriend, who is also set to begin medical school, and who is smart and emotional; Stacy, Amy's best friend, an aspiring social worker whose nickname is "Spacy" and who is irresponsible and promiscuous; Eric, Stacy's boyfriend, who is immature, and set to become a high school teacher; a fun-loving Greek guy who everyone calls "Pablo," but who lacks a common language with any of the others; and Mathias, an intense, thoughtful German tourist. Mathias' brother, Henrich, vanished shortly before the Americans and Greeks met Mathias--he met a beautiful Dutch archaeologist and decided to meet her at her dig, leaving a hastily drawn map for Mathias to follow in case he wanted to join him. The five others decide to accompany Mathias in his search for his brother, and take a bus to Coba for the day. Things immediately start to go wrong, as the group isn't well prepared for the heat and insects, and the journey becomes creepy. The poorly drawn map leads them to a Mayan village, where the grievously poor inhabitants appear hostile to the foreigners. Further searching leads them to an almost-hidden trail that they follow to the ruins.