16 Years Later, Forgotten Horror With Hunger Games Star Dominates Netflix Top 10

Sometimes years-old projects show up at the top of Netflix, giving them a second life. Recently, a horror film that no one expected to see there burst into the top 10 of the platform – the project cannot boast a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is 50%.

What is This Travel Horror About?

There is a specific horror subgenre about traveling where we were scared by the open sea and violent maniacs. Do you think that is the end of the dangers for vacationers? Not at all.

In this movie, a group of American tourists, tired of Mexican beaches, set out to explore the Mayan pyramids lost deep in the jungle.

There are bad rumors about the pyramids, and even the guides are in a hurry to leave. But the tourists climb to the top of one of the ziggurats and become prisoners of a mysterious plant whose flowers are cunning and bloodthirsty.

The locals besieged the landmark, and when the confused travellers accidentally touched the vines, they opened fire on them with bows and guns.

Driven in such a brutal manner to the upper platform of the ziggurat, the company has very little room to maneuver. They can climb inside the pyramid, where someone's cell phone is ringing.

Or try to break through into the jungle and risk catching a bullet. Or die of wounds and hunger, waiting for help from the acquaintances left in the hotel.

The Ruins Is a Rare Example of the Junglesploitation Subgenre

Despite its low rating, The Ruins can still surprise even 16 years after its release. The movie quickly turns into an example of old school exploitation, when directors still knew how to surprise the audience with truly shocking scenes involving severed body parts.

In particular, The Ruins resurrects a rather forgotten type of horror film popular in the '70s, known as "junglesploitation," in which tourists who venture into the heart of the jungle discover evil there, leaving them with little chance of returning home.

Some clichéd themes (white people who climbed into places they shouldn't cut each other with knives) are compensated in The Ruins by good cinematography, a truly creepy vine, and characters who almost don't act stupid, but are simply victims of the situation who have suffered from unnecessary curiosity.

And it also stars Jena Malone, who most viewers know from her iconic role as Johanna Mason in The Hunger Games franchise.

So as long as you don't mind seeing severed body parts at the top of an Aztec pyramid, your time watching The Ruins will be well spent.