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The Ruins (18)

Reviewed,Anthony Quinn
Friday 20 June 2008 00:00 BST
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American tourists treating the world as their playground and then being punished for it is now a favourite horror trope. This time we're in Mexico, where a quartet of young holidaymakers have abandoned their hotel pool in favour of visiting some Mayan ruins.

They show their taxi driver the point on the map. "This place – no good," he says, but do they listen? Do they hell. Scott B Smith, adapting from his novel, has some gruesome frights in store as the Americans' day out turns into a survivalist nightmare.

The locals prove hostile – no change, there – and the indigenous flora doesn't look too friendly, either. Jena Malone is the cast's ace, though one wonders what she saw in the script to test her considerable talent – surely not the scenes of DIY surgery?

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