Carter talks The Ruins

Last Updated on July 27, 2021

I can honestly say that I’m not all that stoked for THE RUINS. I don’t know why. It just doesn’t seem very interesting to me, but whatever, Carter Smith is making features and I’m not, so I can’t complain.



Anyways, Shock Till You Drop has a pretty lengthy, in-depth interview with the director, in which they got to take a look at some scenes from the Paramount produced flick.

“When I read the book, I hadn’t really thought that much about the ruins,” Carter says. “It was a hill with a hole and there’s a dig. But then, reading the script, I just started to think about it, I was doing some research and read that ten percent of the Mayan ruins have been uncovered and the other ninety-percent are still unexcavated and are overgrown. I thought [making it an actual Mayan temple] would be more interesting for when they go down into the ruins – if it had some actual architecture and scope to it, rather than just being a dark hole.” The decision to make the change made sense not only to the director but to Scott Smith who adapted his own novel. “He was like, ‘What a great idea, I never even thought of that.’ I was pretty pleased with myself for coming up with that,” he jokes good-naturedly. “There’s a lot of stuff that’s actually quite a bit different from the book, but it’s similar in tone. The events that happen…we’re sorta pretty free with mixing and matching. Taking what would work cinematically and getting rid of some stuff. Adding new stuff. But the focus was always on the characters and on the relationships and the breakdown of those relationships.”

If you go over here you can read the entire sit down with Smith.




If you don’t know anything about the THE RUINS, it is an adaptation of a Scott Smith novel, about a group of friends whose leisurely Mexican holiday takes a turn for the worse when they, along with a fellow tourist embark on a remote archaeological dig in the jungle, where something evil lives among the ruins. The film stars Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Jonathan Tucker (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), Laura Ramsey (The Covenant) and Joe Anderson (Across the Universe).