The Ruins [2008]

The Ruins [2008|Horror|Thriller]
Based on Scott Smith's novel "The Ruins"
Directed by: Carter Smith

A group of American and Greek tourists explore an uncharted Mayan ruin in Mexico. Mathias' brother had just met a beautiful archaeologist who has been exploring the ruins. He has not come back since spending the night at the archaeologists' camp there. Mathias met with the Americans and invited them over to the ruins to find his brother. Once there, they find a group of armed Mayans who try to drive them away at first, but then won't let them leave once they got into the ruin's vegetation.

The Mayans were actually placing the tourists in a quarantine, for the vegetation was actually a sentient creature-plant. The plant is capable of mimicking sounds and even the voices of people around to lure it's victims. It is somewhat like a parasite that enters human bodies, either as an unwilling host or to populate and spread.

The ending in the book tells how the last survivor commits suicide to warn others of the danger, but the plant drags the body so no one will find it. In the movie, the survivor escapes on a jeep and the camera focuses on the face to reveal the worm-like movement of the parasitic-plant under the skin.