Courtesy Paramount

Credit: Ron Soltys

The Ruins

Starring: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore

Director:Carter Smith

Distributor: DreamWorks

Pictures Rating: R

With the opening day of The Ruins approaching, many people are wondering if The Ruins is just going to be another one of those cheesy horror films, but according to the actors that are in the movie, it’s nothing like that.

Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), who plays Eric, said that the movie starts out with a bunch of kids having fun and going on a vacation in a very scary place where survival mode is priority.

Ashmore confessed that unlike most scary movies, the film mostly takes place in broad daylight, giving the movie a sense of realism.

“It’s amazing because you can’t hide from anything at all,” Ashmore said. “This makes it creepier because you can’t turn away.”

According to the actors, this movie is mainly about the survival of the fittest.

Laura Ramsey (She’s the Man), who plays Stacy, added that it’s not about people jumping out at you or people getting killed from all different directions with bows and arrows or knives, but rather, the movie is directed toward survival and how to survive when people are faced with a life-or-death situation.

“I think personally the reason why it’s scarier than other movies is because this has sort of a realistic factor to it,” Ramsey said. “It’s more on an element of human instincts.”

Ashmore went on by saying that the scariest part and the most horrific things that happen in this film are what the characters do to each other.

“It’s really terrifying watching these characters sort of break down and get to the point where they will harm each other for survival.”

Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), who plays Amy, agreed.

She admitted that after reading the script, she decided to play a role in the film because it seemed like one of the creepiest and most tangible horror films that she has heard of in a long time.

“It’s all about human nature, and there’s really not necessarily a bad guy,” Malone said. “It’s that battle that you fight within as a human.”

She also said that it was fun to try and build a more open canvas so when a person is in an environment of survival and deprivation, they really get to know who they truly are and what comes out of a human in such a circumstance.

Regardless of the scary movies and long training sessions that these actors had to go through while preparing for the movie, Malone said she is happy with the outcome of the film.

“I’m really proud of the work, and I’m really proud that I allowed it to get so far and deep underneath my skin,” Malone said of The Ruins.

“As an actor you have to test how deep can you truly go without changing your own molecular structure of your own person. I think we sort of borderlined it, and it was an exciting thing to do,” she said.

Contact all reporter Samantha Tosado at [email protected].