10 Most Terrifying Vacation Horror Movies

5. The Ruins

The Ruins
Paramount Pictures

Based on Scott Smith's 2006 novel of the same name, 2008's The Ruins uses Mexico as its vacation locale of choice.

Two young American couples find themselves becoming pals with a German tourist on a mission to find his missing brother. That may be pretty standard fodder for such a picture, but the caveat here is that their quest sees this group butting heads with some Mayan villagers who don't take too kindly to their presence.

For the Mayans, they fear the vines that are commonplace in the jungle setting that they call home. For the tourists, they think that the Mayans are a tad nuts to be scared of some obviously totally-not-dangerous vines. Of course, the vines in question do have a mind of their own, and one by one our central characters become infected, manipulated and/or killed by this curious, controlling vines that lurk in and around the Mayan ruins.

By the time all is said and done, Jena Malone's Amy is the only one of the bunch to make her escape from the jungle and the vines that have been running rampant. Even then, though, there's an alternative ending of the movie that sees this 'happy ending' being followed by the realisation that Amy has indeed been corrupted by the vines that had tormented her partner and friends.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.