PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

PeterBradford I don't understand all the negative reviews. Piper Laurie gives an emotional, strong performance as Ruby. The film has atmosphere, is moody, and somewhat original (particularly with the death scenes). Janit Baldwin looks remarkably like Piper Laurie in some scenes (I thought that was Piper Laurie on the theatrical release poster until I saw the film). Roger Davis, an actor with a spotty career, does a good job in his second film for Harrington (he had previously been in Killer Bees). And the ending...I love it! It's both chilling and effective. Check it out!

Leofwine_draca This effective shocker manages to combine the possession themes from THE EXORCIST with the supernatural deaths from THE OMEN into a workable mixture, heavy on the atmosphere and nostalgia; smattered with enough bizarre incident, cheap deaths, and harassed acting on the part of the main performers to make it worthwhile. The best thing about the film by far is not the fragmented plot, but rather the direction of cult favourite Curtis Harrington, who fills every moment with enough suspense, tense atmosphere, and shuddery chills to flesh out a dozen later horror flicks. The setting of a dead-end drive-in (forever playing ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN) is a perfect one, with supernatural incident after supernatural incident taking place in the creaking, derelict, and run-down old buildings. Bodies are impaled to the giant screen, hanged with film reels, and disappear inside Coke machines, and there are enough low-budget blood and grue effects to please the graphic horror fan no end, along with a little macabre humour here and there.The scripting is character-focused for a change, giving a chance for the main performers to develop their roles before being offed by the unseen spirit, which is a plus because the casting is excellent. Taking the title role is Piper Laurie, hot on the success of CARRIE, playing another eccentric character whose fate is inexorably bound up with that of her dead lover. She's just as good here as she was in Brian De Palma's hit, even if her character is deeper and more subtle than there. The underrated Stuart Whitman also turns in a fine portrayal as Vince, the ageing helper with an affection for Ruby, who may or may not be doomed to die at the hands of the vengeful spirit.As the possessed child Leslie, Janit Baldwin is exceptionally creepy; with the aid of some eye make-up she easily transforms from looking like an innocent child into a creature of evil, and hers is the scariest performance in the whole movie. Finally we have Roger Davis, as the spiritual doctor brought in to sort out the whole mess, and he too contributes a solid and flawless performance. High on horror and creepy shudders, RUBY skilfully combines old-fashioned atmosphere and suspense with new-fangled bloodshed and violence, and the end result is an unfairly forgotten yarn which is not without flaws, but for the most part one to watch. Also be sure to check out the CARRIE-style shock ending, which is one of the best I've seen.

Coventry Raw and gritty horror/exploitation movies from the glorious '70s decade simply can't start any better than "Ruby" does… With a fuzzy and soundless flashback, set in the mid-1930s, and witness the promenade of two young lovers in a Florida swamp area. Suddenly a car drives up and the four passengers that come out relentlessly execute the boy, Nicky, who apparently was an over-ambitious mobster. Now that's what I call an opener, and it even gets better, as we fast-forward to the year 1951 at a typical drive-in theater where a projectionist guy in his cabin inexplicably gets killed by his own film reel! Great stuff, but then of course the script has some explaining and character drawings to do, and the whole thing quickly crumbles apart like a cookie! It turns out that the murdered mobster's girlfriend Ruby now runs a drive-in and actually employs the retired assailants. Apparently Nicky extracts his vengeance from beyond the grave and to obtain this he also possesses the mind and body of their now 16-year- old daughter Leslie that he never saw getting born. So basically what we have here is a miscellany of gangster movie with revenge-flick and spiritual possession elements, and all this is served to us by an over-the-top bizarrely behaving Piper Laurie who was clearly asked to come across as unnerving as she did in last year's box office hit "Carrie"! I will gladly admit that I personally stopped paying attention to the incoherence and numerous holes in the script, and simply tried to enjoy the crazy murder sequences and wonderfully trashy atmosphere and scenery as much as I possibly could. Quite frankly I can't explain why little Leslie walks around like a spider just as Linda Blair did in "The Exorcist", or what exactly is the added value of Roger Davis' character, or even whether or not it gets revealed that Ruby did betray her lover all those years ago. Fact remains, however, that "Ruby" contains a handful of awesome moments that are simultaneously odd, cheesy and disturbing! Mobster bodies' are being tossed around and smashed against trees, the flamboyant Ruby spies on her drive-in employees through a telescope whilst being drunk and one poor sucker even ends up hacked up in a soda vending machine. Perhaps director Curtis Harrington ("Queen of Blood", "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?") and his crew could have done even more with the smart drive-in setting, but they already include a couple of atmospheric moments, like for example when Ruby finds herself all alone in the middle of the drive-in parking and haunted by her murdered lover's voice coming out of all the separate speakers. In conclusion, "Ruby" most certainly isn't a good movie if you analyze or review it thoroughly, but it contains multiple strong moments and memorable details to make it a must-see for admirers of 70s horror cinema (drive-in classics and otherwise)

Scott LeBrun After tearing up the screen in the 1976 film "Carrie", Piper Laurie again gets a showcase role she can relish. She plays the title character, a former gangsters' moll who now runs a legitimate business, a drive-in. Her old criminal associates are now employees at the place and begin to be killed in supernatural occurrences. It would seem that the big flame of her life, Nicky (Sal Vecchio), is seeking vengeance from beyond the grave. Nicky forces his spirit on his and Ruby's daughter Leslie (Janit Baldwin), a mute teenager who lives in a world of her own."Ruby" is an above average production of this kind, which benefits the most from a grim and gritty atmosphere that pervades everything. There's a somber quality to the script by George Edwards and Barry Schneider; there's very little in the way of humour. The gore is minimal but effective, and the special effects are likewise good. Horror fans will love the memorable soda machine gag. Curtis Harrington directs quite well, giving "Ruby" a good pace and a sense of eeriness.Laurie very much dominates the movie as a character who is not always terribly sympathetic. She receives sturdy support from Stuart Whitman as her friend Vince Kemper, and Roger Davis as parapsychologist Paul Keller. The striking young Baldwin has a very expressive pair of eyes, and registers strongly in a role mostly without dialogue. The sexy Crystin Sinclaire gets some laughs as the slutty Lila June, who's always showing up at the drive-in with somebody new. 1930s star Fred Kohler Jr. plays the crippled old Jake Miller, and Len "Uncle Leo" Lesser is one of the doomed employees.Only a weak and cheesy final shot cheapens the experience.Incidentally, many viewers are bound to notice an anachronism: the events of "Ruby" take place in 1951, but the one flick played most often at the drive-in is "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman", a 1958 classic.Seven out of 10.