Cube

Starring: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings
Directed by: Vincenzo Natali
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller
1998

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A handful of strangers wake up inside a strange cube. They soon discover that some of the cubes are booby-trapped. As they try to navigate through the cubes, they realize they have only a short amount of time to escape.

Review:

Tim: I was surprised to find that I loved this small Canadian film. It was creepy, original, engrossing, and entertaining enough to more than hold my attention throughout its 90 minute run time. It is impressive that such a small independent film, which is also a horror movie made such an impression on me.

I love the premise of the movie-a group of strangers wake up in a cube connected to other cubes, no idea how they got there, or how to get out. Oh, and some of the cube rooms are booby-trapped. This is the whole movie. It doesn't stray from this path, doesn't get lost by adding back-stories or the history of the cube. We just watch this small group of people try to survive. Brilliantly, the film focuses less on gruesome deaths (although there are some) and more on the psychological toll this takes on our group of survivors. Director Vincenzo Natali makes sure we spend enough time focused on these characters-their strengths, weaknesses, and how they handle pressure. The claustrophobic and deadly cubes really get into their heads (and ours as well).

I also loved how the group of survivors had to rely on their own intelligence to survive. So many movies, like the Saw franchise require their survivors to suffer unimaginable pain to live. That is fine, but to really make an impact, I want to see people have to think their way out. How this group of people attempts to do that is fascinating, and I was enthralled while watching them try to escape.

The cast were all decent. The whole group are very little known actors, so I doubt you'll be too familiar with any of them. This adds to the atmosphere of the movie, because you really buy into the belief that these are just ordinary people struggling to stay alive. I thought Nicole de Boer did an exceptional job. I wasn't sold on her in the beginning, but she gets better as the film goes on, and won me over by its conclusion. The rest of the cast are all quite believable as well.

Cube is one of those movies that defies logic and works on nearly every level. It does suffer some because of how low the budget was (under $500,000, I believe) but this is all forgivable because it is a truly entertaining, memorable movie. I highly recommend it.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Cube 2: Hypercube, Saw