Cube Zero

Starring: Zachary Bennett, David Huband, Stephanie Moore, Martin Roach, Terri Hawkes, Michael Riley
Directed by: Ernie Barbarash
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
2005

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A monitor (Zachary Bennett) of the Cube falls for one of the inhabitants (Stephanie Moore) and tries to help her survive.

Review:

Tim: I loved the original Cube, thought Cube 2: Hypercube was ok, but the shine has definitely worn off this franchise with Cube Zero. The first movie was so good because it was so simple and straightforward. With each subsequent film, we find out more about the Cube and it gets progressively less interesting. At this point, I have no desire to see any more of these movies. The goodwill from the first film has been completely extinguished.

These movie have always had a small budget, but it just felt more damning here. Not much money was spent on the cast, which is made up of C-level actors. The acting from the entire cast was pretty weak, which greatly hurts the movie. The special effects were average, but a bigger budget certainly would have helped.

The story itself isn't all that exciting. We actually get exposed to some of the Cube monitors, who just end up being two fairly stupid, low level Cube employees. I was a bit disappointed by these. Even when we meet some of the slightly more higher ups, they too, are pretty disappointing (and stupid). The story just felt like a bit of a waste of time- yes, we learn some new things about this world, but are any of them really worth knowing? I'm not convinced. Everything we learned about the Cube here only served to make it seem less cool and less interesting. That is a recipe for disaster. This doesn't feel like the type of film where anyone involved-- in front of or behind the camera-- put in anything close to their best effort. This is a movie that feels completely phoned in.

I suppose there's a few decent moments when various victims fall prey to random traps in the Cube. While this doesn't remotely approach the kills in the previous movies, there's still something grisly and memorable about meeting your end in a cold, sterile cube room. That's a minor consolation prize for sitting through some truly bland and weak moments. The whole film needed to be better.

I admit I was looking forward to this film. I was blown away by how a small budget Canadian horror film could have impacted me the way the original Cube did. I was so surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Cube 2: Hypercube was disappointing, but that happens with sequels. Unfortunately, the promise of Cube Zero reversing this trend was never realized. It continues the downward quality trend of these movies. That's a real shame. I did not enjoy this movie, and I'm still confused by what the odd conclusion was supposed to mean. I think the writers thought it would be this insane conclusion, and it just came across as forced. This isn't a good movie, and I lament the distance from the heights this horror trilogy has fallen.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5.5



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