Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings, Wayne Robson, Maurice Dean Wint
Tagline: "Fear... Paranoia... Suspicion... Desperation"
Random Trivia: Every single actor to appear on-screen in the movie is listed above. Natali actually produced a short film depicting what was outside the Cube... then destroyed it, preferring to keep it secret. He had no direct connection to the two sequels.
Ok, a few things I want to point out:
- Without Cube, would we have Saw? Would Saw be the same? Perhaps but there's definitely some striking similarities between the first two Saw movies and the earlier Cube. I'd wager it was definitely influential.
- Natali is a very approachable guy. I actually attended the North American premiere of his second directorial effort, Cypher, a few years back, and he answered every single question the audience had after the show. Sure, that's the point of a film festival appearance/premiere, but not everyone comes through.
- The sequels? Forget them.
- So I was about a third of the way through typing this up when blogger crapped out and didn't save my draft... UGH!
Cube is an interesting little precursor to the Gore Porn genre of Saw, Hostel, etc. An extremely simple concept, way before its time - a handful of people wake up to find themselves trapped in a perfectly square room (a cube) with secured doors, that can be opened, on all sides. Each door leads to another perfectly square room. They need out. They also need to deal with each other.
Lets start with the basics - A jumble of personalities bound to conflict: the street smart cop, the smarter-than-her-years teenage girl (Nicole de Boer, who later appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and The Dead Zone series), the pessimist who knows something, the snooty chick, Wayne Robson as an escape artist, and Julian Richings as an idiot savant (think Rain Man). Both of the latter are soon to be seen in George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead in a reunion of sorts.
You can see where this is going. There are traps in each room sure to lead to certain death. Numbers on the door to each new chamber give clues as to which are safe, and math geek Leaven (De Boer) thinks she has the key. She quickly befriends the much older Kazan (Andrew Miller), which no doubt pisses off snooty Holloway, who cracks wise about him liking younger girls. As the group battles traps and solves mathematical clues to stay alive, they also try not to turn against themselves - which doesn't last long.
That's right, I said certain death...
Tension leads to violence (which I'm told leads to anger, hate, and the dark side) before all is said and done. The most trying aspect for the prisoners is the introduction of idiot savant Alderson (Richings), who holds the key to their escape - but whose condition risks their lives at every turn.
Probably one of the best low-budget horror films of its time, Cube holds up to most of the schlock coming out today, and actually has a decent script and message - not something seen all that often at this point.
I don't want to give too much away, other than to say that characters go through definite shifts as their time trapped within the Cube grows larger.
Oh yes, I may have failed to point that out - each single room adds up to making a giant cube, the origins of which are a mystery to all those inside... maybe...
Overall Rating: Half-Baked (3 out of 5)
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