Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR
    • Home
    • Film Reviews
      • Films Beginning With Numbers or Symbols
      • A – C
      • D – F
      • G – I
      • J – L
      • M – O
      • P – R
      • S – U
      • V – X
      • Y – Z
    • Book Reviews
    • Franchise Corner
    • Competitions
    • Horror Screams Podcast
    • Contact Us
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    HORRORSCREAMS VIDEOVAULT – SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT HORROR

    Franchise Corner Entry: CUBE

    Peter 'Witchfinder' HopkinsBy Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins10th February 2020No Comments4 Mins Read

     

    CUBE **** Canada 1997 Dir: Vincenzo Natali. 90 mins.

    A dynamic TWILIGHT ZONE-esque concept effectively crafted for feature length, this has a small group of disparate characters removed from their everyday lives and placed in a huge, constantly revolving elaborate cube structure – rigged with a series of deadly booby traps. Mathematically gifted schoolgirl Nicole de Boer is joined by a paranoiac, an infamous prison escapee known as “The Wren” and a nihilist involved in the cube’s external design – all on a quest to find some kind of exit. A modest production that makes the most of its own limitations, this sustains considerable claustrophobic tension as the unpredictable narrative unfolds, keeping us guessing right up until the surprising denouement. A couple of performances are shakier than others (notably Nicki Guadigni as an ill-fated conspiracy theorist) but De Boer (the heroine of PROM NIGHT 4: DELIVER US FROM EVIL) and Maurice Dean Wint – as the obligatory mentally fracturing member of the group – are excellent. The movie offers only tantalising hints about the cube’s origins and purpose, leaving the sequels to flesh out some of the ambiguities. A prominent influence on the seemingly endless cycle of SAW-era survivalist horror movies confining an ill-fated ensemble to an elaborate sequence of death-traps, this remains one of the best of its type. It also prefigures the early 21st century trend in American horror for creatively gruesome death set pieces, including an early slice-and-dice and a bravura acid-face gag. And the “Cube” itself predates the current worldwide fad of escape rooms. Natali, making his feature debut, continued to make thoughtful, inventive genre pictures (the best known of which was SPLICE), and in recent years has worked in outstanding TV series like HANNIBAL, WEST WORLD and AMERICAN GODS.

     

     

    CUBE 2: HYPERCUBE *** Canada 2002 Dir: Andrzej Sekula. 94 mins

    Largely replicating the scenario of CUBE, this straight-to-DVD sequel misses its novelty factor but succeeds in reproducing its claustrophobic, mounting paranoia. Cinematographer-turned-director Sekula (who shot RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION) brings a strong visual sense to an identical story: a bunch of people wake up trapped within a four-dimensional hyper-cube, dominated by repeating rooms that fold into each other. Among the group are psychotherapist heroine Kari Matchett; a wounded, suicidal Department of Defence worker; a blind teenage girl (Grace Lynn King); a computer game designer and a bonkers, retired theoretical mathematician (Barbara Gordon) who initially thinks they’re in a gym. The characters ponder aloud if they’re part of a weird gameshow or involved in a quantum teleportation experiment or in Hell itself. Subsequent television shows like LOST (2004-2010) would pivot around the similarly enigmatic entrapment of otherwise unrelated protagonists. The movie refuses to offer all the answers and sustains itself as a good-looking mind-fuck as the characters lose mental capacity, parallel realities converge, and CGI devices dismember the lesser protagonists at regular intervals. Characteristic of the series, the ending is enjoyably sour.

     

     

    CUBE ZERO *** Canada / USA 2004 Dir: Ernie Barbarash. 97 mins

    The final CUBE movie (to date) is a prequel that simultaneously offers more of the same (another group of strangers trapped within a rigged, deadly structure) while hinting at the motivations behind the cube’s existence. This alternates between the characters inside the cube and those observing them – the imperilled being condemned prisoners who volunteered for the experiment as an alternative to the death penalty. Weakened by one-note performances (including a hammy, one-eyed villain), this is significantly grislier than the tense but comparatively tame HYPERCUBE. The deaths are the most gruesome of the series, starting with a marvellous bit of pre-SAW sadism as a beleaguered shmuck is hosed down with what appears to be some welcome water before his skin starts melting off and his body dissolves into a bloody mess. Prefiguring a range of later movies (including THE BELKO EXPERIMENT and ESCAPE ROOM), those encased within the cube are coolly observed by a mysterious pair of chess-playing, bickering, bored clock-watching employees who comment on the unfolding action like surrogate members of the moviegoing audience (“This is sick…”). Released in the same year as the first SAW movie, it has juicy dicings and a show-stopping exploding head.

     

     

    Reviews by Steven West

     

    Facebook0Like0Share0Tweet0Pin0
    Andrzej Sekula Cube Cube 2: Hypercube Cube Zero Ernie Barbarash Franchise Corner Sequel Vincenzo Natali

    Related Posts

    Film Review: SLASHENING: THE FINAL BEGINNING (2021)

    20th June 202203 Mins Read
    Read More

    Jack Deth Lives! Trancers 4 REMASTERED on DVD/Blu-ray

    12th June 202201 Min Read
    Read More

    Film Review: WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE (2021)

    4th June 202202 Mins Read
    Read More

    Franchise Corner Entry: MIMIC

    28th May 202205 Mins Read
    Read More

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Search The Website
    Recent Posts
    • TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY CUT OF “DEADLY REVISIONS” ANNOUNCED!
    • Augie Duke from Mayans MC and Stand-Up Comedy Star Jiaoying Summers Join Cast of “Static Codes”
    • “Get Out Of The Toybox!” – DOLL SHARK makes a big splash on Indiegogo
    • Official trailer released for Ozploitation classic ‘Fair Game’ which returns to the big screen this July
    • Interview with Chris Sivertson, director of MONSTROUS, ahead of UK release
    Archives
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.