1997’s Cube helped to launch Vincenzo Natali’s career and it delivers a creepy and claustrophobic film with elements of sci fi and horror.
What Is It?
This film focuses on a group of people who find themselves trapped in a strange prison that consists of multiple, inter-linked cube-shaped rooms. They discover that some of the rooms have traps (like a razor-thin wire grate that will slice the unsuspecting wanderer into pieces) while others offer safe passage. None of the abductees know each other and none know how they arrived in this bizarre maze, though ultimately they determine that each serves a purpose in this maniacal exercise controlled by hidden forces. They decide that they must work together to succeed in escaping from their unjust incarceration and they start to find clues that help them determine whether a room is safe or trapped. The math genius Leaven determines that this appears to key off the serial numbers at the doors between rooms and whether one of these numbers is prime. Later, after barely escaping death in a seemingly safe room, they determine that the answer lies in the prime factorization of these numbers. This task at first seems impossible, but the autistic Kazan, who has joined the party, is a savant and has the ability to calculate the factors in his head. Leaven also determines that the numbers act as Cartesian coordinates which indicate where each room is within the overall structure and that these rooms move throughout the larger cube and eventually each will move to a location outside of it and act as a bridge to exit the prison. But because of their personality conflicts and mutual mistrust, the group begins to crumble from within before they can achieve their goal of escape.
Cast: Nicole de Boer, Nicky Guadagni, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller, Julian Richings
Crew: Vincenzo Natali (Director/Writer), André Bijelic (Writer), Graeme Manson (Writer)
Original Release: 1997
Legacy:
This low-budget film delivers a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere along with some Kafkaesque elements and has since been recognized as a minor classic in sci fi and horror.
A Closer Look:
Cube is a quirky little sci fi/horror film that Canadian writer/director Vincenzo Natali (Splice) delivered to us back in 1997 as his feature-length directorial debut. He managed to pull together this film–which he claims was inspired by the episode from the original Twilight Zone television series “Five Characters in Search of an Exit”–for about half a million dollars. And he made the most with his money by creating a creepy, claustrophobic, paranoia-drenched film following a small group of frantic people trying to understand their seemingly unmerited predicament. He also managed to maneuver past the expected pitfall of trying to make these people symbolic or representative of society in general. Instead, he created very real, believable characters, each with apparently some function in this demented “game”.
He did add one element, though, and that was a sense of guilt that each person felt for something they had done in the past (with the exception, we assume, of Kazan). This leads the captives to initially wonder, either overtly or subconsciously, if their past sins somehow led to their imprisonment. This also emphasizes that each of these people are not perfect, thus making them more human, and as we see their more sordid nature reveal itself as the film progress, the viewer almost wonders if they do deserve their fate. But not to the point that we stop rooting for them. We always want to see the abductees escape from this prison, even if our feelings shift from early in the film to later over which ones truly deserve to go free.
Natali sets up a Kafkaesque, Orwellian setting that immediately draws in the viewer and establishes a mood of tension and trepidation that carries the film to its bittersweet conclusion. And this is truly a horror film, though with science fiction trappings, because of the threat from the traps throughout the maze as well as that unknown presence that must be controlling things from afar (the Saw film series would later follow a similar pattern, though with a much more exploitative bent emphasizing torture and gore).
(Minor Spoiler Ahead) The fact that Cube never answers the questions of why this prison exists or why these people were brought here (though some hints seep through) gives the film that added dimension of despondency. Had this movie come out of the Hollywood machine, it would have never been allowed to go forward with its ambiguous conclusion. But since Natali did this as an indie, he had the creative control to follow that path, making this a much stronger film. And while the film plays out as a B-Movie and the actors sometimes fall short of the emotional range required of them, it still manages to stand out as a first rate B-Movie that has since been elevated to the status of a minor genre classic, and it is definitely one that is worth seeking out.
The Story Continues:
A sequel to Cube followed in 2002 titled Cube 2: Hypercube, but Natali was not involved with that. It delivered a better than expected continuation of the formula, though it did retread some ground and it lacked Natali’s unique touch. Fans of the original will probably enjoy the sequel, but it does not count as essential. A prequel was also produced, Cube Zero in 2004, which delves into the backstory of the Cube. Again, Natali was not involved, but this film expands upon the universe and offers a decent addition to the franchise.
Should It Be Rebooted?
No. While the sequels have provided decent extensions to the original film, there is no reason to go back and do a reboot, especially a big-budget version. Cube was done right the first time with the claustrophobic setting and lack of CGI excess contributing to its effectiveness. There is no real reason to redo it and really not much need for more sequels or prequels. But that is not stopping Hollywood as there have been talks of a reboot since 2015. Lionsgate apparently acquired the property and music video director Saman Kesh has been attached to the project. There have been no recent updates, though, so perhaps this one has fallen completely off the radar. A Japanese-language reboot of Cube was produced in 2021, but that one has not received many accolades.
Interesting Facts:
Only one cube set was built for the film, and the illusion of multiple rooms was created by different color gel panels. The scenes were filmed out of order so that they could capture all the scenes based on the color of a room without changing the gel panels (which was a complicated process).
Each of the character’s names is based on a famous prison.
Where Can You Watch It?
The film has been released on DVD and Blu-ray and you can also purchase it VOD. It is widely available on several of the free streaming services like Tubi TV, FreeVee, and the Roku Channel. Cube 2: Hypercube and Cube Zero are also available on most of those streamers as well.
