Cube
Rated: R (violence, gore, language)
Run Time: 90 minutes
It all started with a D&D campaign. We found ourselves in a mysterious blue room with six doors, one on each side of the room. Opening each we found passageways to other similar rooms with different colors. Later, our DM would tell us that her idea came from the movie Cube.
And what a hell of a movie it is!
It's very rare that I find a horror movie that I like. It's even more rare that I find one I like that follows the reward/punish system designed by a sadist. Cube deserves this and so much more because it is ea easily the best horror movie I've seen since... since... ever. It's dark and creepy, but it's not overly gory to the point of making me feel sick. Even better, it actually made me scared because the prospect of the movie is... realistic. Almost nothing you'll find in the movie is entirely impossible to work, given enough time, space, and money.
Story
The story goes a bit like follows: six people eventually stumble into a room together to find that they've been trapped in a psychopath's wet dream; a puzzle that gives deadly booby traps for wrong answers.
The team eventually figures out that they're stuck in a giant cube, and they need to find an exit before either starvation/dehydration kills them or the booby traps do. There is a way to tell if the rooms are booby trapped besides just blindly walking in, but that's something you'll have to watch the movie to see what the fiendish answer is.
Throughout the movie there's a lot of complex mathematics being thrown around (I say complex as in "you've got to be doing at least Algebra 2 here, if not higher"), a lot of shouting and a true feeling of desperation from the characters. Each time they enter a new room it seems like it's another place that maybe... just maybe they were wrong and will pay the ultimate price for.
However flat it might seem to be, the movie takes a simple idea and makes it astronomically complex, and despite it's short run time, it had me sitting on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It's director made the movie truly three-dimensional. I found myself even trying to guess how many permutations of possibility there could be to such a dynamic puzzle. And in the end, you're rewarded with a satisfying wonderment of a realization that you could have sworn was staring you right in the face.
Characters
The characters of Cube are all interesting people who fit the kind of stereotypes we all can relate to; the brilliant student, the egotistical ex-con, the powerful leader cop, the quiet genius, the hard-working doctor, and... well, the last one I suppose not many can relate to, but I personally know quite a few: the autistic savant. Each one of them seems to have their own agenda and all of them show human emotion just as much as you'd imagine. It really seems like each of them is terrified of being in this maze and all they want is to save their lives and (hopefully) the lives of their compatriots also.
I found myself actually sympathizing most with the quiet character, because I know that's probably what I'd end up doing in that situation; sitting back and letting the world take me if it so desires. And given just how intricate the puzzle really is, it seems like just sitting still and praying the answer just comes to you would be the best plan.
Cinematics
The cinematics for the film are amazing, especially back 13 years ago (wow, I feel old saying that...). I found myself stunned at the visuals, and each and every death and trap they go through has a wonderful scene displaying just how nasty it really was.
Yet, that's only part of the amazing. Each of the sets (well... truth be told the one, color-changing set would probably be a better bet)had an interesting design, eve if it was only a cube. The markings on the wall and system of the doors was simplistic enough, but subtly pleasing to the eye. Even the very fact that the rooms only really seemed to change in colors and traps only added to the feeling of "we're screwed".
How scary?
Given that it's a horror flick, I figured I'd have to put something like this in to do the movie justice in review. The movie itself is more eerie than pop-out surprise, and is relatively tame on the gore factor. Truth be told, a good part of how scary the movie really is comes from how realistic everything is and how one can easily wonder what it would be like to be in that position. Even the suspense of the movie makes it worthwhile in the sense of a horror movie as I never quite got over the feeling of someone hopping into the room they thought was safe and finding themselves being cubed.
If you're looking for ultra-sadist porn (aka a gory movie) this isn't the movie for you. There's only two scenes that really made me cringe, and they happen early on in the movie. A good deal of the horror from the movie is just the terror of knowing that the characters are taking a bit of a gamble with their lives with every new room they go into. In that respect, it is absolutely terrifying to think about.
Wrap Up
TL;DR version is this: If you're looking for a horror movie that will get your paranoia going and not make you throw up, this is the movie for you.
Cube is a wonderful movie that I'm glad I had the luck to see. On the surface, you might think it's just some old lame-o movie that didn't know how to get the blood flowing properly for a movie to be scary, but it's something I love about the movie; it doesn't rely on gross-out gory horror and focuses more on things that are (or could potentially) be very real and terrorizes you with the idea of "What if?". Given the few scenes that are graphic, I'd say definitely something not to show kiddies, however, because it is quite a doozy (my boyfriend saw the opening scene and stayed up all night with the image stuck in his head and didn't get any sleep).
Up next, the sequel. Cube 2: Hypercube.
~Sui
------------------------------------------------------------------
Movies on the review list:
Alice and Wonderland (new)
Lazerus Project
Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube Zero
Pan's Labyrinth
Games on the review list:
Final Fantasy X
Okami
Dragon Age Origins
And many more on the way!
Please feel free to offer constructive criticisms, and the like. Also, if you have a movie that you'd like me to review, I'm always up for giving it a shot. Just please; no gory horror flicks or pronos.
Rated: R (violence, gore, language)
Run Time: 90 minutes
It all started with a D&D campaign. We found ourselves in a mysterious blue room with six doors, one on each side of the room. Opening each we found passageways to other similar rooms with different colors. Later, our DM would tell us that her idea came from the movie Cube.
And what a hell of a movie it is!
It's very rare that I find a horror movie that I like. It's even more rare that I find one I like that follows the reward/punish system designed by a sadist. Cube deserves this and so much more because it is ea easily the best horror movie I've seen since... since... ever. It's dark and creepy, but it's not overly gory to the point of making me feel sick. Even better, it actually made me scared because the prospect of the movie is... realistic. Almost nothing you'll find in the movie is entirely impossible to work, given enough time, space, and money.
Story
The story goes a bit like follows: six people eventually stumble into a room together to find that they've been trapped in a psychopath's wet dream; a puzzle that gives deadly booby traps for wrong answers.
The team eventually figures out that they're stuck in a giant cube, and they need to find an exit before either starvation/dehydration kills them or the booby traps do. There is a way to tell if the rooms are booby trapped besides just blindly walking in, but that's something you'll have to watch the movie to see what the fiendish answer is.
Throughout the movie there's a lot of complex mathematics being thrown around (I say complex as in "you've got to be doing at least Algebra 2 here, if not higher"), a lot of shouting and a true feeling of desperation from the characters. Each time they enter a new room it seems like it's another place that maybe... just maybe they were wrong and will pay the ultimate price for.
However flat it might seem to be, the movie takes a simple idea and makes it astronomically complex, and despite it's short run time, it had me sitting on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. It's director made the movie truly three-dimensional. I found myself even trying to guess how many permutations of possibility there could be to such a dynamic puzzle. And in the end, you're rewarded with a satisfying wonderment of a realization that you could have sworn was staring you right in the face.
Characters
The characters of Cube are all interesting people who fit the kind of stereotypes we all can relate to; the brilliant student, the egotistical ex-con, the powerful leader cop, the quiet genius, the hard-working doctor, and... well, the last one I suppose not many can relate to, but I personally know quite a few: the autistic savant. Each one of them seems to have their own agenda and all of them show human emotion just as much as you'd imagine. It really seems like each of them is terrified of being in this maze and all they want is to save their lives and (hopefully) the lives of their compatriots also.
I found myself actually sympathizing most with the quiet character, because I know that's probably what I'd end up doing in that situation; sitting back and letting the world take me if it so desires. And given just how intricate the puzzle really is, it seems like just sitting still and praying the answer just comes to you would be the best plan.
Cinematics
The cinematics for the film are amazing, especially back 13 years ago (wow, I feel old saying that...). I found myself stunned at the visuals, and each and every death and trap they go through has a wonderful scene displaying just how nasty it really was.
Yet, that's only part of the amazing. Each of the sets (well... truth be told the one, color-changing set would probably be a better bet)had an interesting design, eve if it was only a cube. The markings on the wall and system of the doors was simplistic enough, but subtly pleasing to the eye. Even the very fact that the rooms only really seemed to change in colors and traps only added to the feeling of "we're screwed".
How scary?
Given that it's a horror flick, I figured I'd have to put something like this in to do the movie justice in review. The movie itself is more eerie than pop-out surprise, and is relatively tame on the gore factor. Truth be told, a good part of how scary the movie really is comes from how realistic everything is and how one can easily wonder what it would be like to be in that position. Even the suspense of the movie makes it worthwhile in the sense of a horror movie as I never quite got over the feeling of someone hopping into the room they thought was safe and finding themselves being cubed.
If you're looking for ultra-sadist porn (aka a gory movie) this isn't the movie for you. There's only two scenes that really made me cringe, and they happen early on in the movie. A good deal of the horror from the movie is just the terror of knowing that the characters are taking a bit of a gamble with their lives with every new room they go into. In that respect, it is absolutely terrifying to think about.
Wrap Up
TL;DR version is this: If you're looking for a horror movie that will get your paranoia going and not make you throw up, this is the movie for you.
Cube is a wonderful movie that I'm glad I had the luck to see. On the surface, you might think it's just some old lame-o movie that didn't know how to get the blood flowing properly for a movie to be scary, but it's something I love about the movie; it doesn't rely on gross-out gory horror and focuses more on things that are (or could potentially) be very real and terrorizes you with the idea of "What if?". Given the few scenes that are graphic, I'd say definitely something not to show kiddies, however, because it is quite a doozy (my boyfriend saw the opening scene and stayed up all night with the image stuck in his head and didn't get any sleep).
Up next, the sequel. Cube 2: Hypercube.
~Sui
------------------------------------------------------------------
Movies on the review list:
Alice and Wonderland (new)
Lazerus Project
Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube Zero
Pan's Labyrinth
Games on the review list:
Final Fantasy X
Okami
Dragon Age Origins
And many more on the way!
Please feel free to offer constructive criticisms, and the like. Also, if you have a movie that you'd like me to review, I'm always up for giving it a shot. Just please; no gory horror flicks or pronos.
