Six Sides to a Story

As an enthusiastic fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and a let's say "entertained" fan of Stargate (in its various incarnations), I've heard of the movie Cube a few times over the years. Its cast includes Nicole deBoer (from DS9's final season, as well as The Dead Zone) and David Hewlett (from Stargate: Atlantis), so the movie would often come up in interviews or articles on either actor.

Cube is a partly sci-fi, largely horror, low-budget movie made in 1997. A group of strangers awakens in an elaborate maze, with no idea how they got there. The maze is a series of cubic rooms with exit hatches on each wall, floor, and ceiling. The majority of rooms are rigged with lethal traps. The strangers must find a way to cooperate, and must find the skills amongst themselves to safely navigate this mysterious labyrinth and escape.

The movie is a pretty powerful example of guerrilla filmmaking. The set is a single 14 x 14 x 14 foot room, frequently re-lit and occasionally supplemented with CG to create the impression of a vast maze. The premise is basic, with the meat of the story being in the relationships between the characters; it's rather like a stage play in this regard. In short, if you had thought of this idea first, you and a handful of your friends probably could have drawn on your savings accounts and made this movie.

Which is not to say I didn't like it. Actually, the mystery is intriguing, the visual look very striking, and the acting quite decent. The film is crammed full of interesting ideas, and plenty of effective paranoia and suspense. Where it falls short at times is in its characterizations. Each person is said to have a role in the maze, and similarly, each character has a role to serve in the story. At times, the characters seem to behave at preposterous extremes just to drive home their "two-word summary." Though I suppose you could make the argument that the situation is so impossible that it's hard to imagine how anyone would realistically react when put in it.

Overall, though, I find the movie easy to recommend. It's horror that doesn't rely on startling you, science fiction that is truly infused with science, independent filmmaking that does its best within its limitations. I call it a B.