Review of Cube (1998) by Juan M — 16 Jul 2009

Cube is the best sci-fi horror film since Alien. Yes, it's that good. It's a masterpiece of originality, low budget filmmaking, and tapping into the darkest realm of the human spirit. Like the best horror films, the external horror of the cube reflects how fucked up we are as a species.

Six strangers wake up in this strange cube filled with smaller cube rooms. Some of the rooms are lined with traps, meaning if you enter them, you will suffer a brutally disgusting death. (And I bet if this film were made today, the movie would only be about the deaths, exploiting each trap to make you, the audience, squirm. Alas, Cube is too smart a film for that.) The six need to work together to figure a way out. Of course, as a character says early in the film, they have to save themselves from themselves. Because in the end, the group's greatest threat isn't the cube, but one of their own.

Movies this original are few and far between. It was an absolute pleasure to sit through Cube. I was completely absorbed by its ideas, by the characters, by the great performances, and ultimately, by the cube itself. Who would build such a thing? And for what purpose? One can only imagine how many things mankind has created that have the ability to ruin the world.