1997 Cube

• Directed by Vincenzo Natali
• Written by Andre Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, Graeme Manson
• Stars:  Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esjc0rPj3K4

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This is heavy on science fiction, but certainly has the horror elements with trapped people, deadly traps, and gruesome deaths. We travel through the cube trap with the cast, trying to figure out what’s going on as they do.

Spoilery Synopsis

A bald man wakes up on the floor inside an industrial-looking room that’s cube-shaped. Each of the six sides,  four walls, floor, and ceiling, has a door in the center. He opens one and goes into the next room, which is identical to the first. He goes through several rooms, lit in different colors. Suddenly, something happens, and the man falls to pieces– literally. We see a razor sharp grid– these rooms are trapped! Credits roll. 

A man whose shirt says “Quentin” wakes up another named Worth. They are joined by two women, Leaven and Holloway. Quentin has blood on his hands, and he tells the others about the traps. An older man, Rennes, comes in, and he’s found a way to get past the traps by throwing his shoes in first. None of them remembers how they got there. 

Who built this place? The government? Aliens? Holloway is a doctor, Quentin is a cop, Rennes is a career criminal who is known for escaping prisons. Leaven is a student and Worth is “just an office guy.” The group uses the “boot trick” to move through several more rooms as they start looking for a way out. Leaven notices that each room has a serial number. Rennes gives them all a speech about being careful seconds before being sprayed with acid in the face and melting. 

Quentin and Leaven look at the serial numbers on the doors and notice that the trapped rooms all have a prime number. The pattern seems to work, and they go through a bunch of rooms, all alike. Once in a while, they hear machinery in the walls doing something. They open a door and find a mentally challenged man inside; he’s Kazan. 

They all start getting tired and hungry. Quentin falls into a trap and gets cut, but the room isn’t prime, so they don’t understand that. Quentin and Leaven start to get really annoyed with Kazan, who’s loud and smells bad. They all argue with Worth, who has a bad attitude and doesn’t believe there is a way out. He eventually admits he worked in the office who drew the plans for the shell of the cube. The group all argues about conspiracy theories and ideas about how this place got made. It all starts to sound pretty hopeless, so Quentin beats up Worth. 

With Worth’s information, Leaven figures out that the cue has 17,000-plus rooms. She also figures out that the serial numbers are three-dimensional coordinates. 

They find a room where the trap is activated by sound, but they have to go through instead of around. They’re all concerned about Kazan, who’s noisy at the best of times, but they all make it through. Afterward, Quentin and Hollway argue about him being abusive. They make it to where they think the door should be, but it’s just a sheer wall outside. 

Holloway sings from a rope made of clothing to try and get somewhere “outside,” which doesn’t work. Something moves, and she nearly falls. Then Quentin lets her fall to her death. 

Leaven, Kazan, Worth, and Quentin decide the best bet is to go down, so they can drop out the bottom. They all stop for a nap first. As the others sleep, Quentin hauls Leaven away to leave the others and go off on their own. It soon becomes apparent that Quentin is a little but insane– and maybe a pedophile as well. Worth comes to the rescue, and the others realize that Quentin killed Holloway. Still, might makes right, so Quentin beats Worth senseless. 

Uh-oh. They come to a room and find Rennes’ body. They’ve travelled in a circle somehow. No, they soon figure out that the rooms move around. Leaven does some math, and she says she knows where the exit is. The math is way too advanced for her to figure out, and then Kazan chimes in with the answer; he’s a human calculator (and an excellent driver as well, most likely). 

The three manage to escape from Quentin, and they leave him behind. They come to the “bridge” room and wait for it to move. The rooms then shift and they lose Kazan somewhere. He doesn’t go far, and they retrieve him as they end up in the final room. They enter the bridge to the outside. 

They see the light outside, but Worth doesn’t want to leave, since he feels that this is all his fault. As he and Leaven talk, Quentin sneaks in behind them and kills Leaven. He also stabs Worth. Kazan goes outside, but Worth hangs onto Quentin just long enough for the room to cut him in half when they move again. 

Worth lays down next to Leaven’s body and dies. Kazan walks out to the exit, alone.

Brian’s Commentary

Julian Richings was on the poster, the trailer, and all the advertising, but he’s only in it for thirty seconds and never says a word. Iconic!

Seven actors and one set. This would have a hard time being more low budget, but it’s really good. 

The rooms all made sense until they started talking about permutations, and that’s where they lost me. The movie is essentially a math puzzle. 

This was good when it came out, and it still holds up today. 

Kevin’s Commentary

Having the rooms be different colors is such a simple idea but so effective in making a single set seem like a maze of rooms. This was my third or fourth time seeing it, and I think it’s great. I like everything about it.