CUBE (57)

Directed by: Vincenzo Natali

Starring: David Hewlett, Maurice Dean Wint, Nicole de Boer

The Pitch: Six people are trapped in a maze of rooms, every room a cube : some rooms are safe, some are lethal booby-traps. All they can do is wander through them, trying to escape.

Theo Sez: What can you say about a film that traps six people in a hostile environment, finds a natural hero in their midst - a no-nonsense cop who organises everyone, laying down a plan for their escape - then pushes him into villainy, turning him into an authoritarian tyrant? Do you applaud it for making an excellent point - the latent Fascism underlying action-movie heroes - or scorn it for shooting itself in the foot, ending up without any hero at all? Rather too arty for its own B-movie good - even Descartes gets a mention, for goodness sake - but the theme of fighting against (or accepting) a crushing, implacable System ("Not all of us have the luxury of playing nihilist!" "Not all of us are conceited enough to play hero!") is effectively woven round a pure-horror premise that's as tense as it is abstract, based entirely on fear of the unknown. It's a film that works best when it gives away least, which is obviously a plus with this kind of budget - indeed, the air of straight-to-video cheesiness is part of its appeal, highlighting the philosophical speculations : not quite successful but certainly original - and refreshingly cynical, from its revelation of the Cube's drab, bureaucratic back-story (so much for alien abductions) to its jaw-dropping mega-downer of an ending.