Cube (1997)

Director:

Vincenzo Natali

Writers:

André Bijelic (written by) &
Vincenzo Natali (written by) ...

Release Date:

11 July 1998 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Fear... Paranoia... Suspicion... Desperation

Plot:

7 complete strangers of widely varying personality characteristics are involuntarily placed in an endless kafkaesque maze containing deadly traps.

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Autistic Savant | Alternative Reality | Survival Horror | Cop

Awards:

13 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Nicole de Boer	...	Joan Leaven - The Math Student
Nicky Guadagni	...	Helen Holloway - The Doctor
David Hewlett	...	David Worth - The Architect
Andrew Miller	...	Kazan - The Autistic Man
Julian Richings	...	Alderson - The First Victim
Wayne Robson	...	Rennes - The Fugitive
Maurice Dean Wint	...	Quentin - The Cop

MPAA:

Rated R for some strong sci-fi violence/gore and language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Singapore:PG (cut) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:18A | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Mexico:B | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Brazil:14 | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Wallace Avenue Studios, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Cube Libre

Trivia:

All of the characters are named after prisons: Quentin (San Quentin, California), Holloway (England), Kazan (Russia), Rennes (France), Alderson (Alderson, West Virginia), Leaven and Worth (Leavenworth, Kansas).

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Kazam is supposed to be a math genius, something that the plot hinges on, but he makes several mistakes when calculating the number of prime factors to find out whether a room is trapped or not. He says that 462 has three prime factors, when it has four, that 206 has four when it only has two and that 563 has two and 911 has three when both are actually prime numbers.

Quotes:

Quentin: Start with us. We got an escape artist and a cop. There's gotta be a reason for that. You're a doctor, Holloway. That gives you a function, a reason, right?
Holloway: No! It just makes me go, "Why me and not one of the other ten million doctors out there?"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in MediEvil II (2000) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Distorted Reality

Low Budget Canadian sci-fi film worth viewing

This film has more in substance than most big budget hollywood "event" movies rolled into one. The film follows the perils of a group of canadian civilians imprisoned in a futuristic "RUBICK'S CUBE" style jail from which there is seemingly no escape. They have no idea how they got there, or who put them there, all they know is they have to escape.....fast. This film is reminiscent of LORD OF THE FLIES, and how it showed mankind at it's worst when things go bad. The film chronicles paranoia, suspicion and fear. MAURICE DEAN WINT, gives a brilliant performance. In fact, this man's acting ability, makes the film worthwhile. The rest of the cast is fantastic as well.

The neat thing about this movie is that the makers did it for relatively cheap (only having to make one set, that they constantly reconfigured) yet, the film works on many levels. This is without a doubt, a thinking persons sci-fi film. THE CUBE shows a level of ingenuity, and genius, missing from mainstream American big budget fare.