Cube [WS]

Director: Vincenzo Natali Vincenzo Natali

Overview

"Confusion and fear meet in the terrifying thriller Cube. Trimark has done a very good job transferring this 1.85:1 widescreen image to DVD, though it's a shame that it is a non-anamorphic transfer. Overall, the color schemes and deep black levels look good, though an excessive amount of grain shows up in the picture along with a small amount of edge enhancement. The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 in English and Spanish. This soundtrack displays a nice amount of fidelity, though the rear speakers are not utilized. Overall, the dialogue, effects, and music are all clear and free of any excessive distortion or hiss. Also included on this disc are Spanish and French subtitles. For a small independent movie, Cube includes a nice array of extra features. A commentary track by actor David Hewlett, co-writer/director Vincenzo Natali, and co-writer Andre Bijelic should please fans looking to know more about the movie. This is a very entertaining commentary track that includes lots of production details and stories from the making of the film. Some comparative and alternate storyboards are included that shed some light of the effects and the sets, and a few very rough-looking deleted scenes give the viewer a glimpse at what ended up on the cutting-room floor. Finally, there is some interesting production artwork (drawings) from the conceptual stages of the movie, and a few bonus trailers for other Trimark movies."

Product Details

Release Date:	01/26/1999
UPC:	0031398691433
Original Release:	1997
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:30:00
Sales rank:	26,602

Special Features

Widescreen; Ultra stereo; Digitally mastered; Interactive menus; Scene access; Trailer; Spanish and French subtitles; Comparative and alternate storyboards; Deleted scenes; Production design; Schematic set design; Special F/X artwork; Production commentary

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Nicole de Boer	Leaven
Nicky Guadagni	Holloway
Maurice Dean Wint	Quentin
David Hewlett	Worth
Andrew Miller	Kazan
Wayne Robson	Rennes
Julian Richings	Alderson
Mark Korven	Composer

Technical Credits

Vincenzo Natali

André Bijelic

Graeme Manson

Vincenzo Natali	Director,Screenwriter
André Bijelic	Screenwriter
Graeme Manson	Screenwriter
Mehra Meh	Producer
Betty Orr	Producer
Colin Brunton	Executive Producer
Jill Purdy	Sound Effects,Sound Editor
Craig Henighan	Sound Effects,Sound Editor
Stephen Barden	Sound Effects,Sound Editor
Justine Whyte	Executive Producer
C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures	Special Effects
Steve McNamee	Sound/Sound Designer
Sue Conley	Sound Editor
John Laing	Sound Editor
Todd Warren	Sound/Sound Designer
John Sievert	Sound Editor
Darcey Kite	Sound/Sound Designer
Peter Kelly	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A triumph of imagination over budget, Cube is about as sharp and tense as they come -- especially for a psychological thriller shot in a single room, transformed into multiple rooms by a bunch of colored light filters. It's a take-notice debut from Canadian screenwriter/director Vincenzo Natali, and not only because it creeps out its audience far more than a film costing under 500,000 dollars has any business doing. In fact, with its sophisticated special effects, makeup effects, and script, it doesn't even call attention to its own underdog status. Cube is a penetrating sociological study of human hamsters in a giant maze -- how they address an unfathomable predicament, how they scrap to survive, and how they keep from cracking up, or fail in that regard. Since Natali is not afraid to tamper with the audience's expectations for certain characters, the film is truly unpredictable. Yet his script is gradual enough that none of these reversals can be considered anything so pedestrian as a "plot twist." The stakes are established early with a couple scenes of visceral gore, previewing the potential of this meat-grinding Rubik's cube. Mindful of the consequences of a misstep, the characters come to embody not only the human mind's disparate skills needed to solve such a puzzle, but also the wide range of emotions and potential reactions to it. The wild card in the equation, as if there needed to be one, is Andrew Miller's autistic man. Brilliantly, the audience isn't at first sure whether he's mentally handicapped, or reduced to spouting nonsense after years trapped inside this nightmare.