Cube Zero
| Cube Zero | |
|---|---|
 Theatricial release poster |
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| Directed by | Ernie Barbarash |
| Produced by | Suzanne Colvin Goulding Jon Goulding |
| Written by | Ernie Barbarash |
| Starring | Zachary Bennett Stephanie Moore Michael Riley Martin Roach |
| Music by | Norman Orenstein |
| Cinematography | François Dagenais |
| Editing by | Mitchell Lackie Mark Sanders |
| Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | October 15, 2004 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English French |
Cube Zero is a 2004 Canadian psychological thriller/horror film, written and directed by Ernie Barbarash. It is the third film in the Cube film series, but is a prequel to the first film. Even though the first two films take place almost entirely within the maze, Cube Zero takes place in both the interior and exterior of the cube, making significant use of outdoor scenes. This movie explains the origins of the Cube and the people that control it.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film starts with a man, Ryjkin, trying to escape from the Cube. He enters a cube, and is sprayed with liquid, but thinks it is only water. However, when he rubs the back of his hand, a piece of flesh falls off,and he realizes that his body is disintegrating, and that he was sprayed with acid. He then melts on the floor, screaming.
A man named Eric watching this in an observation room with his co-worker named Dodd, reveals that it is only a filmed tape. Afterwards, Eric is shown to be sketching a portrait of Dodd (in the form of a superhero called Chessman), whilst playing chess with Dodd, who has a chess board in front of him, which Eric is not looking at, as he is on the other table, just drawing and naming his moves. Eric is vastly intelligent, so he can already calculate all of Dodd's moves. After Eric wins, he asks Dodd questions about their missing colleagues, but Dodd tells him not to ask too many questions or get involved with the occupants of the Cube, because it wouldn't make "those upstairs" happy.
Both Eric and Dodd get an order from "upstairs", which asks them to record the dream of a subject, Cassandra Rains. In her dream, Eric sees that she was captured, while walking in a pleasant forest with her daughter named Anna. After waking, Cassandra meets the other occupants of the Cube. One of the males placed in the cube, Robert Haskell, has a tattoo on his forehead like the soldier who captured Cassandra. However, Haskell, like everyone else, has no recollection of his former life, nor how he got here, he only knows his name. According to what Eric and Dodd know, everyone in The Cube was facing a death sentence and was presented a choice: Go in the Cube with their memory completely erased or be put on a death sentence. Only if a person signs the consent form will he or she then be placed in The Cube. Eric discovers that there is no consent form in Cassandra's file and argues with Dodd that they should inform the people "upstairs" about this. Meanwhile, Eric and Dodd get "lunch" from "upstairs", from the elevator. It's not actually a meal, it's only a set of pills that contain flavours they ordered.
Just when he is about to make a call to the superiors, the phone rings. They are instructed to perform the "exit procedure" for a subject who has reached one of the exits of the Cube and is facing his final challenge. They see that it is one of their former colleagues, Owen. During the exit procedure, Owen is first asked (by Dodd over the speaker) if he remembers his name. Owen is then asked if he believes in God, and when he answers no, Eric is ordered to press the "no" button. After he does, Owen is immediately incinerated. Eric argues with Dodd over the fate of Owen, on which he says that he said "no", and that no one said yes. Eric realizes that the Cube is inhumane, and that those "upstairs" are planning to place people in The Cube without their consent and that they will just randomly place anyone inside The Cube. He decides to enter The Cube to help Cassandra escape it. He distracts Dodd and enters the elevator, which contain only three buttons, UP (from those upstairs), MIDDLE (which is actually a place between UP and DOWN, and is pointing to their office), and DOWN (one of the entries and exits of The Cube). He selects DOWN, and escapes.
Jax, one of the Cube's supervisors, and two of his analysts come to stop Eric from helping Cassandra. Despite their efforts to stop them, Eric and Cassandra make it to the exit room with the help of Dodd, who sabotages the control panels servicing The Cube, and swallows the code for the cameras inside the Cube, saying "you will have to take it out of me". Jax kills him with a knife, and cuts his stomach and get's the codes. The sabotage distracted the Cube and caused it for every trap to shut down, which Eric knows, but he also knows that they only have 10 minutes before The Cube enters the "Reset Mode", which vaporizes every living thing in the room.
Once Eric and Cassandra reaches an "exit room", Haskell catches them, now armed soldier who tries to capture them they escape using a secret auxiliary exit just as The Cube enters "Reset Mode", which vapourizes Haskell. They escape in the lake and end up in the forest. However, soldiers searching for them have already arrived. Cassandra manages to escape, but Eric is shot by a dart and passes out.
Eric wakes up in a surgery room and confronts Jax, who reveals that Cassandra may have gotten away, but Eric had been found guilty of "high treason" and "sabotage" against "country and God." He has been sentenced to "two lifetimes" and will be implanted with a brain microchip. Jax claims Eric has already been convicted in a trial. Jax shows him his consent form and says he had been put in the Cube not as a victim, but as an observer, with his memory reprogramed so he would have no memory about his past life. Eric dreams about Cassandra reuniting with her daughter and praising Eric as "a superhero." Eric is then given a lobotomy so he would have no intelligence to help anybody again to escape, and placed in The Cube. This time, he is the victim.
[edit] Cast
- Zachary Bennett as Eric Wynn, a Cube technician.
- David Huband as Dodd, a Cube technician.
- Stephanie Moore as Cassandra Rains, a political demonstrator trapped in the cube.
- Martin Roach as Robert P. Haskell, a soldier employed to take people to the Cube.
- Michael Riley as Jax, a higher ranking supervisor.
- Mike "Nug" Nahrgang as Meyerhold, a man trapped in the cube.
- Terri Hawkes as Jellico, a woman trapped in the cube.
- Richard McMillan as Bartok, a man trapped in the cube.
- Tony Munch as Owen, a cube technician placed in the cube.
- Jasmin Geljo as Ryjkin, a man trapped in the cube.
- Joshua Peace as Finn.
- Diego Klattenhoff as Quigley.
- Alexia Filippeos as Anna.
- Sandy Ross as Chandler.
- Dino Bellisario as Smith.
- Ashley James as McCaw.
- Fernando Cursione as Doctor.
- Araxi Arslanian as Female Doctor.
[edit] Reception
The film currently holds a 47% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Professional reviews have been mostly positive, garnering reviews from JoBlo.com, AMC's Movie Guide, DVD Talk, and Bloody Disgusting,[1][2][3] with Bloody Disgusting saying that "'Cube: Zero' isn't the best of the series, but it comes close."[4] EfilmCritic.com's David Cornelius praised Barbarash's sense of pacing and tension, writing "Cube Zero” keeps the franchise on track as a genuine treat for fans of intelligent science fiction, the kind that actually enjoys challenging its audience."[5] Reel Film gave the film three out of 4 stars, stating that the film is "a worthy addition to (hopefully) an ongoing franchise." [6]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Cube Zero |
- Cube Zero at the Internet Movie Database
- Cube Zero at Rotten Tomatoes
- Cube Zero at AllRovi
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