The 1990s were a strange decade for horror movies. The gory and guts-filled 1980s were known for putting out consistent bangers, as well as many of the best movies in the horror genre, so when the ‘90s hit, the expectation that horror movies would take things to the next level was high.
Unfortunately, what we got was a decade filled with lackluster sequels, questionable CGI, and forgettable franchise attempts. Outside a couple of iconic films like Scream and The Silence of the Lambs, most of the genre was downright forgettable in the decade.
However, there were a few gems, which transcended overused plots and unneeded slasher sequels. Movies like Event Horizon, In the Mouth of Madness, and a unique international movie from 1997, Cube.
Related: Event Horizon Retro: 25 Years of Cosmic Chills
Now, more than 25 years after the release of the original, Japanese filmmaker Yasuhuki Shimizu has released a remake, simply titled Cube. While Vincenzo Natali’s original story lays the groundwork for the new film, this Screambox Original version’s screenplay is written by Kôji Tokuo. Cube stars Masaki Okada (Drive My Car), Takumi Saitoh (Shin Godzilla), Masaki Suda (Kamen Rider series), Hikaru Tashiro, Anne Wantanabe, and Kôtarô Yoshida.
Cube follows a group of strangers who wake up to find themselves imprisoned in a cube-shaped room, with hatches that lead to similar rooms. Some of the rooms are safe, while others are booby-trapped with deadly devices. The strangers work together to get through the rooms and safely find the exit.
A couple of the strongest aspects of the Cube remake are the cinematography and seeing this setting and story with updated technology and camera work. While the original film looked good for the time, it has naturally become dated over the last two decades, and giving it a crisp, clean, sci-fi look benefited the story immensely. Traps were concise and camouflaged, especially in rooms with a fully green or orange tint, making them that much more surprising when they were sprung.
Related: ‘The Unheard’ Review: Solid Sensory Horror Mixed with a Murder Mystery
The cinematography was done by newcomer Tomoyuki Kawakami and Toyomichi Kurita, who worked on Sukiyaki Western Showdown and a couple of the Madea movies.
While the gore wasn’t as plentiful as you might expect throughout the film, there were some great gory moments, including one that kicked off the movie that saw a man get a cube-shaped hole punched through his torso. There were some extremely cool traps in this version of the film, and it’s a shame you didn’t get to see them all used to completion.
Another bright spot for Cube was its focus on character backstory; something that wasn’t really present in the original film. While some watchers may find this slow, I’m a big-time supporter of character development, so for me, the more I could learn about these characters, the better.
Related: The Best Horror Movie of Each Decade from the Last Century
Both the subject matter and character focus reminded me of more melodramatic series to come out of South Korea and Japan over the last few years, like Squid Game or Alice in Borderland. Coincidentally, the excellent musical score for Cube was done by Yutaka Yamada, the composer behind Alice in Borderland and Tokyo Ghoul.
One of the more glaring issues with Cube comes with the lack of explanation in the story. This was an issue I had with the original film as well, but in this version, it’s a bit amplified, as there is less focus on what each character brings to the table. Rather than having a specific study or skill for each character, they all seemed to be entering hatches willy haphazardly, and figuring out things on the fly.
Having an exploration of these skills could have made the chemistry between the characters stronger as the movie progressed, and even though a couple of the characters had some connection, most of them felt like trap fodder.
While the Cube remake brought some much-needed backstory to its characters, the lack of story explanation, character chemistry, and gore failed to raise the bar in what could have been an extremely successful remake. I think Cube is definitely still worth the watch, at the very least for its crisp and concise technical aspects and great musical score, but for me, it’s a one-and-done type of movie.
Cube is now available on Screambox.
