For hardcore horror heads on the hunt for an excellent Halloween watch, look no further than Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 cult-classic sci-fi horror,Cube. Now available for free onTubi, the head-spinning cinematic puzzler is sure to capture the imagination of the uninitiated, opening their minds to the twisted vision that spawned two sequels. A paragon of low-budget horror filmmaking at its finest,Cubeis a prime example of ingenuity and creativity trumping big-budget resources.
Inspiring similarhorror stories likeSawandEscape Room, Cubefinds a group of strangers suddenly waking in a bizarre geometrical cube that functions as a maze. As the strangers try to make sense of who they are, where they’ve been taken, and how they know each other, they become subjected to a series of deadly traps inside the lethal labyrinth. Between its captivating premise, nightmarish surrealism, and excellent production design,Cubeis a must-visit destination on Tubi this Halloween.
Cube’s Premise, Explained
Directed by Vincenzo Natali in his feature debut,Cubearrests viewers with an intriguing premise from the opening scene and never looks back.A stranger named Alderson (Julian Richings) awakens in a locked room with vents leading to others. Alderson steps into the adjacent room and is brutally murdered by a trap. In the next scene, six perfect strangers suddenly awake in a strange superstructure, having no clue how they’d gotten there.
To underscore the prison-like atmosphere inthe ’90s cult classic,each character is named after a famous jail that mirrors their personality. As the characters cooperate to escape the Cube unscathed, viewers get to know police officer Quentin (Maurice Dean Wint), clinician Helen Holloway (Nicky Guadagni), autistic math wiz Kazan (Andrew Miller), his protégée Leaven (Nicole de Boer), office employee David Worth (David Hewlett), and notorious prison escapee Rennes (Wayne Robson).
Viewers are shown the dangers of the Cube within the first 15 minutes when Rennes is lethally doused with acid that melts his face into a bubbling puddle of gore.As the others grasp the gravity of making one false move within the ever-rotating, color-coordinated rooms within the murderous maze, the horrific violence continues to escalate. Psychologically, paranoia and mistrust mount among the strangers, increasing the tension and suspense as they search for answers about the Cube, its origin, location, function, creator, and escape route. Physically, the crippling claustrophobia within the Cube increases the discomfort.
Mathematical answers come as the strangers are violently killed, one by one.The survivors deduce that the Cube consists of a large exterior sarcophagus, with over 17,000 rooms inside and a key bridge that could lead to salvation. Meanwhile, Quentin works to solve how the prisoners are related and why they were deliberately chosen to participate, with the power of prime numbers proving the key to unlocking the evil equation.
How Cube Was Made
A DIY labor of lovemade on a shoestring budget,Cube’s making is just as impressive as its result. In his feature film debut,Natali shotCubein 21 days on a budget of 365,000 Canadian Dollars. In moviemaking parlance, time is money, and Natali had very little of both to make his first film. Yet, the results are far scarier and more memorable than countless movies with 10 times the resources.
Naturally, Natali had to adjust to the resources at his disposal. For instance, Natali originally wanted to shoot the entire movie chronologically, a rarity in most films. However, the budget could not accommodate this. Instead,Natali used one large cube for the whole film set and shot each color-coded room in story order, using color gel filters placed over the camera lens to achieve the jarring visual effect. To differentiate each, Natali shot some rooms with wide-angle lenses and others with long lenses. The result psychologically toys with viewers to disorient their sense of place.
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Although the characters move back and forth between the colored rooms, Natali shot all the red room scenes before moving to the blue room; all the blue room scenes before moving on to the white room, etc.According to Nicole de Boer,filming all day in the red room created an unexpected psychological impact on the cast that bled into their performances.
In another example of Natali’s creative low-budget filmmaking, the warehouse used for the Cube set was located near an active train track in Toronto, Canada. The sounds of the passing trains were recorded and used in the film to signify the sound of the Cube rotating. These ingenious moves madeCubea cult classic in the ’90s and partially why the inventive sci-fi horror movie is still strong today.
Cube Still Holds Up 30 Years Later
Nearly 30 years after its release,Cubeis highly recommended in 2024. The effective terror ofCube’s captivating premise cannot be overstated. The waythe low-budget horror movieinstantly immerses viewers into the surreal nightmare, grips their attention, and simulates the feeling of being trapped in a maze is genuinely palpable. Indeed,the idea of gathering a group of total strangers in a mysteriously deadly environment — forcing them to use their specific expertise to escape unharmed — will never get old. As such, it’s easy to see howCubespawned two sequels and a Japanese remake.
Yet beyond its basic plot,Cubeholds up in its Kafkaesque production design, gory violence, and cinematic influence beyond the franchise. Jasna Stefanovic’s stunning industrial production design is disturbingly disorienting and does a splendid job of evoking the immersion of being stuck in an inescapable locale. The strange otherworldly environment is one of the main reasonsCubegained a cult following in the late ’90s. Almost three decades later, Cube’s geometrical design discombobulates older fans and newer generations.
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Past the unique production design,the gory violence achieved through excellent practical FX work adds to the movie’s staying power. Beyond Rennes' face becoming a bubbling cauldron of bloody bile, Cube sets the standard when Alderson is gorily vivisected the moment he steps into a trap-filled room. Not to spoil the others, but all four fatalities in Cube rank as examples of quality over quantity, leading to an unpredictable twist ending that still retains its storytelling might.
Last but possibly most important,Cubelaid the blueprint for several other popular movie conceits to flourish in its wake.Whether Darren Aronofsky’sPi, James Wan’sSaw, the Wachowskis’The Matrix, orThe Escape Roomseries, it’s impossible not to see the influenceCubehad on ambitious sci-fi horror outings that continue to push the basic conceit forward. Between its own merits and expansive cinematic influence, Cube holds up well in 2024.
Cubeis available to stream for free on Tubi
