Cube Zero
| Cube Zero | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ernie Barbarash |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Ernie Barbarash |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Norman Orenstein |
| Cinematography | François Dagenais |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | Lions Gate Entertainment |
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Release date
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October 15, 2004 |
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English French |
Cube Zero is a 2004 Canadian independent science fiction psychological horror thriller film, written and directed by Ernie Barbarash. It is the third film in the Cube film series, being a prequel to the series.
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, as well as the aftermath. The film also reverts to the industrial-designed, colored rooms of the first film, but with a refreshed and redesigned set.
Reviews have been positive, claiming a more dramatic, and thrilling film in the series, but significantly less than Cube.
The film starts with a man, Ryjkin, trying to escape from the Cube. He enters a room and is sprayed with liquid that he thinks is only water. However, when he rubs the back of his hand due to itchiness, his flesh liquifies and falls off. This soon happens all over his body, as he then melts on the floor and dies as a result.
A man named Eric is watching a video feed of this in an observation room with a co-worker named Dodd. Afterwards, Eric is shown to be sketching a portrait of Dodd in the form of a superhero called Chessman, while playing chess with him at the same time. Dodd has the chess board in front of him, but Eric is at another table, simply drawing and naming his moves. Eric seems to be vastly intelligent, calculating all of Dodd's moves. After Eric wins, he asks Dodd questions about their missing colleagues. 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" that 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 men, 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 or how he got there - he only knows his name. According to what Eric and Dodd know, everyone in the Cube faced a death sentence and was presented with a choice: Go into the Cube with their memory completely erased, or take the death sentence. For this process, a unique consent form must be signed for someone to 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", in the form of a flavored pill, from "upstairs" via the elevator.
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