31 More Days of Horror: Cube (1997)

If prime numbers scare you, then you best sit this one out. Otherwise you'll want to see this one for the horrific deaths. Saw-like in its execution, but esoteric in its origin, Cube will frustrate the modern cinema-goer, but will delight the existentialist. Six people are trapped in a maze of interlocking cubes with no apparent way out.

Low budget and quite visceral, Cube is an effective examination of madness and murder. The viewer is essentially dropped in with the characters. There are no explanations, no clues, no method before madness takes over. Though we quickly establish that some cubes are diabolical booby-traps, there is no release for our tension. As the group explores, peril is imminent. We just never know when.

The death sequences are quick, but top-notch. Often it’s the paranoia-inducing setting amid the claustrophobic cube that is more frightening. The human experiment is fascinating.  As personalities conflict, the group's evolution and ultimate demise is apparent, but its subtlety is chilling.

Numerophobes beware! Solving the Cube requires the genius in the group to factor prime numbers.  But even is math isn't your strong suit, for the longsuffering, the reward is well-worth the torture.