The internet is a really effective job creator, especially if you're a filmmaker just waiting to be noticed. Already, we've seen short films turn the likes of Carl Rinsch, Neill Blomkamp, and Shane Acker into feature film directors who were given the keys to a new ride after convincing some Hollywood types that they were ready. Though, to be fair, the results of those men and their efforts range from impressive to middling, and their careers are still in need of a bit of a jump start. If he's lucky, recently noticed filmmaker Saan Kesh could be the one to break the curse, and he's got an interesting concept to possibly strike it rich with: he's re-imagining Vincenzo Natali's Canadian sci-fi cult classic, Cube.
The Hollywood Reporter has scooped the knowledge that Kesh, an up-and-coming filmmaker who's already got an iron in the fire with a feature adaptation of his short Controller, has been brought into the fold on Cubed. What's interesting about the new "reimagined" version of Cube is that it's including some new story elements thrown into the mix, namely, "artificial intelligence... and the birth of a new ‘digital’ race." Kind of reminds you of another movie that's out in theaters now, doesn't it?
The original run of Cube films were more about the cube structure itself, and the various traps and tricks that the enclosure would inflict on the seven participants trapped within its confines. It's a truly effective sci-fi/horror franchise that explores what would happen if you set the Stamford prison experiments in a cube that killed its prisoners in several different flavors. Think more of a Saw franchise, with an interior decoration fetish. In any case, Cubed looks like it's re-configuring the concept into something much more sinister, but with the aid of the familiar concept of a constantly shifting house of torture.
Most re-imaginings sounds like thinly veiled and/or updated versions of their former selves, but Cubed honestly sounds like it's doing it right so far. By taking the concept of the original film and twisting it into a more defined, yet more promising scenario, it's one of those rare re-treads that rises above mere mimicry and becomes something of its own. Still, the possibility of Cube being turned into a lackluster modernization project is too much to bear, considering the original is still regarded as a cult sci fi classic from its era. Though judging by Saan Kesh's previously optioned short, The Controller, there's a good chance that this could be something extremely unique. You can check that short out in the embed below.
Neither Cubed nor The Controller have release dates or immediate production plans, but we'll expect that to change in the near future.
