Cube Zero
Following the grisly 1997Cubeand its 2002 sequel,Cube 2: Hypercube,Cube Zerostretches the original'sThe Twilight Zone-like, strangers-in-a-box theme a little thin. Fortunately, there's a difference this time. The hero is not just another disoriented captive of the Cube's interconnected--often lethal--rooms, but rather a geek named Eric (Zachary Bennett) who sits in a control station wrestling with his conscience about inflicting misery on innocent people. Taking orders over the phone from some almighty, unknown power in a distant office, Eric reaches a breaking point and enters the maze himself, intent on helping a woman (Stephanie Moore) who doubts his motives. The existential bent of the prior films becomes even more Kafkaesque this time with the arrival of a white-collar team of tormentors, bureaucratic tyrants who can't or won't explain the point of the Cube. Imaginative writer-director Ernie Barbarash rescues what might have been a tedious formula flick.--Tom Keogh