The Box

Director: Richard Kelly
Cast: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella
DVD release: 29 October 2009
Rated: M

Boxed into a corner

Richard Matheson poses the ingenious proposition: for one million dollars, would you be prepared to kill somebody you don’t know at a distance. In his short story ‘Button Button’ (1970) Matheson makes us consider the moral implications of such a situation. It was first brought to the (small) screen in an episode of The Twilight Zone, and now Richard Kelly has extended the material to feature length in The Box. Matheson’s no slouch with his fantasy/horror, sci-fi stories and scripts. He incidentally wrote the screenplay for Duel, Steven Spielberg's first feature.

The Box is set in 1976 in Richmond, Virginia. A married couple, Arthur (James Marsden) and Norma (Cameron Diaz), with their son Malcolm (Kevin DeCoste) are experiencing financial setbacks with job insecurity. Then one fine morning, a parcel arrives mysteriously on their doorstep containing a curious box with a large red button.

A note with the strange box explains a Mr. Arlington Steward will call on them the next day. Enter a distinguished but disfigured stranger who turns out to be Steward (Frank Langella). He makes an offer that should they press the red button they will be given tax free one million dollars. The only drawback is that an unknown person will die at the same time.

They’re allowed 24 hours to make the decision or the box will be passed to somebody else. Arthur examines the interior of box and finds it empty, so suspects it’s a practical joke. Norma isn’t sure yet of course; but finally pushes down the red button with results that are far worse than they could imagine. You begin to think it might be a Faustian pact with the Devil, but you could be wrong. The NASA mission to Mars has much to do with the complex plot which slowly unwinds to engulf most of the cast in catastrophe. The film ends on a curiously enigmatic shot.

It's easy enough to be fascinated by the proposition and the mysterious happenings that occur as a result of Norma’s action. Writer/director Richard Kelly weaves an esoteric web of intrigue and suspense, something in which he’s experienced from Donnie Darko. There are references to previous genre films: sudden nose bleeds, a malevolent youth, threatening zombies, fleeting faces at windows, bizarre laboratory settings, and the use of lighting and camera angle to heighten the element of fear. Visually, it’s similar to several scenes in Orson Welles’ The Trial with it’s mounting sense of oppression and guilt; although here instead of Kafka quotes we’re dished up John-Paul Sartre - “Hell is other people”.

Cameron Diaz (My Sister’s Keeper) is in hausfrau mode as Norma at 35, who despite being short of dollars manages expensive fashion outfits, but has a terrible taste in wallpaper. Diaz has the passing look of a young Marlene Dietrich, yet her son in the movie calls her ‘a kinda geezer’. Indeed Norma has the problem of a prosthetic foot, to match the awful prosthetic hole in the face of Mr. Steward. While Diaz performs quite convincingly in her role (despite a Southern drawl straight out of Gone With The Wind), it’s veteran Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) who steals the limelight. With precise ‘Vincent Price’ delivery and mutilated face, Langella manages to convey menace in his every scene. James Marsden (27 Dresses) is less memorable as the would-be astronaut and technical whizkid at NASA, and seems a little outclassed here by his co-star.

The best part of the movie is the first half, as it rather loses something of the mystic appeal as it moves further into the sci-fi department. The storyline gets fishy when water is added to the sets in vast CGI quantities. However, overall The Box proves to be an entertaining thriller using a thought-provoking concept as a base for the plot.

John Bale