Canada’s Vincenzo Natali remains one of my favorite filmmakers and 1997’s Cube is still, in my opinion, one of the best high-concept thrillers of all time. The low-budget horror movie about a group of strangers trapped in endless levels of stark white cubes-that-kill was so popular it spawned two sequels and ushered in a host of one-room thrillers like Saw.
The film’s legacy even continues to this day with Lionsgate developing a remake/reboot with Prometheus‘ Jon Spaihts and Saman Kesh at the helm.
So where did Natali get the idea for his influential film? Turns out Natali was inspired by a now obscure German short film called Balance, which even won an Academy Award in 1989. Balance is directed by Wolfgang and Christoph Lauenstein.
Synopsis:
A group of fishermen on a precariously balanced platform fight over a trunk.
Check out the experimental short below.
