History Film / Cube

* [[POVSequel POV Prequel]]: [[spoiler: Kazan from the first film]].

* ZeroGSpot: Two characters, feeling that their deaths are inevitable, [[MustNotDieAVirgin have sex in the center of one of the cube rooms]] that has zero gravity (and possibly accelerated time) until they apparently die of dehydration and eventually desiccate.

* DoingItForTheArt: [[COREDigitalPictures The effects studio]] for the film worked on it only to show support for Toronto's film industry for no cost.

* DoingItForTheArt: The effects studio for the film worked on it to show support for Toronto's film industry, and it was done for free.

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:In ''Cube'', the chances of Quentin in the room right next to the bridge room where the other characters are is about 20,000 to 1, considering that the rooms move around.]]

* TheVirus: Another strain of necrotizing faciitis is injected in to a character, who, in her death throes, claws at another character, which infects him with the same condition.

* FinalGirl:

* ZeroGSpot: Two characters, feeling that their deaths are inevitable, [[YouDontWantToDieAVirginDoYou have sex in the center of one of the cube rooms]] that has zero gravity (and possibly accelerated time) until they apparently die of dehydration and eventually desiccate.

** Leaven gives up when she discovers that powers of a prime can indicate trapped rooms, declaring the problem "astronomical" (i.e. incalculable by a limited human mind), when in fact all powers of primes less than 1000 would be easy to tabulate. Kazan takes on the task, gleefully echoing "Astronomical!".

* DoingItForTheArt: The effects studio for the film worked on it to show support for Toronto's film industry; and it was done for free.

* ImAHumanitarian: One character solves his food supply problem by systematically hunting down, killing, and eating multiple iterations of a scientist who had worked on the Hypercube and was subsequently trapped inside with the others. Also on his lunch-list is a female researcher who ''he had initially been sent inside to find.'' His arms and neck are lined with the two characters' watches and ID tags, respectively, by his final scene, as a morbid sort of trophy collection. Quite a FridgeHorror moment, as he's also gone gray at the temples. Just how long, subjectively, had he been eating those people (and [[ActorAllusion drinking their blood]], since the Cube has no water sources) to survive? Due to all the constant stress he had to endure and the small variety of nutritional sources available to him (basically protein and not much else) it's probably as little as a couple of weeks or months, but it could have been ''years''.

''{{Cube}}'' is a Canadian science fiction/horror film series. The three movies are each based on the same premise; there is a gigantic, mechanical, cube-shaped structure (the purpose and origin of which is almost completely unknown) that is made up of lots of smaller cube-shaped rooms. Each of these rooms has 6 doors, one on each wall and one on the ceiling and one on the floor, which lead into adjacent, identical rooms, only differing by color. Some of these rooms are safe, while others are equipped with booby traps such as flamethrowers and razorwire which kill a person who enters the room.

* TheUnReveal: The movie ends just [[spoiler:as the lone survivor has found the exit and manages to escape]]. To twist the knife further, [[spoiler:he's TheRainman, and so severely mentally disabled that he would be unable to tell anyone what he discovered]]. ItGetsWorse when you realize that according to ''Cube Zero'', [[spoiler:Kazan started the incident as one of the Cube ''operators'']], meaning he's known from the first second [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel just how fucked up the monstrosity was]].]]

* NietzscheWannabe: Worth, which he lampshades. [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold He ends up helping the others, though.]]

** In the first movie, Holloway and Quentin both during their discussion of each other's pet theories on the origins of the Cube. She believes that the military-industrial complex created the place, which he dismisses because he believes government organizations are just composed of people like him, whose goals in live are to "buy big boats", not conspire. Quentin believes that the structure is a rich psychopath's entertainment, comparing it to ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', to which Holloway reacts as if he just said that the moon is made of cheese. Granted that Quentin’s theory is more outlandish than hers (and his citing of a stereotypical Bond villain doesn't really help his argument), but she didn't need to start acting like a JerkAss by ridiculing him for it ([[spoiler:Not that it makes his murder of her partly in retribution for this any more justified]]).

''{{Cube}}'' is a Canadian science fiction/horror film series. The three movies are each based on the same premise; there is a gigantic, mechanical, cube-shaped structure (the purpose and origin of which is almost completely unknown) that is made up of lots of smaller cube-shaped rooms. Each of these rooms has 6 doors, one on each wall and one on the ceiling and one on the floor, which lead into adjacent, identical rooms, only differing by color. Some of these rooms are safe, while others are equipped with booby traps such as flamethrowers and razorwire which kill a person who enters the room (in some cases it is possible to detect a trap by throwing a boot into the room first, except in ''Cube 2: Hypercube'' where the traps are less distinct - in the form of an abstract shape and visual effects - and less predictable).

*** [[FridgeLogic But none of the other trapped rooms had people in them. Why was this the only trap that killed not one, but multiple people? For that matter, if there were corpses in the room, why did more people keep going in?]]
**** [[FridgeBrilliance The trap didn't trigger until the door was closed. An entire group tested the room, thought it was safe, then all went in.]]

* GenreShift: The first movie was at least ''somewhat'' grounded in reality, with the cube structure obviously futuristic, but still employing normal and believable machinery. The second replaces this with some sort of [[AlienGeometries physically]] [[BeyondTheImpossible impossible]] mega-structure consisting of millions of rooms that freely employs TimeTravel, intersecting [[AlternateUniverse parallel universes]], and many more "[[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardcore sci-fi]]" contraptions.

* OntologicalMystery: Aside from being a basic survival story this is ''the'' major plot point of the movies, particularely the first one, although the sequels adhere to this progressively less and less.

* ArbitrarySkepticism:

** In ''Hypercube'', Max calls the rest of the group crazy for even considering that space and time could be distorted in the cube (despite repeatedly witnessing things that are physically impossible, such as the rooms instantaneously moving around) and argues that there has to be a logical explanation, such as an optical illusion. At the same time he berates the others for not believing in his conspiracy theories, and is convinced that the cube is operated by a mysterious superhacker called Alex Trusk.

** ''Hypercube'' [[SubvertedTrope appears to play it straight]], with a wholesome blonde surviving to the end [[spoiler: but not much further -- she's revealed to be a government operative who, after her de-briefing, [[ShootTheShaggyDog is executed to keep the secrets secure]].]]

** As Worth is explaining to the group that the Cube isn't part of some evil scheme or government conspiracy, he tells them "[[NineteenEightyFour Big Brother isn't watching you.]]"

* TakeMyHand: Subverted. As [[spoiler:Holloway]] is lowered into the unthinkable abyss outside the cube by the other characters, using a rope made of their clothes, the structure shakes and everyone drops the rope. She begins to fall and [[spoiler:Quentin]] is the only one who quickly manages to grab the slipping rope, almost getting pulled down himself. He then manages to pull back all of the rope and grab [[spoiler:Holloway]]'s hand, [[spoiler:but just as she lets out a sigh of relief his smile turns to a psychopatic stare and he drops her]].

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Colonel Maguire chains himself to a wall so he can be killed by one of the traps, a transparent, moving cube wall that ages all the matter in the room by decades if not hundreds of years. Seeing the effect it has on his briefcase leads him to remark "this is gonna hurt".]]

* TheVirus: Another strain of necrotizing faciitis is injected in to a character, who, in her death throes, claws at another character, which infects him with the same condition.

** In the first movie, Holloway and Quentin both during their discussion of each other's pet theories on the origins of the Cube. She believes that the military-industrial complex created the place, which he dismisses because he believes government organizations are just composed of people like him, whose goals in live are to "buy big boats", not conspire. Quentin believes that the structure is a rich psychopath's entertainment, comparing it to ''TheManWithTheGoldenGun'', to which Holloway reacts as if he just said that the moon is made of cheese. Granted that Quentin’s theory is more outlandish than hers (and his citing of a stereotypical Bond villain doesn't really help his argument), but she didn't need to start acting like a JerkAss by ridiculing him for it ([[spoiler:Not that it makes his murder of her partly in retribution for this any more justified]]).

* ShoutOut: Quentin believes that the Cube is just some rich weirdo's funhouse, like [[TheManWithTheGoldenGun Scaramanga's]].

* TheUnReveal: The movie ends just [[spoiler:as the lone survivor has found the exit and manages to escape]]. To twist the knife further, [[spoiler:he's TheRainman, and so severely retarded that he would be unable to tell anyone what he discovered]]. ItGetsWorse when you realize that according to ''Cube Zero'', [[spoiler:Kazan started the incident as one of the Cube ''operators'']], meaning he's known from the first second [[spoiler:[[NightmareFuel just how fucked up the monstrosity was]].]]

* ArtisticLicenseMathematics: Despite being continually referred to as such, a hypercube is not an incomprehensible megastructure with over sixty million cubical rooms, instantaneously moving rooms, time travel, and intersecting parallel universes. It is simply a four-dimensional geometric object, also known as a tesseract.