Boxing clever

From the mind of one of the most influential sci-fi/horror authors of our time, Richard Matheson (Duel, I Am Legend, Hell House) comes The Box (2009), adapted by Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko (2001)) from Matheson’s short story, Button, Button.

And, by and large, it’s a belter. Cameron Diaz and James Marsden play Norma and Arthur Lewis, a 1970s couple with a young son, Walter (Sam Oz Stone). Things aren’t going too well for the Lewis family – despite being a well-liked teacher, Norma is laid off and Arthur’s ambitions of becoming an astronaut are coming to nothing. But then, a small wooden box arrives on their doorstep early one morning that contains a mysterious device with a large, red button at its centre.

Bemused, neither Norma nor Arthur know what to make of it, but next day, when Norma is at home, a mysterious, hideously disfigured gentleman by the name of Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) pays a vistit. The offer is simple – should the Lewises choose to press the button, they will receive $1,000,000 cash. However, someone they do not know will die. Well, would you?

The set-up is genuinely creepy, and the film is helped enormously by its excellent central performances, with Langella in particular both unnerving, sympathetic and frightening. Explaining too much of exactly what Mr Steward represents is wisely avoided by Kelly’s sharp screenplay, but suffice it to say that there are vast forces at work here.

Additionally, the director is brave enough, a la Se7en (1995), to take the story to its only logical conclusion, which may well mean that those looking for a traditional ‘happy’ ending would do well to look elsewhere. After all, don’t worry – it’s no one that you know, right? Brrrrrr.

115 mins.