The Box (2009)

The summary of The Box on IMDB is "A small wooden box arrives on the doorstep of a married couple, who know that opening it will grant them a million dollars and kill someone they don't know." This is also a rather succinct summary of the short story that The Box is based on: Richard Matheson's "Button, Button". Doesn't seem like much material for a full length movie. Instead of becoming a glorified extended episode of The Twilight Zone, Richard Kelly (director and writer of Donnie Darko) slowly warps and manipulates "Button, Button" into something entirely dissimilar. And much more interesting.

The Box is incredibly suspenseful. I watched it in bed one night with my boyfriend laying next to me. I kept having to pause the movie and I'd turn to him, "This is really scary. I'm really freaked out right now. This is really scary, etc." over and over. Now, I should say that I don't regularly enjoy horror movies and that I may have over reacted. However, even though I felt terrified for about 40 minutes of the film, I still really liked it. It was a kind of suspense that I don't normally experience with film, especially modern horror. It's also very weird. If you've seen Donnie Darko, The Box is very much in the same vein, both visually and dramatically. My only complaint would be the casting of Cameron Diaz, although her natural naivete is surprisingly fitting for a 1970's housewife. Frank Lagella is super creepy as Arlington Steward, the bearer of the box, so the acting isn't all bad.

Overall, I was really surprised with The Box and would recommend it to those looking for a suspenseful thrill ride that isn't typical of modern horror films.

Writing: 8/10
Acting: 6/10
Plot: 9/10
Visuals: 9/10