Box

So Matt Shaw, stuck in a box for around 70 odd minutes... Doesn't sound the most promising, yet it all fits together extremely well.

The camerawork was claustrophobic and the editing was on point, never really giving any opportunity to let you get over the previous scene.

Shaw shows some good acting throughout, especially the more, gag enducing scenes. And holds up the movie alone very well.

There are some scenes I would love to comment on, but I do not want to spoil anything. This one is best to go into blind... And empty stomached.

Considering the small set and cast this works extremely well, and feels much bigger in terms of production value, than it probably is.

Very entertaining, can't wait for future work off Shaw and his team.

Self indulgence at the expense of a group of students weekend off... I assume thats how long it took to make this.

First of the warning signs for me was the Typical crap film, the single filming location. It signals no budget or even permission to film anywhere but their mates spare room. This barely works when it got really talented people working on it.

2nd warning sign was the long credits at the start, nothing hints at a low quality production than the actual makers of the thing not having the confidence that the audience is going to be around at the end (I wasnt) And 3rd warning sign is when the writer, director is also then star...

This is the type of stuff students make for a project and get a barely passing grade and never watch it again... the fact this appears on Prime Video is baffling as Im sure back in the day it wouldnt even get on the shelf in a poundshop.

It's clearly meant to have been a simple, but deep and thought-provoking movie. I've seen a fair few of those. This isn't one of them.

It was, frankly, rather boring, with face-value dialogue and meaning. Nothing much original about it. The acting wasn't awful, but it was mediocre - think am-dram. It didn't capture any real emotion - it just felt fake. This left you not caring about the main protagonist at all.

Without any spoilers, the finale wasn't worth the long wait. The movie was gross in places, which would have been absolutely fine, but it wasn't done in any interesting way.

The man is kept in an 'inescapable' box - made from thin mdf panels and some chicken-wire. It would have been more believable if they'd, perhaps, made it look metallic.

In terms of the cinematography, the chromatic filters stripped the red colour out of the movie, leaving an unappealing blue-green-yellow hue that wasn't pleasant to look at for long periods (even black & white would have been more appealing to watch).

I just kept wanting the movie to end, hoping for a decent twist at the end. That never came.

Giving it 2 stars as I think 1 star may be a little unfair. But it really can't get any more than 2.

I simply cannot recommend spending over an hour sitting through this. Save yourselves.

Would be interesting to see what Purgatory Pictures could do with a bigger budget. With little money they keep bringing original content to their films which are a breath of fresh air to bigger budgeted mainstream films which feel like they are just copies of each other. The film isn't perfect (some scenes are acted better than others, some of the effects are clearly low budget and the editing could have been tighter in places) but for what they're trying to do, I think they are on the right tracks. I was entertained throughout and that's saying something given most "mainstream" films are a chore to get through.

A great film made by Matt Shaw and Maria. Really well done on the visuals and storytelling in this one. If you're a fan of films like Oldboy and Saw then you'll love this. Keep watching until the very end. You'll be pleasantly surprised.