The Box Trailer – Richard Kelly And Richard Matheson Make Bizarre Pair

Richard Matheson is one of the strangest writers associated with Hollywood.  I don't say that because of the myriad horror efforts, Twilight Zone episodes, or things like What Dreams May Come that have his name attached.  I say it because so many things he's written just won't go away.

Matheson has credits going back to things like 1957's The Incredible Shrinking Man, based on his novel The Shrinking Man, and it's exactly the movie you think it might be based on knowing nothing more than the year and title.

He wrote a lot of television back in the day, and then in 1964 we got a movie known as The Last Man on Earth based on a little novel he wrote called I Am Legend.  In 1971 we get Omega Man, based on I Am Legend.  In 2007 we got both I Am Omega and I Am Legend, also based on the same work.

In 1981 we had The Incredible Shrinking Woman, and in 2010 we're getting The Incredible Shrinking Man again.  At some stage of development there is even theoretically an untitled I Am Legend prequel.

He also wrote an segment of The Twilight Zone titled Button, Button, which was spun into a horror short in 2006, and is now coming out as a feature length film called The Box.

Adding to the oddity here is that Richard Kelly of Donnie Darko fame is directing, and the whole combination is confusing as hell.  The story behind The Box was in a sense too short even for a segment of The Twilight Zone.  It's like a joke you barely start telling and everyone already knows where you're going.  It's good for a few seconds of mutual appreciation of the idea behind things, but that's it.

Now we're going to spin that into 115 minutes?

The premise, which will be explained in the trailer below, is that a couple is given a mysterious box with a giant button on it.  The box is explained to them by an even more mysterious visitor.  Push the button, and two things will happen - 1) Someone you don't know will die 2) You will receive $1 million in cash.

There is obviously a world of stuff thrown into the film version to expand it from the few minutes of Twilight Zone segment, but I ask you, what do you not know about this movie already?

I'm completely lost myself, but not in a way anyone was hoping for.

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About Marc Eastman

Marc Eastman is the owner and operator of Are You Screening? and has been writing film reviews for over a decade, and several branches of the internet's film review world have seen his name. His reviews have brought him personal praise from the director of a major motion picture, and have been used as required reading in a course at a major University. These priceless rewards, along with just bags of cash, keep him from straying from freelance writing. He is also a member of The Broadcast Film Critics Association and The Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

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