The Box is based on a 1970 short story by Richard Matheson called “Button, Button”. It was later adapted into an episode of The Twilight Zone. Now it has been realized as a feature film.

We are transported to Virginia circa 1976 and are introduced to The Lewis family. Norma (Cameron Diaz) is an educator-in-training while Arthur (James Marsden) makes his bacon at NASA. Norma receives bad news that her scholarship is being revoked so she won’t be able to afford her classes. Arthur is turned down for a promotion. Both try to console each other but they are worried about making ends meet.

The couple find a package outside their door and in the package is a black box with a red button on the top. Later that day opportunity literally knocks when a man named Arlington Stewart (Frank Langella) visits Norma at her home and tells her what the box is for. The offer is simple; press the button, someone in the world dies, and the couple is awarded $1 million dollars. If they don’t push the button then the offer will be given to someone else. Norma and Arthur have twenty-four hours to decide whether to push or not. They could sure use the money but can they live with that fact that their blessing will cost someone his or her life?

The Box has a great premise. I saw the preview and I thought it would make a compelling film to watch this couple wrestle with pushing the button for a suitable fortune. The problem, that I’m sure a lot of people already predicted, was that the concept was too small for a nearly two hour film.

The suspense is from what Norma and Arthur decide to do with the box. What happens after makes up the rest of the film and I’m sorry to say that is a bizarre mess. A simple and elegant little story gets blown into some kind of lofty alien conspiracy extravaganza with mind controlled slaves, watery gateways and the omniscient employers that are pulling all the strings. It starts off as a psychological thriller and then mutates into a surreal interpretation of a really bad episode of The X-Files.

What I did like was the film style. They really tried to make it retro by coating the picture with a slight fog so lights and whites appeared extra luminescent. It was probably done to make the film creepier but it felt like an effort to recreate the look of 1970s movies.

I was also happy to see James Marsden. I felt bad at how he was shortchanged in the X-Men films so it was nice to see him a bigger role. Frank Langella’s half-face special effect is also fun to stare at. I liked the dental detail where I could see his exposed jaw move when he talked including his teeth.

This is one of my briefest reviews yet but that’s because I am so certain that this movie is not worth your dime. See something else and rent this on DVD or Blu Ray. As a sci-fi and horror fan I am compelled to label The Box as an artistic disappointment. The film is too long and too complicated. It was a nice try to expand upon “Button, Button” and explain where the box and the mysterious Arlington Stewart came from but the mysteries constantly start, hit a dead end, and then another mystery is born from out of nowhere. Then when the big reveal happened it still didn’t make a whole lot of sense and I felt like I just wasted an hour and fifty-six minutes of my precious time.

Simply put; do not open The Box until it hits the rental market. Unless a theater usher is standing at the entrance ready to hand you a briefcase of $1 million bucks to see this thing just move on to your second choice. Consider yourself warned, my fellow film fans.