The Night House (2020) Movie Review

The Night House (2020) IMDB

The Night House (2020) movie poster

A woman has recently lost her husband to an unexpected death. Since we find out how 15 minutes in I feel like I do not need to say spoiler, but if you want to skip to the next paragraph do that now. It was a suicide that he did using a gun, and that is how the story picks-up, post death.

The wife, our main character is in shock about this and as she is dealing with the loss she finds a book among his things with architectural sketches of their house, which happens to also include sketches of a variety of mazes, including one that looks like a 3D level of a house:

The Night House maze scene

Then some weird things start happening, like some odd dreams and visions. And also we get a woman who is searching for answers to what happened among the things he left behind. This includes a book called Caerdroia that features a labyrinth on the cover. And the wife officially starts her own investigation into her husbands death as is common in the movies, but never happens in real life.

The Night House maze scene - Caerdroia Labyrinth book

Things get weirder from here. And at some point you will wonder what is going on. But you will like it. This is psychological horror surrounded by a mystery and it does it well.

I rate it a 7.2/10.

Check out the trailer below.

Cube Zero (2004) Movie Review

Cube Zero (2004) IMDB

Cube Zero (2004) movie poster

I have previously reviewed the movie Cube which I enjoyed. The Cube concept is interesting and it starts out with a group of people waking up and don’t know where or why they are where they are. They end up being in an intersecting maze of cube rooms, each with it’s own particular booby trap that can kill them. Their goal is to survive and escape. This movie, Cube Zero, is the third in the trilogy. I love the ominous saying on the movie poster - “There must be an exit”.

The second movie in the trilogy is not reviewed on this site so I will do it now as a public service message.

Cube 2 : Hypercube (2002) IMDB

Cube 2 Hypercube (2002) movie poster

It is terrible. Avoid. 3.6/10.

Okay now that I wasted our time on that back to our main movie, Cube Zero. What I like about this movie is that as they tell the story we learn the who and the why of people coming to be in the Cube. We also have a storyline that looks at the perspective of the workers who are managing the maze on a day to day basis. We get insight of what they think about the situation and how the Cube is monitoring the participants. They speak about the morals of what they are doing, which eventually leads to one of the workers entering the Cube to help save a person they think is there incorrectly.

If you found yourself watching the original movie and having a lot of questions, many of them are answered in this movie, but you’ll need to watch it yourself so this can be a spoiler free review.

I was entertained. I give it a 6.0/10.

Check out the trailer below.

Oh, Hi there. This movie has been out awhile, and that means you can usually find it streaming for free, like on YouTube, available through this link.

Additional posts and sections you may like:

Reviews of over 120 Maze and labyrinth movies

How to make over 40 different mazes

Want to know which maze movies are the best ?

Anonymous (2011) Movie Review

Anonymous (2011) IMDB

Anonymous (2011) movie poster

I watch a lot of movies. Like a lot. And sometimes I seek out movies to watch that deal with labyrinths and mazes, but sometimes I am watching and I get a surprise. Anonymous was a surprise !

The overall story takes place in the UK during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. While portions of the movie occur in flashbacks the timeline centers on the end of her life and what will happen with her successor. This includes a rebellion against her, the Essex rebellion, and behind the scenes political machinations that accompany it.

But it is also a story about William Shakespeare and whether or not he is the writer of the plays attributed to him. This movies poses that the writer is actually the Earl of Oxford who cannot put his name of the plays for political reasons. Who really wrote the plays ? Before watching this movie I had no idea that there were a group of people called Anti-Stratfordians who believe Shakespeare was not the actual writer of his works. It is considered a fringe theory but you can read about the controversy on Wikipedia if you want to take a deep dive.

The movie is included here because it contains a maze ! Slightly over an hour into the film, the Earl of Oxford gets into a duel inside a hedge maze ! Check out the (very foggy) scene below that shows the maze from above !

Anonymous (2011) maze scene

The period piece is well acted and has wonderful costumes and a fun story. Director Roland Emmerich has also been the writer/director of many big budget Sci-Fi movies that you know (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla, and Stargate).

I give this movie a 6.9/10.

Check out the trailer below.

Exit Strategy (2019) Movie Review

Exit Strategy (2019) IMDB

Exit Strategy (2019) movie poster

If there is one thing I like it is a good time loop movie. This short film, while clocking in at 15 minutes, is just that. At it’s heart it is a film about problem solving how to escape the time loop between two brothers. It is solid with a good story and it is worth the investment, Hey it has a maze as the film poster and since they are in a time loop they use maze terminology in the movie to explain what is happening.

This is the second time loop short film I have reviewed for the site. Check out my Iteration 1 (2016) Movie Review which includes a link to watch the movie !

I give this movie a 7.5/10.

Why watch a trailer when you can watch the entire movie !!