This Day in Horror History: Tarsem Singh’s THE CELL Opened in 2000
On this day in horror history, Tarsem Singh’s trippy serial killer sci-fi flick The Cell with Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D’Onofrio was released in 2000.
Tarsem began his career directing music videos such as R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” He calls back to this video in particular in the scene where Lopez talks with D’Onofrio while he is “cleaning” his first victim.
Other scenes are inspired by the works of artists such as H. R. Giger.
Michele Burke and Edouard F. Henriques were nominated for an Academy Awards for Best Make-Up for their stellar work on the film. The film was a box office success, grossing over $104M against a $33M budget.
Written by Mark Protosevich (Poseidon, I Am Legend) the film takes a shocking, riveting mind trip into the dark and dangerous corridors of a serial killer’s psyche — a psyche that holds the key to saving the killer’s final, trapped victim who remains alive. Making this journey into the recesses of a killer’s nightmarish fantasy world is Catherine Deane, a psychologist who has been experimenting with a radical new therapy. Through a new transcendental science, Catherine can experience what is happening in another person’s unconscious mind.
Rated R for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity, and language, the film sports a 45% approval rating over on Rotten Tomatoes with a Critics Consensus that reads: The Cell offers disturbing, stunning eye candy, but its visual pleasures are no match for a confused storyline that undermines the movie’s inventive aesthetic.
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