There’s something about boxes that fascinates us. Even as kids, our interest in boxes seem to well deep from our prenatal comfort state—a kind of play that seems an unconscious attempt to relive the security of the womb. It’s a strange feeling that appears to access the deepest and primordial recesses of our mind.

Take for instance our anticipation in opening a gift box. This never fails to excite and thrill us—not knowing what’s inside and hoping for the best. On the other hand, an unmarked box left somewhere creates apprehension and fear from what may be inside. Thus, boxes can be both a source of both well-being and bad news. The effect is never stronger than when there’s of a box that contains something but the knowledge is just beyond your reach.

The mystery/horror movie, The Box, makes good use of the mysterious appeal of boxes. The central object that the plot moves around is, of course, a box—a box given by a middle-aged man whose left face seems to have been eaten by something. It’s a box that can make you rich, but with a price. If you press the button of the box, you get 1 million dollars, but someone you don’t know somewhere in the world will have to die. It’s like a game where you must choose to obey your conscience or not and our protagonists—a family that’s got financial problems—must make a choice in 24 hours.

So, the movie is about what the family, or more specifically the couple—played by James Marsden and Cameron Diaz, will do with the box. Of course, it’s expected that they will try to find out about things first, and this is where the action and thrill in the movie starts. As such stories go, they will end up getting into more trouble and may even have to sacrifice something dear in order to make things right again. It’s typical, but the story is still interesting enough even if it’s just for the sake of knowing what “the box” has to offer. The movie itself is like an unopened box.