User blog comment:EmpyrealInvective/Emp's Halloween Horr-tacular (2017)/@comment-25052433-20170926185320/@comment-25052433-20170927061832

WARNING--MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

The Box left a nice impression on me, just due to the morbid nature of the concept. Sure, there were a few plot holes, but those are more on Ketchum than the director of the film. The rest of the short films, while enjoybale in their own rights, fell short when compared to The Box.

I think what made The Box work so well for me was the complacent nature of the "curse" or whatever it was that the contents of the box placed upon the son. The kid wasn't fighting his ailment, he wasn't doing everything in his power to overcome it, he just sort of smiled and went with dying.

When compared to a film like Thinner, which featured a similar concept, The Box was much more disturbing because of that complacent, almost welcoming nature that the victims had towards their condition. In Thinner, Billy Halleck is trying everything in his power to find a way to lift the curse. This made the horror of what was happening to him easier to digest because the man was doing what we as people understand to be the natural course/reaction, he was fighting to live. Danny in The Box was simply smiling and happy as he slowly wasted away. Even the parents had this strange sort of subtle complacency towards the whole ordeal at first. The Christmas morning scene was likely the worst though, as the movie showcases the family, who are all (minus the mother) afflicted by this "curse." They're still going on about their Christmas routine, opening gifts, laughing and smiling, but now all clearly dealing with various stages of emaciation. (Danny having to be carried downstairs by his father due to being too weak to walk I guess.)

I don't know... I can see how many people criticized The Box due to its plot holes and conceptual oddities. Why did the parents wait so long to take Danny to the doctor? Why wasn't he hospitalized a lot sooner? Why didn't the feeding tubes save them from starvation at the end when they were finally in the hospital?

And of course, as the great Brad Pitt once asked.... "WHAT'S IN THE BOX??"