The Cell story
The Cell is a 2000 science fiction psychological horror film directed by Tarsem Singh in his directorial debut, and starring Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Synopsis: A team of researchers use an experimental technology to enter the mind of a comatose serial killer in order to locate where he has hidden his latest kidnap victim.
11 total · 7 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| human vs. captivity | major | Julia Hickson was being held captive in a cell, thus the film title "The Cell", that was slowly filling with water. The police were racing to find and free her before the cell filled completely. |
| law enforcement | major | Special Agent Peter Novak was racing to find out where a recently fallen comatose serial killer had hidden his latest kidnap victim before the victim died. |
| medical occupation | major | The child psychologist Dr. Catherine Deane was recruited to enter into the dark dreamscape of a comatose serial killer's twisted psyche in an effort to find out the location of his latest kidnap victim in time before the victim died. |
| sadism | major | Carl Rudolph Stargher was an exceedingly sadistic serial killer. |
| schizophrenia | major | The viewer is shown a window into what the psyche of a schizophrenic person might be like through Dr. Catherine's experiences inside the mind of a comatose serial killer who was suffering from a form of this condition. |
| serial murder | major | The plot centered on the efforts of some federal agents and a child psychologist to find the latest kidnap victim of the recently fallen comatose serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher before the victim died. |
| speculative technology | major | A main novelty of the film is an experimental technology that enabled people to enter into the dreamscape-like psyches of comatose people. |
| child abuse | minor | Young Stargher's father went to town on him with a belt and them applied to him a hot iron after the father found that Stargher had been playing with dolls. |
| Christianity | minor | There was a scene of Stargher being baptized. |
| sadomasochism | minor | The film is interspersed with masochistic imagery. In one pointed example of this, the serial killer Carl Rudolph Stargher delighted in Dr Catherine tearing off his nipples and subsequently impaling him. |