"The Cell" is a glass-encased chamber in an abandoned rural farmhouse where a nasty, disturbed serial killer Carl Stargher (Vincent D' Onofrio) drowns his victims. Not very pleasant. But wait, there's more.
Stargher leaves his victims where they can be discovered in a game he plays with FBI agent Peter Novak (Vince Vaughn). However, that's small potatoes in this plot. Stargher gets caught early on in the film, as he becomes comatose after a violent seizure, and is apprehended by the FBI.
However, Stargher has left one last victim in the cell, and nobody knows where that is. She has 40 hours to live in this grisly environment which is on automatic pilot to kill her. What to do?
Well, it seems there is a child therapist, Catherine Deane (Jennifer Lopez) who is trying to almost literally enter the mind of a catatonic young boy in order to return him to his rich parents. She does this by a bizarre method hanging from the ceiling with the boy while they are connected by wires to one another.
Novak convinces her to try to enter Stargher's mind in order to discover the cell's location and save his last captive. The ensuing trip through Stargher's psyche ensues. One reviewer has said, "You won't see more alarming and unsettling images" than this voyage.
The photography, costumes and set designs are described as striking and gorgeous, prompting one critic to say "It's like getting a present and being happier with the wrapping than the gift."
It is directed by Tarsem Singh and written by Mark Protosevich. It is rated R for bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity and language.