A serial killer , Carl Stargher , has been kidnapping and murdering young women by letting them drown in a water filled cell . He is apprehended by the FBI , but is in a coma and his latest kidnap victim awaits in a cell timed to fill with water <br /><br />Take a look at the above premise and you'll see that there's a very much seen it all before look to it . The magic of Mark Protosevich's script is that he changes a hoary old chestnut plot in to something quite different from what you're expecting . If I mentioned the plot involves a machine that allows a psychiatrist to enter the mind of Stargher then sets up a different film entirely <br /><br />This wouldn;'t be enough to make THE CELL a different class of thriller but director Tarsem Singh creates a visually striking surreal thriller . The cinematography by Paul Laufer where opaque primary colours are to the fore is stunning but Singh doesn't let it end there , things like costume design where Stargher wanders around his idiosyncratic universe wearing opulent costumes does have a visual impact making this so much more than a run of a mill thriller <br /><br />What stops THE CELL becoming a classic movie however is that you start becoming more and more aware that the whole movie revolves around the visuals rather than having a natural narrative . We see a third character , a FBI man enter Stargher's domain but this seems more like a contrived plot turn just to introduce the audience to more stunning but very disturbing moments<br /><br />It should also be pointed out that this is a rather disturbing thriller with a atmosphere that is very depressing and that stops the film from being if not enjoyable , then involving . One scene where a FBI agent recounts a case where a paedophile beats a rap only to later cut out the heart of his victim will fill your heart with so much despair you might reach for the off button . You'll probably have to watch a massive amount of thrillers till you see another one as disconcerting as this one