A MARRIED couple are faced with a startling moral dilemma when they receive a simple wooden box as a gift. A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1million with the press of a button. But, pressing this

A MARRIED couple are faced with a startling moral dilemma when they receive a simple wooden box as a gift.

A mysterious stranger delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1million with the press of a button.

But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world.....someone they don't know.

With only 24 hours to make their choice, Norma and Arthur face a momentous moral dilemma. They soon discover that the ramifications of this decision are beyond their control and extend far beyond their own fortune and fate.

Cameron Diaz, James Marsden and Frank Langella star in horror THE BOX (12A), based on a short story and directed by Richard Kelly, whose 2001 sci-fi mystery thriller Donnie Darko became a cult classic.

As the story opens, Arthur receives the bitter news that he has been denied the promotion he was expecting, meaning that their bright young son will no longer be able to attend the area's best school and Norma will have to forgo reconstructive surgery on a lifelong, painful injury. It's at this vulnerable point that they receive a visit from Arlington Steward and his bizarre proposition.

Diaz says: "I feel that no one really knows what they would do until they're faced with that kind of decision.

"On the surface, it's easy to say, 'I know exactly what I'd do'. But circumstances could be different at any given time, for any person. It's not as simple as it seems."

Kelly explains: "The Box isn't big on violence or gore; it's more of a thriller in the retro style of the movies I grew up on as a kid, and that kept me on the edge of my seat.