Movies

The Avocado Movie Club #51: Dave Made a Maze (2017)

Welcome to the Movie Club! Today’s movie is Bill Watterson’s bizarre genre mash-up Dave Made a Maze!

Japanese release poster

Dave Made a Maze is, well, exactly what the movie is about. The titular Dave creates a maze out of cardboard boxes, which somehow takes on a life of its own, becoming much bigger on the inside than the out. After he gets trapped in it, his girlfriend and a number of his other friends enter it to rescue him, quickly finding out that it’s more than just a game.

Dave Made a Maze premiered on January 21, 2017 at the Slamdance Film Festival. It then played at multiple festivals throughout the year, before a limited release on October 18, 2017 in the US.1 It made only $34,117 but was well-received by critics, earning an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes.23

Trivia:45

  • Principal photography took only 20 days, and the entire film was shot in a warehouse in Glendale, California.
  • The maze contains over 20 unique sets and was built using 30,000 square feet of donated/scrap cardboard.
  • The film’s lead sculptor, Mike Murnanef, came from the very real Cardboard Institute of Technology in San Francisco, and he helped define the film’s aesthetic.

Up Next: Our next film will be Carl Franklin’s neo-noir Devil In a Blue Dress! We’ll meet to discuss it on July 10 at 12PM. We’re also running towards the end of our current crop of movies, so I’ll be making another selections thread next Friday, July 3 as well! Otherwise, check out the trailer for Devil In a Blue Dress and where it’s playing below:

USA

  • Stream: Nada!
  • Rent or Buy: Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Fandango At Home

Canada

  • Stream: Hollywood Suite On Demand (also via Prime Video)
  • Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, Prime Video

UK

  • Stream: Nada!
  • Rent or Buy: Prime Video, Apple TV, Sky Store
  1. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4457344/releaseinfo/ ↩︎
  2. https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt4457344/ ↩︎
  3. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dave_made_a_maze ↩︎
  4. https://screenanarchy.com/2018/10/gallery-behind-the-scenes-of-cult-fave-dave-made-a-maze-in-japanese-cinemas-this-friday-gallery.html ↩︎
  5. https://john-sumner-8dc8.squarespace.com/new-page ↩︎