For the first few minutes of the new film “Buried,” we see nothing but a black screen and hear nothing but the screams of truck driver Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds), as we, along with our protagonist, realize that he has been buried alive in a coffin somewhere in the deserts of Iraq. Though the problem of a light-source is soon fixed (Conroy thankfully finds a Zippo lighter), the entirety of the film is this one man trapped in a box, trying desperately to escape it.

If this description might make it sound like a horror flick too heavily reliant on a gimmick, then “Buried” will no doubt surprise you. This is first and foremost because it is not wholly a scary movie. Claustrophobia and fear of isolation are painfully present but they do not steer the film. Instead, it is Reynold’s Conroy that captivates us from start to finish.

“What I liked about making this film is that the audience has never been in this situation before,” Reynolds tells the Daily Californian. “Not only filming a movie in a coffin but being buried alive. There is no right or wrong. There’s only honest.” This is exactly what we get from the actor, who opted not to over-rehearse the dialogue on set: An off-the-cuff, genuine and complex performance. This film is an unorthodox one man show, focused on Conroy as he struggles to both survive in and escape the box. Reynolds never once checks out of this challenge, always sustaining a heightened state of anxiety as his character deals with terrorists and no-help U.S. bureaucrats via videophone, the longing for his family, the creepy-crawlers that join him in his coffined hell, a dwindling light source and more. Therefore, this isn’t Van Wilder in a box nor is it the latest addition to the Saw saga, “Close Quarters” edition.

If you’re not plagued with claustrophobia then your preconceived fear of “Buried” is likely that the movie is boring. It is, after all, 90-odd minutes of footage of a man trapped in a coffin. However, when matched with Reynold’s charisma and wit – who else could deliver sarcasm in a coffin? – director Rodrigo Cortes’ vision ensures that the film is visually intriguing. Though his set is most rigidly set to the confines of a casket, the angles, lights and movements he chooses to catch show no limitations at all. They can be swift, dizzying and, despite the context, grand in scale. Cortes is so gifted at (oh, please forgive the feeble pun) thinking outside the box that entraps our unfortunate Paul Conroy that often the four walls of the coffin seem to disappear.

There is however a problem of practicality. How can this man get reception in the four walls of his buried coffin in the Iraqi desert when I can’t successfully make an outgoing call from half of Berkeley? It is a technological impossibility, of course, but it’s a forgivable one ­- forgettable even. The conversations that Conroy’s miraculous cell reception allows are what make this seemingly contrived plot turn into a multi-dimensional, genre-less film.

Though a tinkling voice in the back of your head may remind you that his phone could never function under such strenuous conditions, Chris Sparling’s otherwise inspired writing and Reynolds’s genuine performance allow you to drop this oversight as easily as your iPhone drops calls. Essentially, “Buried,” due to fine filmmaking on the levels of script, performance and production, is a captivating story that transcends the gimmick that could just as easily put it to rest and the horror genre that could have limited it like the four tight walls of a casket.