Somehow I missed this movie in my quest a few years ago to track down every elevator-centered horror movie. There are actually quite a few. This one was one if the earlier ones, back in 1983. It's a Dutch horror/sci-fi flick, and it's kinda dubbed badly, but im hoping to enjoy it in spite of this.
So there's this elevator in a building that starts behaving strangely and killing passengers (whoops!) It's hard for authorities to belive this strange occurrence, but a maintenance man and a reporter know that something has to be wrong with the elevator (you think?) so they try to get to the bottom of the mystery and stop the elevator from killing passengers (and even people who just walk too close to the elevator).
Right when the movie begins, there are some really obnoxious people in the building, and I was hoping the elevator would kill them so I didn't have to listen to them anymore. Score! Well, they don't die, but they almost do, so that at least shuts them up for awhile. Soon people start actually dying, though, and while authorities don't want to believe that the elevator is targeting and killing people, the maintenance guy knows better. I kinda feel bad for him. He's a jerk, but he's also one of the only people who realizes that the elevator is dangerous and is trying to stop it.
The tabloid reporter is the only other person who believes there must be something wrong with the elevator. The company that made the processors used in the elevator keep blowing her off, but it's clear that they realize something is wrong, because they secretly meet to discuss how to stop the elevator from killing people, but they don't want the public to know, so I guess they're willing to let the elevator keep killing people until they figure something out. Meanwhile, the maintenance guy's wife sees him out with the reporter and thinks he's having an affair, so she leaves him and takes the kids. I really can't blame her with his cagey behavior and unwillingness to tell her what's going on.
The elevator is creepy and menacing. It's definitely freaky enough, there's just more focus on the annoying characters that I want to punch in the face instead of the evil elevator that showld be the star of the movie. When the movie focuses on the elevator stalking its prey or spitting out a dead body, it's cool. It's when the movie veers off to focus on the annoying characters that it gets boring. We're supposed to feel bad for Felix (the maintenance guy) but the fact is that he's not doing his job very well, taking time he's supposed to be fixing things and running around doing a secret investigation with the reporter, so his wife and his boss have every reason to be pissed at him.
So, I have a question for you. If you knew an evil elevator was killing people, would you get in it and climb around? I wouldn't. I guess we're supposed to see him as a big hero trying to save people, but this guy has been an asshole the whole movie, treating his wife and boss and even his reporter friend like crap, and we're supposed to believe he's what, noble now? It's more like he just wants to beat the elevator because he's pissed off, so ok, it still doesn't make me care about him. I will say that those scenes inside the elevator shift are pretty tense, and there's a twist right up at the end that's cool, so the movie is ok. I just wish there had been more likeable characters.
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