Take the stairs... The Lift is faulty.
The lifts in an office building begin to kill off the occupants. Lift technician Felix Adelaar (Huub Stapel) tries to find out what is causing the trouble and discovers that an experimental bio-tech micro-processor is the problem.
The Lift, by Dutch director Dick Maas, was snapped up by a major studio when it was shown at Cannes in 1984, which is great because it helped give Maas the clout to make more movies, his next horror film being the excellent Amsterdamned (1988). But as important as the film was to Maas' career, The Lift isn't without its faults...
It starts off in fine exploitative style with four people trapped in the titular elevator, one couple making the most if the situation by getting frisky (resulting in some early nudity) before almost being killed by the defective air conditioning. For most of the remaining movie, however, nothing much of interest happens: people run up and down the stairs of the office building, Felix flirts with reporter Mieke (Willeke van Ammelrooy), there's lots of dull talk about micro-processors and relays, Felix and Mieke go bowling with friends, Mieke accuses her husband of adultery, and Felix visits an old work colleague at a sanitarium. None of this is very interesting. The climactic scene in which Felix climbs inside the lift shaft to get to the bottom of the mystery is also frustratingly lacklustre - poorly shot and edited, badly lit, and bereft of excitement.
Even the film's much touted elevator decapitation is weak, a neat idea let down by an unconvincing rubber head (and no blood!).
That said, even with all of its shortcomings, I'm glad the film exists: it served as a practice run for Maas' 2001 movie Down (a remake of The Lift), which is a whole load of fun - if you haven't seen it, and enjoy gloriously daft horror movies, deffo check it out.
The Lift, by Dutch director Dick Maas, was snapped up by a major studio when it was shown at Cannes in 1984, which is great because it helped give Maas the clout to make more movies, his next horror film being the excellent Amsterdamned (1988). But as important as the film was to Maas' career, The Lift isn't without its faults...
It starts off in fine exploitative style with four people trapped in the titular elevator, one couple making the most if the situation by getting frisky (resulting in some early nudity) before almost being killed by the defective air conditioning. For most of the remaining movie, however, nothing much of interest happens: people run up and down the stairs of the office building, Felix flirts with reporter Mieke (Willeke van Ammelrooy), there's lots of dull talk about micro-processors and relays, Felix and Mieke go bowling with friends, Mieke accuses her husband of adultery, and Felix visits an old work colleague at a sanitarium. None of this is very interesting. The climactic scene in which Felix climbs inside the lift shaft to get to the bottom of the mystery is also frustratingly lacklustre - poorly shot and edited, badly lit, and bereft of excitement.
Even the film's much touted elevator decapitation is weak, a neat idea let down by an unconvincing rubber head (and no blood!).
That said, even with all of its shortcomings, I'm glad the film exists: it served as a practice run for Maas' 2001 movie Down (a remake of The Lift), which is a whole load of fun - if you haven't seen it, and enjoy gloriously daft horror movies, deffo check it out.
- BA_Harrison
- Jul 9, 2020