Elevator Game

Another unimaginative, sub-mid shovel-ware movie. Nothing really stands out, the acting was lethargic and absolutely nothing stood. This is the kind of movie you throw out when you are vacuuming and folding laundry. That's probably the best thing I can say about it.

This movie feels like another low-effort offering for 12 to 14 year olds that want to get into Horror movies and this movie will gently hold their hand and ease them into things. The antagonist is simply called "The 5th Floor Woman", and that's fine. I didn't really care to invest enough brain cells thinking too hard about how this movie pandered to kids who think the Back Rooms or Slenderman are scary.

I call this kind of offering "Sesame Street Horror" because it basically spoon feeds you mild jump scares for an hour and a half.

It is becoming a trend, the self aware horror. Ever since the original Scream, can't believe I have to say "original Scream" but ok, counting down to movies like Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Final Girls, Fear Street, Talk to me, and so on, movie characters don't act like movie characters anymore.

If they are in a zombie movie, they know what zombies are, and the same happen here: characters that quickly accept their situation and try to find a way out. How do they do it? Well exactly like you would see in a horror film, by going back to the beginning, seeing how it all started and finding the way to end it.

Elevator Game is somewhat fun and sort of smart but it doesn't reach the heights of an original masterpiece. Characters are overall bland and boring, the plot is easy to predict and sadly...they went with a lot of bone cracking. I think this technique is overused and it just doesn't impress anymore. Should have done something different with our main killer.

It's no Grudge, no The Ring, the villain has very little screen time and whenever it does appear, its presence has no impact.

For a one time view, I think you should definitely try it. It's out there with Countdown (2019), Come play (2020) or Megan (2022). Close to something great, but not quite there.

Cheers!

I enjoyed this from well enough so would certainly suggest it's worth 90 minutes of your time. It's well put together and the cast are pretty committed. There's some decent effects and a few moments of real tension and creepiness, though I think the solid premise could have been exploited better.

What let's the film down a little, for me, is seemingly rushed characterisation and pretty tame finale. I'd have been tempted to lean further into the gore in this one too.

Overall, it's a good slice of fun with some good laughs and a couple of creepy moments, but one that could have been much better given its decent collection of parts.

I think this movies biggest problem is its opening 10 minutes., and if I was reviewing based on that only, it would have got 1 star. There are too many obnoxious characters, over acting in the featured, fictional, online show, and I agree, was poorly acted for the most part. However, the two main characters are not to bad, and carry the story through. And I do think the acting in general improves as the film progresses. This obviously wasn't a big budget movie, so don't go expecting big budget CGI, but I liked the plot and the suspense, the effects had an almost eighties kind of vibe to them. While I understand this not appealing to all tastes, I enjoyed iot for what it was. Just get past the opening sequence and enjoy the ride.

Again with this tacky social media challenge/investigator horror movie formula. Shudder wiffed on this one. The setup in the first few minutes was probably the best part, and that's not saying much. The next 30-45 minutes of a bunch of social media hucksters banter back and forth is quite dull. I was not interested in anything they had to say, and no interest watching them stumble through their pitiful plight on their devices. Sometime after that we get a frightening scene, more pointless dialogue, and then we get to watch someone sift through web pages for a while.. and then I think I dozed off. I gave it a star for some ok-but-sparse tense scenes, but I couldnt come up with anything else worth mentioning. Bottom of the barrel stuff for Shudder flicks.