Elevator (2013)

PROS: The whole reason I would recommend even watching this movie is for the ending. Undoubtedly the finale part of this movie was the best part. The weight and tone that the film has was perfectly embodied by the resolution. You got this dark and sad feeling mixed with sheer dread, and I liked how that quality was displayed in both the characters, the plot, and the setting. In such a small location I was surprised how much emotion they evoked from the set alone. You could really tell a lot of time, effort, and thinking was put into this indie horror.CONS: The cons in this movie aren't really substantial. You could start out by pointing out that the acting was mediocre, the build up of intensity was sub par, or that the music/lighting was used improperly. All these qualities need to be there for a great film, but in this movie they just barely missed the mark. This is a hard movie to critique because nothing was awful, but nothing was great. So you're stuck between a rock and a hard place because should you notice the acting as not being bad, or not being good? I really feel this a movie specific for certain peoples taste and what they find to be best overall in movies.www.chorror.com

I take my hat off to the film makers. For $200,000 they put more into this movie than a lot of films do for 50 time the budget.It's not perfect. Nothing is. But dollar for dollar I thought this movie was very well done.The acting was brilliant, from the little girl all the way up the line. Every single character pulled his or her own weight and knocked it out of the park. The cinematography was spot on. None of that totally unnecessary shaky camp bullsh*t. Except for a few shots that were a little darker than they might have been, everything looked very good.Direction was subtle and nuanced. In one particular shot, when Celine and Maureen are confronting Don, Martin does his best to become invisible, finding something particularly interesting in the wall to look at. Awesome.There were a few cons.The whole idea of holding the elevator long enough for it to be overloaded was a bit contrived. After all, there had to be more than one elevator in a building that size.Security guards for a high rent corporate party don't even wear ties? And who was that dude checking IDs? Zach Galifianakis?Everyone had a working cell phone but no one thinks to call 911 until they've been there for a maddeningly long time?Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!Anyone who has ever cut meat will tell you that you ain't gonna gut a body that big in three minutes, not without a saw.

A diverse group of people take an elevator to a corporate event . Due to the actions of the spoiled granddaughter of the company boss the lift becomes stuck . What may on the surface seem like a torturous inconvenience ends up becoming mortal peril for the group when it's revealed that one of the guests is carrying a bomb I'm slightly at a loss why ELEVATOR isn't held in slightly higher regard by my peers on this website . I watched it on the British Horror Channel and may be this is the problem ? If you're coming in to this movie expecting graphic violence , torture porn and the like you're going to be very disappointed because this is not a movie for hardcore gore hounds . Instead ELEVATOR is a low budget minimalist indie type thriller where people find a bad situation turn far worse than they expected . It's almost a very good film . Almost " Hey Theo you said almost . Out with it . What's on your mind ? " I don't know if it's down to my recent marathon short film sessions along with seeing the occasional independent film like THE PERFECT HOST but there is an off beat quirky nature to many of the movies I've reviewed recently and ELEVATOR starts off in the exact same vein with the characters being introduced and the pivotal character is George Axelrod , a vulgar smart ass comedian who has the displeasure of both being stuck in a life and being stuck in a lift with a ten year old spoilt brat and other people he doesn't like . He shows signs of misanthropy and despite never being in the same league as Christopher Hitchens when it comes to abrasive put downs George shoots from the lip and you can buy this guy existing in the real world and not just in a movie . I would have liked to have seen more of George becoming more frustrated with the situation and his fellow captives become more frustrated at him Unfortunately because this film is about a time bomb in a lift and not misanthrope reminds himself why he hates people the film centres around who is the bomber and what can they do to stop the bomb exploding . There is some blood and violence but remember this is not a horror film and perhaps more importantly this isn't a massive blockbuster from a major Hollywood studio so there's no mock heroics from some pretty boys , no stunt work and no CGI which means a lot of people will find it somewhat lacking in excitement . As it stands ELEVATOR is more than adequate but I would have liked it more if had stayed a quirky off beat drama instead moving in to thriller territory

Was drawn to this in Blockbuster after seeing Devil not too recently, following the elevator tragedy theme. I'd heard this movie is what Devil 'should have been', however it was not.The elevators nine clients lacked any real backdrop, very few watchable characters. No leading character that keeps the movies pace rolling. As all of the nine pawns are introduced early into the movie, as soon as you realize they're stuck in a confined space, there is no escape from the elevator, or the movies downfall.A claustrophobic who openly and loudly assaults the security guard with verbal racism THREE times in a crowded before he actually reacts? Don't think so.A father who willingly lets his pregnant-with-his-own-baby ex girlfriend touch a possible bomb? Maybe in Family Guy.Devil offers a far more superior story, characters offering more than stale performances so I suggest that choose that over this. However, story had potential, maybe with more financing or time or both this could have been more of a sequel to Devil (without the cameo from Satan).