The Shaft (2001) User Reviews

No Thanks, I'll Take the Stairs

[MrCritical1 · 6/10 · 9 November 2003]

Dutch director Dick Maas has essentially remade his own 1983 film De Lift with 2001's The Shaft (originally entitled Down), about an evil elevator system that suddenly begins killing people in a fancy-schmancy skyscraper. Artisan has shamelessly redesigned the cover art to resemble The Ring, and to highlight the presence of star Naomi Watts, though who that kid on the cover is supposed to be is really anyone's guess, because he is certainly not in the movie I watched.

In between the dull investigative drivel, Maas delivers a few fun horror moments, including a spectacular elevator door decapitation and a fun bird's-eye P.O.V. of a character's leap off the observation deck. Maas even subjects an elevator full of very pregnant women to a terrifying ride.

With the exception of a few establishing shots, it appears that much of The Shaft was shot in Europe, and the unconvincing "New Yawk" accents of most of the extras is definitely giggle-worthy. To Maas's credit, he has somehow managed to fill the film with a decent blend of familiar faces in supporting roles, including Edward Herrmann (the building manager), Dan Hedaya (a police lieutenant), Ron Perlman (the elevator repair company boss) and venerable bad guy Michael Ironside.

There are brief moments of great fun in the murderous elevator flick, The Shaft, but too much time is spent talking and the dramatic payoff is a real eye-roller, even in B-movie horror terms. Artisan has supplied a solid 5.1 surround track, but the horribly cropped 1.33:1 fullframe transfer almost negates that.

Yep, The Shaft has its ups and downs.

6*(10* Rating System)

For Viewers-It Brings You "Down" and Gives You "The Shaft"

[aimless-46 · 4/10 · 9 August 2005]

Before Naomi Watts became a big star from her excellent performances in excellent films like "Huckabees", "Mulholland Drive", and "21 Grams"; she was delivering excellent performances in a lot of garbage movies like "The Shaft" aka "Down". And while her performance here does not save the movie, it does elevate (bad pun intended) it to a viewable level.

The only other reason to watch this thing is to see yet another example of the film-making phenomenon that big is not only not better, but much worse. Which is probably related to the human interest angle in journalism, where a large disaster cannot sustain interest as long as the same story on a smaller more human scale.

For those who don't already know it, "The Shaft" or "Down" is Dutch Director/Writer Dick Mass's remake of his 1983 classic "De Lift". One posted comment about the original says: "…. looks technically proficient, with fine color texture, smooth cinematography ( by Marc Felperlaan ) and tight editing ( by Hans van Dongen ), elements that help to maintain a high level of suspense. The story clearly echoes Jaws, with its obsessed hero and corrupted authority figures, who would rather disguise the truth than face it. Despite this movie being his debut, many of Maas's personal trademarks are also already in place: quick pacing, sadistic gore effects modified by edgy humor, mild satire on bourgeois preoccupations, and broadly etched supporting characters".

Apparently the title "Elevator" was already taken and "Lift" was too European for the remake he was left with two very stupid titles with which the distributors have been experimenting since 2001.

In the 1983 version, the elevator of an Amsterdam flat (another European term) misbehaves badly. The elevator begins trying to crush, suffocate and decapitate passengers. Fearless mechanic Felix does battle with the seemingly haunted machine. But the anti-technology twist is that the elevator has developed a mind of its own due to an experimental 'biochip'. Felix is assisted by a magazine reporter named Mieke de Beer ( wasn't that the name of Scotty's German pen pal in "Eurotrip"?).

The original was shot in just 30 days with a very limited budget, this constrained the production resulting in an intimate story, viewers identified with the characters and this greatly enhanced the suspense level. This time someone gave Maas a lot of money and he pumped up the production; moving it to New York, adding tons of unnecessary effects, making the elevator absurdly powerful, and geometrically increasing the size of the cast. The Amsterdam elevator was deadly but in ways that a malfunctioning elevator could be deadly. The new elevator is like a cross between a James Bond story and a poor 1950's science fiction film.

Not surprisingly the human interest wheels fall off immediately. If you ignore your strong impulse to bail and just keep watching you will see decent performances from Watts and the from various character actors who populate the cast.

Unfortunately for Mass, he choose New York City for this 2001 movie and deviated from the original by throwing in some misdirection about terrorists being behind the elevator accidents. There is even a line about the first bombing of the World Trade Center. Apparently this was embarrassing enough to insure that there was no theatrical release.

all the good comment titles have been taken!

[Jonny_Numb · 4/10 · 29 June 2006]

It all begins with a sweeping, awe-inspiring shot of The Millennium Building, one of New York City's premier hotels, housing all of 100-some odd floors. We zero in on two goombah bellboys spying on an old man and two old-looking women boinking in a highrise across the street; this scene brings to mind Brian De Palma's "Body Double," and the decent production values mixed with aforementioned homage give the viewer an (admittedly misleading) impression of what's to come. While fully aware of the (admittedly deserved) bad reputation most DTV efforts have, "The Shaft" at least starts off with promise. Writer-director Dick Maas (remaking his 1983 Dutch original, "The Lift") has a knack for framing scenes, building suspense, and keeping his camera firmly in the moment. The problem is, his script is a muddled misfire, never quite settling on a solid path; the result is an accidental bending of sci-fi, horror, and flat-out action that never gels as well as it should. After an elevator in the Millennium knocks off a bunch of victims in extravagant fashion, the plot devolves into a drawn out (and ultimately unsuccessful) search for The Truth--suddenly elevator repairman James Marshall (imagine a cut-rate Brad Pitt) and fetching reporter Naomi Watts (pre-"Mulholland Drive") are standing in for Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe, turning this into "El.A. Confidential." And in the final act, Maas spins the film into the outer limits of absurdity with a Michael Bay extravaganza of stunts and explosions, throwing in some references to Osama bin Laden and terrorism (pre-9/11!) for good measure. Save for Watts' lead role, most of the big names on the video box (including Ron Perelman, Dan Hedaya, Edward Herrmann, and Michael Ironside) are relegated to smaller 'guest appearances' (though every little bit helps). Big names aside, the premise is stretched so thin that you'll be hard-pressed to care about anything by the time the noisy climax rolls around. "The Shaft" takes a concept with genuine horror potential and transforms it into a bowl of cold oatmeal.

Satirical horror film and a good example of a decent American remake

[filmnut1 · 29 August 2011]

Released in the US as The Shaft, this is Dick Maas remake of his own striking debut. 1983's The Lift was a blackly comic chiller about a skyscraper's lift that begins to take the lives of its occupants. This beefed up version keeps the original premise intact, right down to the odd bio-mechanical explanation, but takes place in New York City, pre- 9/11. Beginning with an extravagant pan through the Manhattan skyline and onto the observation deck of the CG rendered Millennium Building, Maas's film looks ever bit as stylish as its $15 million budget would suggest. Given its blockbuster production values its easy to take this absurd movie at face value, but those familiar with the original may recognise that Maas is actually attempting deadpan parody. Slickly directed in widescreen frame, Marc Felperlaan's cinematography complements both the city (which was used only for exterior shots) and the gorgeous art deco production design of the building itself. James Marshall, as the rugged young hero, has something of Christian Slater, Mark Whalberg or Josh Hartnett about him, while his love interest is none other than Naomi Watts, who shortly after became a star in another US-set remake of a foreign classic. In this and that other film she plays a reporter investigating an absurd concept, here a killer lift, there killer videotapes. They are supported by respectable cast of character actors Michael Ironside, Edward Herrman, Ron Perlman and Dan Hedaya. Kicking off the scene with the sounds of Aerosmith's Love in an Elevator, an extravagant race takes place between two incredibly skilled risk takers through New York traffic and into the basement parking garage of the Millennium Building. One of the skaters is then sucked into the lift, in an unexplained supernatural moment, only to be thrown out from the top floor. Bold, inventive and darkly humorous, this brief sequence, which has no dialogue or featured performers present, displays Maas' talent with his rehashed material to the greatest effect. This film was, unfortunately, somewhat prophetic and is laced with unintended irony as a result. Released over two years after the destructive assault on the World Trade Centre, it's not difficult to see why. The very first shot shows us those twin towers, which will forever provoke gasps of remembrance in whatever film they appear, and soon we are in a similar building where horrifying acts are occurring. This seems at first a rather tenuous reason to delay a release, but then the moment arrives when the narrative enlists comments from the fictional President, in which he expresses fear of the occurrences as a terrorist act. This remake is something of a cross between its inspirational text and the likes of high-rise horror's Poltergeist 3 (Gary Sherman, 1988) and The Tower (Richard Kletter, 1993), and is certainly superior in the execution of its novel concept than either The Mangler (Tobe Hooper, 1994) or sequels. The only thing that really lets this film down is the bad language. The F-word is used gratuitously and repeatedly throughout.

The Best 'Elevator Kills People' Movie Ever

[georgebobolink · 2/10 · 20 June 2004]

After being completely disappointed with The Ool, my friends and I stuck in The Shaft only to be completely delighted (ouch, bad one). The Shaft (or Down,as it was apparently called at one point) follows the exploited elevator industry as the poor machines have to fight off babies and blind men and roller bladers.

The Shaft is a perfect fit for anyone who wants some fun. I mean, look at that cast! It's B-movie heaven. Watching Ron Perlman's impassioned defense of the elevator industry is golden, and Naomi Watt's 'acting' is once again fun to watch.

The pacing is the real villain in this flick, as it drags on with useless characters and stupid tangents when elevators killing people really should have been the sole focus of the movie.

The climactic battle between the evil elevator which includes, yes, a rocket launcher that shoots invisible rockets, is golden. I will admit with little uncertainty, that this is simply the best Hedaya/Herrmann/Perlman/Ironside/Watts v. possessed elevator movie out there, and, for my money, was worth the fifty cent rental.

Rating: 2/10

No, no it's funny!

[Superunknovvn · 2/10 · 24 December 2002]

One of these "so-bad-it-is-good" movies. In the first half it's just boring, a badly done thriller. In the second the story (and acting and directing) gets so ridiculous i was laughing my balls off. Watch out for a "shocking" scene in which a hand has an important role. That must be one of the most creative scenes in film history. You'll know what I mean when you see it.

Wow... uh, where to begin...

[michaeljharvey · 1/10 · 7 July 2008]

Just for kicks, let's pretend you're a disgraced military scientist. You want to create "bio-machines" that incorporate mechanical devices with human intelligence. However, your first attempts were always kind of hard to control and turned out a little, well, homicidal. So the military fired you... but of course you want to continue your research. Well why not continue your dangerous research on an elevator in a busy, New York skyscraper that's open to the public? Seems like a good plan. What could possibly go wrong?

That's the plot of this one. The elevator kills people because it is partially powered by human brain cells and is apparently evil for no good reason. Yep. Sound scary? Sound at all plausible? Didn't think so.

This might be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The shocking thing is that Naomi Watts shows up as a newspaper reporter trying to get the scoop on the "killer elevator". What on earth is a real star doing in this thing? I realize it was earlier in her career, but one would think her standards were better than this. Did she read the script before taking the job? Ron Perlman shows up as well; maybe he failed to check out the script too.

The dialogue is so bad it's hard to even laugh at it. The acting is hard to stomach. This movie just goes to show that a bad script and bad direction can make any actor look terrible. James Marshall is particularly laughable as the leading man. He looks like a high school drama student trying to remember his lines for the big play.

The premise is so strange. Of all the things to experiment on, why would the scientist choose an elevator? Do we really need a super-intelligent elevator? With such a bad premise, one can certainly imagine how the half-baked plot plays out.

It's hard to think of one good thing about this movie. It did make me laugh occasionally with its overall amateurish look and terrible dialogue. However, it's not a fun, campy B-movie. Down (aka The Shaft) is just plain boring, formulaic and doesn't make much sense.

This movie has no right to be this entertaining

[FargoUT · 7/10 · 29 August 2006]

I stumbled upon "The Shaft" while flipping through the cable channels. The TV guide had it listed as the 2000 Samuel L. Jackson version of "Shaft", which I had not yet seen. My first thought was that the film was off to a bad start by the mistitled "The Shaft"--it became clear rather soon that this was not the same film as I was led to believe. Jackson was nowhere in sight, instead replaced by an as-yet-unknown Naomi Watts.

And yet, I sat there for the entire film, cheering and laughing and applauding what I think must be one of the most absurd B-movies I've ever seen. The production values are surprisingly strong, with good cinematography, decent (to a point) visual effects, and some obviously tongue-in-cheek acting from the unusually stocked cast (Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya?). I almost get the feeling that this film was shelved from theatrical release upon the 9/11 attacks (the screenplay contains some very eerie and prescient references to the not-yet-committed terrorist attacks on the WTC towers and Osama bin Laden).

However, with all that said, "The Shaft" is one insanely enjoyable ride through B-movie territory. What do you expect from a movie whose villain is a possessed self-aware elevator? To be sure, this is far superior to "The Mangler", another film about a killer machine gone haywire. This one never takes itself seriously, in spite of the rather frightening effects of people being decapitated (a most impressive effect) and others falling to their deaths. No one is spared: pregnant women, children, dogs. This elevator is one mean SOB.

Yet the filmmakers know exactly what tone to take, mixing dark comedy with the macabre to make what I can say is one of the more entertaining films I've seen in a while. From a masochistic German daycare worker (played riotously over the top) to an obnoxious blind man and his seeing-eye dog (whose ends are both laughable and sad simultaneously), this film does almost everything right--that is, up until the conclusion. The story takes an awkward turn into military cover-ups and corporate greed which drags the story into unnecessary territory. What should have been a fast-paced climax is more complicated than it should be and more serious than it demands.

That said, "The Shaft" is one of those movies which screams to be watched with friends, laughed at with a beer in one hand and a shot in the other. This is one odd-ball feature film, both very funny and shocking. Not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but one that will stick in my memory for a while to come. Definitely worth a look if you are in the mood for what it is.

A Killer Elevator?!? What the??

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 3/10 · 1 January 2006]

This is a B-movie, no matter what anyone says, Naomi Watts does NOT make this movie an A movie, its defintly a B-Movie. Its about a killer elevator! I'll say that again: A killer elevator! Not a psycho killer, or some ghost or supernatural force, no its a killer elevator! How did this ever get made? I wonder if Namoi Watts still keeps this on her resume. There is some weird convoluted plot that they never fully explain how the government was expiermenting on bio-metal or something so stupid that it is never fully explained. Is this supposed to be a scary movie? Its very hard to write ten lines that is required to describe how crappy this movie is.

Above average

[jimgoebel1 · 6/10 · 6 April 2008]

Last night saw a film called "The Shaft" (Dutch title "Down") The movie stars Naiomi Watts a and Michael Ironside.

The plot: An elevator in a NYC skyscraper is killing people, and its up to NAiomi and an elevator repairman to figure out why.

Its kinda slow in the beginning, but it does have some good gore. Among the deahts, Bild guy falls down the shaft (can you dig it?) security guard gets decapitated by a elevator car, skateboarder plunges to his death from the 92nd floor, gut gets cut in half by the elevator car, floor drops out, making everyone fall to their death, and the cables strangle th bad guy.\ The eeriest thin g about the movie is that there's a scene in it where the president comes on stating there was a terrorist attack in the building -- And this movie was released a few months before 9 /11 Also, there's a fake "gotcha" moment near the end that was actually pretty clever.

Incandescent, Amazing, and above all Intelligent

[tdflatt25 · 2/10 · 25 February 2006]

What can be said about this film? The character development is flawless, the writing and directing on par with Citizen Kane, and performances that leave one breathless. Particularly, Michael Ironside, who follows up his performance in Starship Troopers with this masterpiece. Not since his played the ruthless Richter in Total Recall has Ironside left his audience so convinced of his villainy. Not to mention Ron Perlman's heart warming defense of the elevator industry which only leaves tears in ones eyes. Bravo to Dick Maas for conjuring up such an original storyline that is clearly on par with other amazing movies. Sidekicks, Top Dog, Jingle All the Way, all need to move over and make way for as the number one film in all of our hearts. See this movie and you will be left with a euphoria that is indescribable.

I'm giving Down the thumbs up.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 10 May 2012]

It amazes me how often deliberately cheesy, tongue-in-cheek horror films are misconstrued as poorly made garbage. Down (AKA The Shaft), director Dick Maas' 2001 remake of his own 1983 Dutch horror De Lift, opens with the camera gliding gracefully over the NY skyline to eventually come to rest on 'The Millennium Building' where two night watchmen use an observation telescope to spy on big-breasted hookers at work in a neighbouring skyscraper; it's a superbly executed and wonderfully trashy opening that should make it crystal clear that Maas knows exactly what he is doing—making a highly entertaining, campy schlock/horror that shouldn't be taken seriously—and yet there are still those who seem to have missed the joke.

Oh well, it's their loss, because when viewed as intended, Down proves to be a lot of fun, packed as it is with outrageously silly deaths, delightfully daft dialogue, and knowingly clichéd characters—precisely the kind of stuff I would expect to see in a horror film about a murderous 'living' elevator controlled by a malevolent state-of-the-art computer chip enhanced by living brain tissue.

An excellent cast clearly have a blast in their two-dimensional stock roles, with a gorgeous pre-A-list Naomi Watts as a feisty newspaper reporter, James Marshall as a cocky elevator engineer, Ron 'Hellboy' Perlman as the shady owner of the elevator company, Dan Hedaya as a grizzled NY detective, and Michael 'Scanners' Ironside as a loathsome scientist hellbent on perfecting his pet project, whatever the cost. Maas keeps the action moving along at a brisk pace, handling the special effects set-pieces, wry humour, and gruesome shocks with confidence, even going so far as to kill off women, children, and animals along the way.

And if all that isn't enough to pique your interest, let's not forget about the eerily prophetic scene in which characters discuss the possible use of a plane in a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre; with 9/11 just around the corner, it stands out as a genuinely chilling moment in an otherwise intentionally ridiculous and wonderfully OTT piece of nonsense.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

The Devil's Elevator

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 14 August 2005]

***SPOILERS*** The movie "Down" is a lot like the Larry Cohen 1982 shocker "Q" which despite it's graphic violence and horrific and brutal deaths it was still hard to take seriously.

New York's giant Millennium Building seems to be targeted by terrorists who are fixing it's express elevators where they end up malfunctioning and killing dozens of people. This is the conclusion that the President of the United States himself and his top advisor's came to. The building is evacuated and ringed with the police and army units to find who's behind all the carnage that's been happening there.

For over a week elevator mechanics Mark and Jeffery, James Marshall & Eric Thal, had been working on the cable equipment and could find nothing wrong with it. The elevators seems to have a mind of their own, as if they've been programed by some unknown forces, and keep on doing their thing by killing people every time they enter them.

"Down" doesn't really try to explain what's causing these accident's were just given some confusing information about some crazed scientist, who worked in the black ops department in the US military,who's been experimenting with some chips that he invented and put in into the elevator mechanism. The chips took the elevator over and is responsible for all these killings. The movie also never quite makes the connection to what the chip has to do with the elevators actions. Were also never really told what the scientist Gunther Steinberg,Michael Ironsides,the inventor of this mysterious chip has to do with Mark and Jeffery's boss Mitchall,Ron Pearman. We later see secretly Mitchell meeting, ironically within the shadow of the World Trade Center, with Steinberg and being in cahoots in this off-the-wall venture that went haywire which wants Mitchall out this whole crazy plan.

Like in "Q" the movie keeps you interested and watching it when it explodes with the almost unimaginable violence every time anyone goes near or on the killer elevators. The ending goes on and on with Mark and Jeniffer, Naomi Watts, a local news reporter attempting to get into the shut down Millennium Building to get to the heart of what is causing the elevators to act in such a deadly way, and put it to an end once in for all. Hard to follow because of it's very muddled storyline but still worth watching since the film, made in 2000, eerily and unknowingly foretells what was to happened a year later in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

It's amazing how the earlier attack in February 1993 on the WTC is actually mentioned by the soldiers in the Millennium Building! were even told of Osama Bin-Laden's, the architect of the Septemer 11, 2001 attacks, involvement in it! Another startling fact about the movies comparison with the World Trade Center is besides the fact that the Millennium Building is also the tallest building in New York City and the same hight, 102 floors, as the WTC was!

No, really... It is that bad!

[Stibbert · 3/10 · 5 November 2005]

It's a movie about a killer elevator, what can you expect. I didn't expect much, but this didn't live up to my expectations. I like keep an open mind and give far-fetched plots a chance, I can see the potential in the idea, but this movie screws it all up.

Several elevator accidents in the land mark, The Millennium Building, keeps people worried and a repairman puzzled. When he starts to dig, it turns out it's not a regular elevator he's dealing with.

The story starts out OK, but twists and turns and ends up being the most stupid story imaginable. It's with no doubt one of the stupidest stories ever and you just can't take it serious. At the end I actually felt bad on the films behalf. The characters are OK. Some of them are just really weired and you wonder what that was all about, but the leads are OK. They could've been better, but it works. The dialog on the other hand is at times stiff and bad. There are some occasional punch-lines in there, but they are so funny compared to the rest that they work against any mood of the film and along with weired unexplained characters makes you stop taking it serious.

The acting is adequate. James Marshall does a fair job as Mark Newman. Naomi Watts is OK, but has done much better. The rest of the cast is adequate.

What saves this movie is the cinematography. It's one of the best things about it. It's not really great, but it's better than anything else. The composition is OK and the lightning is OK as well. They don't really try to do anything out of the ordinary and I believe that's a good thing as I don't think they would've succeeded with doing so. There are some nice editing to and that lift's this movie a bit.

There are also a nice score. It works as a mood builder, but it's underestimated. They've should use the score more to get this movie all more thrilling.

The effects I would say are below average. The CGI is very obvious and has a very animation film look to it. The fighting is also slow and don't look good. The explosions are OK, though.

All together this is not enough to say that this is a good movie. I was expecting a bad horror movie when I sat down and I was disappointed when I left. Unless you're a die hard fan of killer elevator movies I see no reason to watch this movie.

The management apologizes for the inconvenience......

[dbdumonteil · 1 October 2006]

....after a blind man's and his dog's death.As the person was a vicious man ,we will not shed a tear for him,but poor dog! What saves this movie (at least in its first hour) is its sense of (black) humor.Although it's sometimes a bit over the top (the nursery school scene is sheer bad taste:it would have taken John Waters to treat it successfully),there are plenty of funny scenes if you do not take them seriously:I particularly dig the "Bergman" lines.

Unfortunately,the last thirty minutes take us back to "the invincible super hero who single-handedly fights evil ".But he was a marine,we are told.

Some kind of remake of the director's "de lift" (early eighties)with a more comfortable budget.

It's pretty good entertainment but you'd better choose Dick Maas's "Amsterdamned" instead.

Not one of Dick's best

[cees212 · 3/10 · 11 July 2002]

This director used to make good films in the Netherlands. Something has gone very wrong. This film (mainly the story and some of the acting) is very unbelievable. I don't know why he even remade it. The original was very good. Rent the oringal and skip this version. Very disappointing for a director who used to be great. Oh well.

What the #!***!

[nycrules · 1/10 · 5 December 2005]

It was actually disturbing how bad this film was. It wasn't even bad in a funny way and at times I wondered if the filmmakers intended certain scenes to be. Either way, they need professional help. I was most disturbed by the fact the beautiful and talented Ms. Watts was in this. Boy did the next object of King Kong's obsession come a long way from this pile of stool! I couldn't believe she was in this wretched mess but even in such grotesque toxic waste she shined through. I couldn't make any sense out of much of anything in this film. Another part that disturbed me was the reference to Bin Laden and the eerie 9/11-like feel during the President's speech. Was 9/11 the reason this cinematic fiasco went straight to video or was it maybe Ms. Watts' agent who made sure it was kept pretty hush hush. Of course now Ms. Watts is about to appear in King Kong, the movie pops up again on cable. This travesty deserves to get "THE SHAFT" and flushed "DOWN" the toilet!

i want that 90 minutes of my life back

[DrSprayRimbaud · 1/10 · 17 June 2007]

Naomi Watts must've been a bit short on the rent when she agreed to sign up for this turkey. Without doubt, this was one of the most inane, farcical and annoying pieces of rubbish it has ever been my misfortune to watch.

There isn't even one decent scare in this z-grade schlock-fest, and it becomes unintentionally humorous towards the end with the extremely low budget special effects. Having said that, if they had spent the minuscule amount of money they had put into the sfx into getting a decent scriptwriter/s, then this might have been a watchable film.

The dialogue is awful enough to make good actors such as Ms Watts and Ron Pearlman look like nothing more than animatronic simulcra in search of a personality, and in general, the whole thing tries to come across as a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster to no avail.

I want the 90 minutes of my life back that were thoroughly wasted on this crappy excuse for a film. If i had seen it at the cinema,I would not just have demanded my money back, i would have stormed into the projection booth and burned the film print.

Awful. Truly awful.

Pleasant surprise!

[derlowen · 7/10 · 31 August 2008]

I got this neighbor who scours thrift store video tape bins to find what I can only describe as the worst misuses of VHS media known to man. The worse the movie, the bigger his chest swells with pride for saving it from oblivion. So when he gives me another one of his treasures I said OK, because I was bored out of my mind anyway and knew it would be a trek into weirdness. Incidentaly, here in the US the title of the movie is "The Shaft", my neighbor happens to enjoy the company of men so I suspect he thought he had stumbled upon a porno! Heh, heh, heh... :). Anyway, I popped it in the VCR and was immediately struck by the quality of the cinematography in the opening scene, really novel and well done. The setting kind of reminded me of some of the mid 80's films HBO used to run as filler, the look and pace of it hail to a previous decade. I kept watching and became ever more surprised by all the twists and turns, it really keeps you off balance and that makes it fun. I found myself talking at the screen and bursting out in laughter with some of the ridiculous things the movie asks you to accept. Just a great little quirky, surprising and fun pseudo sci-fi ride.

Anti-social elevator needs anger management counseling

[MartianOctocretr5 · 4/10 · 13 July 2008]

The "Millennium" building (which looks suspiciously like the Empire State Building) has an elevator that likes to get rid of riders -- the express way, if you know what I mean.

The how's and why's of the attacks are only hinted at with a few scattered morsels of information. Most of the time, it's just a parade of people approaching the elevator; some die (in some very gory ways), others don't. There is some suggestion that the victims are evil in some way, but even that isn't consistent. Management tries to ignore the problem, as always. The elevator wraith, or whatever it is, has only so many ways it can do its evil deeds, so it utilizes as much variety in its repertoire of kills to entertain itself as it can. The movie usually tries to hope the tension of nearby potential victims is enough.

One irony to note: This was Naomi Watts lesser-known monster encounter in this building: she would be climbing around the outside with a giant ape amidst a hail of bullets a few years later.

The movie squeezes out the most it can from the premise, and is mildly entertaining.

a VERY guilty pleasure

[movieman_kev · 6/10 · 16 February 2006]

Elevators in the Millennium Building (New York's most famous skyscraper??!?) start to act...EVILLY (cue mechanical laughter). Now Mark, an elevator repairman and Jen, a newswoman reporter must join up to figure out how to stop this horizontally challenged hell-spawned elevator. Fortunately the film knows that it's plot is ludicrous to say the least, and decides to play it out with tongue firmly placed in cheek, making the movie run at a good clip. Yes, you DO know that the movie is bad, but strangely that is part of the fun of it and makes the movie far more enjoyable than it really has any right to be. Silly brain-dead dialog, hammy acting, cheesy gore effects and all. But I'd be darned if I didn't enjoy the experience.

My Grade: C+

Eye Candy: Priscilla Hendrickse, and Sasha Woman show breasts & buns as two hookers early in the film

RIP

[anmichael-69945 · 4/10 · 26 July 2022]

Could've done without the dead dog. Felt unnecessary. Made watching the rest of the movie difficult. However, with that scene excluded, I enjoy a good cheesy horror flick. Decent watch. The blind man can F off for dragging that dog down with him. POS.

This wasn't bad!

[azdelsol · 8/10 · 14 July 2003]

You know, people will probably bust up this movie, but it was really pretty good. It had a bit of a far fetched plot, but it was funny in places and the gore wasn't bad. The bit when the elevator chopped off the guy's head was a decent effect -- slow motion and relatively seamless. And the fact that they had references to terrorism in a NY skyscraper -- before 9/11 -- was pretty cool. Even made reference to the 93 attempt on the WTC and to Bin Laden -- a while before the actual event. Eerie. At least someone out there connected the dots. I'd rent it again.

How Resident Evil would have been if it hadn't had zombies or sucked.

[Zombified_660 · 7/10 · 3 August 2005]

Maybe I'm biased because I haven't seen many 'maniac computer system' thrillers, but Down was a great watch. It felt like the Hollywood Resident Evil movie but without all the oh-so-serious dialogue and obviously the zombies. I noticed somebody namechecked Larry Cohen describing this movie's feel and script. They're totally right, it has his tongue-in-cheek thriller vibe all over it.

The big problem I had with the Resi movie was they had a cool idea at the start with the sentient computer killing off all the SWAT/Marine types, but then went into godawful too slick zombie action. Down just concentrates on one idea, and therefore delivers it much more effectively. It also has an edge over many other thrillers in that it has a really watchable and amiable cast. James Marshall and Naomi Watts rock as the leads, and the supporting cast includes lots of great cult actors like Micheal Ironside and Ron Perlman, really bolstering the film with their performances.

It's pretty far-fetched and very silly, but it does so in an appealing fashion. A lot of movies pull out this kind of dumb plot and expect you to take it deadly serious. The fact that Down doesn't adopt the typical deadpan approach is it's major strength. It's simultaneously funny, tense and exhilarating to watch.

It might all be a little too much for many people to accept all at once though. A lot of other reviewers really hate this film, but that's their opinion not mine. The only possible turn off I can think off is that the movie is fairly uncompromising when it is violent (in a similar fashion to Resi, someone's decapitated by a lift, but unlike Resi, Down actually shows you their head coming off, which may be a little too far for the more fragile among you) so it may not be for everyone, but I loved it, and hopefully more people will see it for what it is, an unpretentious 2 hours of fun.

Take the stairs.

[veritybingo · 5/10 · 11 November 2021]

Essentially a forgotten B-movie, it benefits from some snappy dialogue, plus the presence of David Lynch alums Naomi Watts & James Marshall.

It also doesn't hurt to have Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya & Michael Ironside (displaying possibly the only momentary glimpse of emotion of his entire career) along for the ride. Some sequences may prove distressing, so it's just as well it's all far outside the bounds of reality.

It does however have some uncanny and eerie references to true past events related to those that would take place months later.

A remake of Maas' own 1983 film "The Lift".