The Lift

[Nomis (again)]

Oh Dave, btw, it was "Data liften" (the elevator factory Felix worked for)

[Sjoerd]

Dutch movies suck...exception of this rule is Karakter (character), Lek(Snitch?) and Schatjes(Darlins?) and probably a few other boring -but technically sound- drama`s.
New dutch movies will be made however...be afraid...be very afraid!

btw..I am looking for The Refrigerator..mail me if you understand my quest ;)

[Oscar]

In the Netherlands it seems like there is a death penalty on making good movies. But what will the Swedish cinema be without Bergman, and the Danish cinema without von Trier?
The last 5 years U.S.A.-movies(Hollywood)get better, but still most of them got good special effects, good camerawork, mediocre acting, bad scenario, bad story, predictable story, alreadydone story, b-story. It's a relief(het is een verademing)to see a Dutch movie which is filmed novel, or a camp-cult-horror like "De Lift", after having seen another release of the trashcompany called Hollywood.

[j]

I actullay have a copy of "The Lift"! I work in a pawnshop and have been cracking up for years just by reading this movie's description to people. I've never been bored enough to watch it, but that it's dubbed so adds to the hilarity of it all.

[Wim]

A nice movie, although there are some strange things in it.
Like the scene where Felix brings Mieke to her work, when the car stops you see a soundtechnician in the back of the car (Maas said it during the commentary on the dvd, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed). And the name Deta Liften is a bit strange too (you see a Delta-sign), but Delta was a registered trade mark (they found out at the day they started shooting the movie) so they quickly changed it to Deta Liften.

Some things are just brilliant. For instance the scene at the bowling alley, they made a special camera-dolly and the sound from the bowlingball is made by a small ball rolling over a desk (only then played a halfspeed). The sound from the decapitation is made with a cabbage. They put it in the freezer and then when it was frozen they slowly pulled it in two.

And then the soundtrack, most of the sounds like background music, the moving sound of the elevator, the clicking of the cables and the heartbeat during the fight-with-the-elevator-scene where made on 2 synthesizers (Roland Juno 60/Jupiter 8). It's a mono-soundtrack (stereo was introduced in 1986) but it's the best mono soundtrack in Holland.

With a budget of 750.000 Dutch guilders (That's about 340.000 Euro) it's a nice movie. It would have been better if they'd taken their time then (it took approx. 32 days).

Like I said, a nice movie, one to watch over and over again.

[adam]

I just purchased this flick off the net.
First thing I noticed : 3 lifts with the middle one
evil. Why didn't any of the cast think of using the 2
elevators on either side of the middle one!!!???

How does the guard get decapitated anyway??
The lift is closing in on his head- yet a fake
head is chopped off!!! How did the real guard
escape such a narrow death???

Noticed all the actors are totally not in-synch with their lines!!!  We all know it was dubbed tho.!!!

[Trudo]

I think this is a great movie for its time.
10 times better + scarier than the remake "Down !"
See it !

[Ria]

I saw the original Dutch (subtitled) version of the movie today (Mar 24, 2003) for the first time. Although it is extremely cheesy, it is so cool!
I really liked this movie, but that being said I'm the type who also enjoys watching such offerings as the Aussie "Dead Alive".
Although low-budget and dated, it made me jump when it was supposed to, and the gory bits made me cringe. I'd give it my vote.
Does anyone know what the US remake is called?

[Serter]

I laughed my ass off when I read that in the English version, Mr. Chrome said 'It was sick'. In the original ( Dutch ) version, ( which was on yesterday :D ) he says something more like 'there was something very wrong with it'.

Also, for people wondering about the sex scene, it's not that uncommon for sex scenes to appear in Dutch movies. The rules are way less strict here, and the director of the Lift ( Dick Maas ) has a sex scene in about every movie he makes.

anyway, this is one of the more stylish 'freaky experiment to benefit mankind goes haywire' movies. A true classic

[Shank]

The remake is coming to video in a matter of days, and is now titled "The Shaft." The video package swipes from Naomi Watts' "The Ring," and other pics, while suggesting a supernatural element that isn't there. Go to http://www.downthemovie.com or the IMDB listing to see the trailer, which is overflowing with bad CGI and scenes you'll recognize from "The Lift." Both films directed by the same guy.

[Ron]

Does anybody know what actors (?) did the dubbing?? Tha police lieutenent sounds like Michael Ansara, while the repairman sounds like Tom Tryon.Any input??

Other than that, the sex in the elevator (while another couple was present) scene was a bit out of the ordinary, at least for us in the States. Much was left unresolved at the end of the movie, but I guess we have to form our own conclusions, if there is nothing better to occupy our thoughts.

[Felix Adelar]

My obsession with this film began several years ago when I stumbled upon a brief summary of it in Leonard Maltin's movie guide. I live in the US so finding a copy was not easy since our dubbed version on the old Media label has been OOP for many years now. But I have always hated elevators and so I had to get a copy. Finally, I did and have watched the film over and over several times. I like it and the idea horrifies me. People laugh at the idea but think about. Elevators are devices of evil. A box moving up and down in the darkness on a flimsy steel track. Anyways, I'm a big movie buff and I could tell the film was sufffering on pan & scan VHS so I ordered a copy of the DVD from the Netherlands (the only place it is now available) and it is in anamorphic widescreen with a great picture. It is in the original Dutch language and seeing this I now can tell that alot of the dialogue that seems cheesy dubbed was actually well done by the Dutch actors. The movie could have been a lot better but I like the idea too much and have followed this movie down the road long enough to be able to ignore that. It still taps into the atmosphere of my subconcious nightmares just a bit much for comfort. And that is what makes this movie work. I am also looking for the movie Flodder (also a Dick Maas film starring Huub Stapel) with English subtitles or dubbed. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.  

[Kilian]

De Lift is a true classic. I've seen both the original and the dubbed version and I must say that they pretty much f**ked up with the voice acting. Ofcourse, when is it ever good? :P

[Feijão]

This movie rocks. It was amazing that I went to vhs rental and saw two movies side-by-side, this one and the Refrigerator. I asked for the owner to sell those two for me but they didn't want anyway, he said they were classics. I didn't argue but got them. He was right. And best of all is to see the Lift spoken in english with legends in portuguese.

[Guilherme Oliveira]

This film was a classic one that i used to watch on a copied tape of my friend's mother video library. At the time i couldn't realise that the film was in deutch. I was a seven year old child taking seriously the fact that elavators could be dangerous. Now I want to watch it again but i can't find a subtitle for it. Portuguese, spanish, italian, english serves to me. But not deuth, i don't know anything about that.