The Lift

[mujaki@uymail.com]

Did you know that "The Lift" was featured during a show of foreign horror movies during the "Horror Hall of Fame" awards, hosted by Robert Englund (Fred Krueger) and Charles Lee Ray (Chucky)?

[Dave]

Andrew,

This is a great movie....a classic.  I remember the first time I saw this I kept laughing at the name on the side of the van (something like Deada Liften).  Anyway I actually like this movie as it has a good plot and the acting is ok for a horror movie from nowhere!!!!

I give it a 7 out of 10...I'd watch it again...probably will this weekend...

[Squishy]

What a gas. Worst dubbing ever for a flick from the Western half of the globe. And the strangulation at the end--who knew that elevator cables had their own musculature? I think I'll rent this one night triple-billed with "The Refrigerator" and "The Mangler." Pray for Squishy.

[Squishy]

Say, I have an idea for a sequel; "The Loo." See, the corporation that created the technology behind "The Lift" decides it would be safer to use it on bidets; mysterious drownings begin to occur. A little girl is almost lured to her doom by a playful water-fountain display. A blind man falls in. After the new corporate head takes the toilet out by shooting it in the head (huh huh huh), he is killed by the toilet-paper dispenser...

[Pomy]

Well, well...
Where ta start? Yea, so this movie is a pile of s**t.
I think it could be better. It's not about the directin' or the actin' (b'coz that it would be a double pile of s**t), it's about the ways that elevator kills. I mean that the head choppin' is OK, so far, but the aircondition's and the fact of an elevator is bein' airtight :) well sux!
The other problem is the end of the movie. I don't think that anybody could hung there in the shaft when a ca. 1.5 tons of weight-iron gives massage on the spine... funny!
And ain't that a s**t when the elevator knows (!) that someone is blind? And about the blind people. What tha f**k is the cane for if they don't use it?! Ne'r mind, better luck next time.

POMY

Ps.: By the bye: if they'd call it a fun-film, it'd be my favorite... but this way... s**t!

[dfect@hotmail.com]

Hey give it a change, it's a Dutch movie you know!! I scared the f*ck out of me when I was young and this movie was on the tv.

[Athenachri@aol.com]

This movie was one of the very first cheesy movies I ever saw. The greatest thing about it was the movie cover. Ah, a classic movie cover: "Take the stairs! Take the stairs! For God's Sake- take the stairs!!"

[Lupe]

Well, I'm embarrassed to be Dutch when "one of the things that you learn from this movie" is the fact that we have lower standards for beautiful women; the actress Willeke van Ammelrooy was too old and eighties-styled, but I guess she got the part just because she's famous here in Holland.And I'm drop-dead gorgeous myself, no kidding !!! They should have given me the part, oh no I was seven years old at the time.And it did scare me then, of course.

[staev]

Tagline: The stairs! For God's sake, take the stairs!

[Kelly]

Y'know, cheesy as this movie is, ya gotta give it credit in the continuity department -- when the cop gets decapitated and his head falls down the elevator shaft, they have a very brief shot of it landing on the blind guy who fell down the shaft previously.  (The blind guy WAS before the cop, wasn't he??  God, it's been a helluva long time since I saw this flick!!  I'd even forgotten about the blind guy -- that's how long it's been...)  Not many cheap, cheesy movies would even bother to remember that.  Most would have his head go splat on the concrete floor...think about it...and, for god's sake...USE THE STAIRS!!  Hyuk!

[Chaostar]

Saying than Europeans have lower standard for woman shows signs of a very disturbed -to say the least- mind. Apart from that, it would interest you to know that this film won the 1st award at Avoriaz Film Festival (at that time it was THE event for horror buffs)/ President of the jury was John Carpenter.
The film is good, the dubbing is bad (but I guess that Warner Bros. -who bought the rights of the films- wouldn't have dubbed the film if you guys weren't so b***hy about subtitles) and the music, written by the director is really effective.

[David]

Hi there, Well as for you who have seen this movie, you know by now it's pretty...erm...bad, to put it mildly =)

one thing that strikes me as impossible is when the blind guy fals in the shaft, he's "looking" into the shaft...when he falls, he has managed somehow...and I know of no-one being THAT fast, to turn around well within 0.75 second and grab hold of the ledge....specialy taken the age of the blindman...

my motto normaly is " If it ain't much, it ain't Dutch" but I guess this movie is the exception to the rule =)

[Alex]

It's been a while since I last saw "De Lift" (original title).  Though this movie sucks now, it scared the hell out of me when I was 6 or 7 years old.
Saying that European people have less taste is one big lie.  It's just Dutch movies that suck.  Belgian movies are way better, look at titles such as "Daens" and "Ad Fundum".  Dutch readers will surely admit that these are of high quality.

[Jari]

The remake of this movie has been released in Holland just a month ago. People do not want to see it (wonder why, it is considered wate of money.
Dick Maas is directing the flick again) With: Michael Ironside (tv series "V"; Starship Troopers;Top Gun;Perfect Storm), James Marshall, Eric Thal, Naomi Watts.
One plus to the original: this one is in English, no dubbing needed!
Does this short content sound familiar: When the express elevators in the Millennium Building, one of New York's most famous landmarks (no relation to any recent events), start to malfunction and behave in erratic ways, elevator mechanic Mark Newman is sent out to find the cause of the problems. His investigation meets unexpected resistance and not everybody seems to be happy with his involvement. After a gruesome and deadly incident, in which a blind man falls into the shaft and a security guard is decapitated, the police start an investigation. They are however not very successful. Mark is determined to find the cause. He is joined by a female reporter, Jennifer, who is looking for a juicy story. Together they try to unravel the secrets behind the mysterious behaviour of the elevator that seems to have a life of it's own. When things get worse and death toll rises, The Government, fearing terrorists are involved, seal off the building. What at first looked like a routine job turns into a horrifying nightmare in which Mark has to face an enemy whose blood thirst is only met by it's unpredictability. An enemy that is determined to fight off any intruder looking for the dark secret that lurks inside the belly of the building. An enemy that has to be feared. An enemy that has to be taken .......DOWN (thanks to IMDb).

[Nomis Zeepkop]

When "De lift" was made, the cost of it was only 1,000,000 guilders and that wasn't a lot, even in those days. But the movie was quite a big hit. Thanks to "De lift", Dick Maas produced other movies like the Flodder-series and "Amsterdamned", the movie about the serial killer in the canals of Amsterdam. In a sort of way, "de Lift" was the beginning of a new movie era in the Netherlands.
Today, many Dutch people also agree that "De lift" is completely outdated, but it was quite a break-through for a small country. A Dutch movie that was a success, that was something new. I wish we produced more of these movies, but... we rather keep up our reputation as a marketing land... Too bad, I like movies...