The Lift (1983)
 

The Lift aka De Lift
Directed by Dick Maas
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Looking at the title there should be no need to explain the plot of The Lift in great detail. Dutch director Dick Maas might ring a bell to some for the more well known Amsterdamed or the recent Saint Nick. Primary active in the TV field (in his homeland, naturaly) he scored a big hit with his outrageous comedy Flodder (if you think Al Bundy is below your intellectual level you won´t like that film). The Lift is an early theatrical feature in his filmography and also one of his goes at scriptwriting. Compared to the seventies which saw the birth of the "Nature Runs Amok" movies spearheaded by Jaws, The Lift is an example of the succeeding "Urban Enviroment runs Amok" genre which includes movies like The Mangler, Final Destination or Maximum Overdrive.

The premise is simple enough - and for what it´s worth I had a good time rolling with this silly idea. There is some reasonably well done horror in here, one scene featuring the titular lift and someone´s head had me fairly creeped out no matter how shoddy the special effects were. I also liked how the lift appears to have a disgusting sense of humour, teasing his lift-fodder by opening the door one more time before the final ride and stuff like that. The cast includes Huup Stapel, a frequent collaborator with the director and a good actor plus the female lead Willeke van Ammelrooy looked incredibly hot although well in her thirties. There is some inspired camera work, vaguely reminissant of Dario Argento (the way our heros meet up and the following car-ride is also very alike to a similar scene in Deep Red) greatly helping out the rather bland-looking sets.

This is a very low-budget production, not as low budget as some home-made zombie films from nowadays but pretty low. It also had it´s fair share of troubles on set with director Maas being fired and then re-hired during the film´s production. There´s a lot of drawbacks in the script, of most annoyance is the sub-plot involving the hero´s family life. It takes up waaay too much time and is simple filler since it doesn´t go anywhere - his bitch of a wife never even gets close to the evil lift and the fact that he has a family is totally irrelevant. This is a one-hour movie bloated to 105 minutes.Worse yet, these parts sure don´t help the rocky structure of the plot, there are some humerous tones that don´t fit with the vibe at all. Also the "cause" behind the lift´s shennanigans is a big letdown. The scene where some scientist nutbag raves nonsense about microchips (some kind of personal satan to him obviously) is hilarious for all the wrong reasons. I know this is 1983 but still it sinks the movie to a deeper level, methaphoricaly speaking.

So, while there´s a lot of glaring flaws to it, as I said I still had a good time. If you´re not the "Hollywood Only" type of horror film and like to give something different a chance, this is an interesting film and worthy of a wider audience. Too bad Dick Maas didn´t get to do more horror in his time, as it is he´s just a rather unsung talent in that field. I need to watch Saint Nick soon and also his own remake of this, called Down.

I covered this movie last year. You're right about its flaws and I personally found it average. It does have its moments, but is undermined by a script that doesn't totally know what its doing. The hero is drawn to the elevator, his wife is threatening to walk out on him, and he doesn't do a thing. He doesn't say a thing to her. This aspect was poorly handled. That David Cronenberg-inspired revelation about the lift at the end was cool.

Just read your review, you did a good job on it. "Average" is properbly a good term for the movie as a whole but I thought some lift-mayhem was pretty well done and I still got a kick out of film in that way.