Eric Deighton's review of De Lift (1983)*Warning spoilers*Everyone loves John Carpenter's Halloween. De Lift is the Dutch answer to Halloween. Like John Carpenter, Director, Dick Maas, writes, directs and composes the music for the movie De Lift (1983). Dick Maas does a great job at all three roles. The plot is well written and slowly builds suspense and intrigue. The movie is slickly directed and contains a number of trick camera shots (like the bowling scene) and an overall very stylistic camera work. The lighting of the exterior of the elevator is especially effective. The score is a clearly Carpenter-inspired synthesized bit of music that really adds to the atmosphere of this movie.Director Dick Maas has created a great looking film. The film looks and feels like a 1980's horror movie should. I felt while watching this movie that Dick Maas must have been heavily influenced by Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", but in interviews Dick Maas insists that the Lift is his take on Steven Spielberg's "Jaws". Dick Maas has stated that he wanted the same feel in De Lift as the audience felt in Jaws with the elevator taking the place of the shark. Dick Maas uses similar techniques to Spielberg as humor and horror are both presented in this film. Dick Maas has a flair for some pretty funny sight gags that are littered throughout the film. There are several false jump scenes as various characters approach the elevator only to escape unharmed. The elevator, like the shark in Jaws, is sure to eventually get its prey and each time a victim escapes it only heightens the tension.While the main setting of this film is the fancy Icarus high-rise office building, the hero is a blue collar working man played to perfection by dutch actor, Huub Stapel. This movie is full of great Dutch character actors. None of the characters in this movie seem like throw away parts. All of the characters have interesting little quirks and all seem to advance the plot and bring this story to life. Many of the actors had to take on double and sometimes triple duties to get this film made. The budget did not provide for any stunt men, so every actor did his or her own stunts, including the dangerous scenes in the elevator shaft. Additionally, the non-actor crew was pressed into service as extras for many of the shots.Yes, this is a movie about a killer elevator, but why does the elevator kill? This movie treats its subject matter very serious, to the point where this movie has the feel of a crime drama. There is much time spent following our blue collar hero (elevator repair man) around as he investigates what is causing this elevator to kill people. The investigation portion of the film includes visits to the factory, interviews with computer technicians, visits to a mental hospital to interview the last elevator repairman to work on the killer elevator and a crash course on bio-technology by an excited professor. Is the killer elevator part of some corporate conspiracy; is there some alien slime that is making the elevator kill; or, has the microchip developed not only self awareness and free will but also an organic like ability to reproduce? The movie really does not ever provide a satisfactory explanation.I watched the whole movie in Dutch with English sub-titles. I tried re-watching it in English, but the voice actors that did the dubbing work were awful and gave an uninspired performance. The Dutch version with English sub-titles is far superior. Director Dick Maas did a remake of De Lift in 2001 titled "The Shaft/Down" starring Naomi Watts.

A state of the art elevator system starts to go haywire and kill people after being struck by lightning...almost like it has a mind of it's own.Meanwhile, an elevator repairman and local journalist have teamed up to figure out what is going on.It seems the elevator company is trying to cover something up.After a little digging, they reveal that the Japanese company responsible for designing the electrical components of the lift system, have developed a bio-chip: a biological computer chip that is known to become endowed with artificial intelligence.Which might explain a lot...if they can manage to stop the conspiracy...before they become it's next victims...This film really plays off the paranoia of the times- a fear of impending doom from the computer apocalypse, sort of thing.And it's not that great. It's pretty slow moving, the special effects are kinda lame, and the kill scenes are pretty anti-climactic.I'm not sure what you can expect though...there are only so many ways an elevator can kill somebody.5.5 out of 10.

Foreign horror movies are something to take notice of. In "De Lift", it's worth the watch. Dick Mass has put up a masterpiece that is reassuring and intriguing at the same time. Here you have a elevator in a very big building with one sinister secret. During a dinner party, four guests are very drunk and they go in the elevator to their rooms. However, it stops midway, and the guests begin to overheat.Fortunately, they do get rescued and sent to the hospital. The mechanic Felix(Huub Stapel), takes a look at the building and check it out from top to bottom for flaws. He finds none. But he's still curious about it. After checking it out, another tragedy strikes. Then there's the guard who lost his head. Felix's obsession with the lift gains the attention of a reporter(Willeke von Ammelrooy) who followed up on him. His obsession with the lift has put a strain on the marriage. Which would lead to the company he works for. A super chip has given the computer to give life which proves to be fatal. A very intriguing film. Fun to watch. Recommended for the rainy day times. 3 out of 5 stars

Elevator serviceman Stapel takes it upon himself to investigate when the elevators at a stylish high-rise building begin to have lethal malfunctions for no apparent reason, but inexplicably finds his efforts resisted by both his boss and the manufacturer of the elevators.Silly to say the least, but surprisingly creepy and atmospheric despite its rather ridiculous premise, showing the occasional glimmer of imagination and humor, not to mention some nasty gore effects. The acting is adequate and although his voice is dubbed, real life racecar driver Stapel seems pretty laid-back and convincing in his role. However one character who gives a lecture on experimental microchips that is unintentionally hilarious, see if you can count how many times he says the word "chips"? 6 out of 10, fun if you park your brain in neutral and don't take it too seriously.