Admittedly, there are some scenes in this movie that seem a little unrealistic. The ravishing woman first panics and then, only a few minutes later, she starts kissing the young lad while the old guy is right next to her. But as the film goes along we learn that she is a little volatile girl (or slut) and that partly explains her behavior. The cinematography of this movie is well done. We get to see the elevator from almost every angle and perspective, and some of those images and scenes really raise the tension. Götz George plays his character well, a wannabe hot-shot getting old and being overpowered by young men like the Jaennicke character. Wolfgang Kieling who I admired in Hitchcock's THE TORN CURTAIN delivers a great performance that, although he doesn't say much, he is by far the best actor in this play. One critic complained about how unrealistic the film was and that in a real case of emergency nothing would really happen. But then again, how realistic are films such as Mission impossible or Phone Booth. Given the fact that we are talking about a movie here, and that in a movie you always have to deal with some scenes that aren't very likely to occur in real life, you can still enjoy this movie. It's a lot better than many things that I see on German TV these days and I think that the vintage 80's style added something to this film.

In 1983, there was a Dutch movie about a killer elevator called De Lift (which was remade by the director in 2001). Here's a German movie from 1984 about a killer elevator. Funny how that happens. Anyway, the one in De Lift was evil, but this one is just poorly designed and maintained.

Four people get stuck in an elevator: a couple, a younger guy, and an older man with a suitcase. The night watchman doesn't notice the problem since the alarm had been turned off for the repairman who'd been there earlier. They try to get out, hurting themselves and smashing up the elevator in the process. They bicker a lot. The hand-held video-game playing, walkman-wearing young man is annoying, and the woman is surprisingly slutty. The actress is rather unusual-looking, with eyebrows tweezed away to almost nothing, and hair in a style that emphasizes how high her hairline is and how thin her hair is. Whoever did that to her should never have gotten the job!

When repairmen come, they give the security guard a hard time. He has a German accent (the video I watched was dubbed in English),which they mock, and they complain about foreigners. I thought that was weird, since the movie was German. Did he have an American accent in the German-language version? I was also surprised that they try to raise the elevator car, rather than lower it; I wonder if that is the procedure in real life?

Still, I enjoyed this. It's not great, but is entertaining enough.

I wonder if the elevator horror subgenre is played out. Someone ought to have one involving a paternoster lift (look it up) - those are pretty unusual; a friend of mine had ridden one and told me about it.

Incidentally, the Worst Case Scenario Handbook writers have evidently advised the best way to survive a plummeting elevator is to lie down flat on the floor.

What sounds interesting in the first place, is the theme of the movie: Four people get stuck in a small lift. The question I asked immediately when I read this was: Can a movie that has only one setting be gripping and eventful? The answer is: Yes, it can! It only can. The movie is well directed and the lift is photographed from all views you can imagine. Still, all the directing ideas are used up now, there cannot be any new lift movie.

Unfortunately, in order to create a thriller full of action and suspense, they had to write a most unrealistic screenplay, full of coincidences and stupid twists. It's a pity, but obviously it shows that getting stuck in a lift is not suitable for filling a whole evening.