Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Blaironit Excellent film with a gripping story!

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Christian Heynk 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.

FieCrier 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.

Barboelsch Have you ever been stuck in an elevator? I was, so I can tell you how it is: the lights go dim, the lift stops, you press the alarm. After a while, the lift moves again, you step out the door and promise your little boy to treat him to some ice cream for not panicking.That alone is not merely enough to fill a TV commercial. Consequently, if you plan to extend the scene to feature length, you have to add a little bit of spice to it. Job one - adding spice: very well done.You have one youngster-half-criminal well-enough looking dude, an old guy, frustrated by the view of a small pension awaiting him, who therefore filled his pocket with a DEM 100K loot on his last day, and a semi-successful businessman who wants to screw the you-don't-how-old-she-is ravishing employee.Well of course this ain't enough because at least you expect some sort of plot also. Job two - plot: not badly done.By all means, girlish 'she' shows cold shoulder to semi-pro, youngster pounces on the opportunity, old man acts astoundingly cool. And - so much for action - the cables do snap, there is a showdown in the elevator shaft, bad guy dies and old man walks away unharmed, plus: young guy eventually gets chick.Now for some cinematographics. Job three - really well done.Whatever claustrophobic vibes you might feel in such a situation - they delivered it. Motions, noises, everything, it all falls in place to make you 'live' inside that cabin.Last of all - dialogues. Job four - expectations exceeded.German moviemakers have always been well-known for a lack of ease. Here it's the same, but for a reason. Each of the characters has a personality, and the screenwrite took some time to fashion them. Whatever they say to one another shows a lot about who they are - people - but at the same time leaves lots of space to imagine what we don't know, or what we don't want to know. That's what those Germans are really good at, and not surprisingly many of those kind of movies are placed on a Tarantino level - at least by those who understand them. I've never seen the dubbed version (if there is one at all), so apparently you can only enjoy this piece if you are familiar with the German language.Read other comments to find out what actually happens in the movie.

amikus2000 Psycho criminal pure by Carl Schenkel, who is active in Hollywood, like Mrs Soutendijk. Goetz George and Hannes Jaenicke are stealing the spectator's last peace of snugness. They are too able, how can I get calm into a lift next time ?