The Lift

Director - Dick Maas (Saint, Amsterdamned)
Starring - Huub Stapel (Flodder, Hoffman's Hunger), Willeke van Ammelrooy (The Hell of '63, Ciske the Rat), and Josine van Dalsum (Death of a Nun, Suite 215),
Release Date - 1983
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "Take the stairs, take the stairs, for God's sake, take the stairs"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Blue Underground is a company that is known for releasing classic horror and exploitation films on modern formats.  Their dedication to film and knowledge on the subject can be found in each and every release.  What a lot of people don't give them credit for is that they often release films that are not that well known to fans of the genre.  Before Blue Underground released Amsterdamned on blu I had no idea who Dick Maas was.  I had seen the film Saint years ago on Netflix but that was the extent of it. I was really impressed with Amsterdamned so when Blue Underground announced that they would be releasing Maas' films The Lift and his remake Down I was excited.  I reached out to them and they were kind enough to send over review copies of both films.  Thanks guys!

     The film follows an elevator technician that is called to an apartment building where the elevator is acting strange.  A group of wealthy people was trapped in it and almost suffocated.  He can't find anything wrong with elevator but that night turns bloody when a security guard is beheaded and they find the corpse of a blind man in the shaft.  When they continue to find nothing wrong with the elevator they turn to the manufacture of the electronics and find that it is a start of the art elevator that has evolved into something much worse.
     I liked Amsterdamned.  It wasn't a movie that completely changed my life but I enjoyed it for what it was.  I liked the look and I liked the supplemental material Blue Underground packed into their release.  With that being said, I was more curious than anything to see how a serious film about a killer elevator played out.  Surprisingly, the film was very entertaining.  The acting in this one was great.  The entire cast created some very believable characters.  The characters was not over exaggerated or complicated making for a very grounded film.  The cast works very well with each other which makes this unrealistic story feel more believable.  The story for this one is a little out there.  The cast may be grounded but the story is reaching but is blissfully 80s.  The story was approached in a serious manner which was great considering how campy and cheesy it could have been.  A killer elevator flick could have been just as zany as Oversexed Rugsucker from Mars.  Instead it was a serious film that was well written and fun scenes.  Finally, the film isn't as bloody as one would expect dealing with people getting decapitated.  We get some solid practical effects and some blood but not as much as I would have liked.  Overall, The Lift was a serious character driven horror film with an unconventional monster.  I really enjoyed the narrative and the almost sci-fi story about machines going too far.  If you want something different to watch I suggest tossing this one in.