This Dutch Horror Movie Is the Ultimate Forgotten Tale of Evil Machinery
Sometimes, I enjoy serious filmmaking with themes meant to be unpacked and analyzed. But often, I prefer to indulge in mindless entertainment. The 1983 Dutch horror-thriller The Lift (De Lift) falls into the latter category. It’s not a feat of filmmaking; logic is often cast aside in favor of advancing the narrative and secondary storylines are effectively abandoned to make room for more elevator-perpetrated carnage. But the film has a certain charm. And in its more effective moments, The Lift manages to be suspenseful and engaging. I could fill you in on what the film gets wrong, which is plenty. But I’d rather spend this time speaking to the picture’s quirky charm and why it’s worth watching for anyone who enjoys a breezy thriller that gets enough right to be entertaining.
The film centers around a high-rise building in Amsterdam with an elevator that has seemingly become sentient. A series of mysterious deaths transpire on and around the lift, capturing the attention of Felix (Huub Stapel), a very determined elevator repairman. Felix joins forces with Mieke (Willeke van Ammelrooy), an investigative journalist. The pair put their heads together in hopes of solving the mystery around a sinister death trap disguised as a safe and convenient alternative to the stairwell.
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Writer/director Dick Maas does an effective job of building atmosphere for the most part. The opening scene with the drunk restaurant patrons trapped in the elevator is over-the-top and takes a moment to become truly effective. But the setup does manage to reach the point of being tense, uncomfortable, and unpredictable. The film achieves a similar fate with multiple harrowing sequences throughout.
The Lift features impressive cinematography that makes the inner mechanisms of the elevator shaft seem properly menacing. A sinister score helps accentuate some of the picture’s more unsettling moments. Surprisingly, there are precious few horror films that use a malevolent elevator as a central theme. I’ve always found lifts to be unsettling and think they have the potential to terrify effectively. There is the confined space aspect, in addition to the notion that multiple people die using elevators every year. Maas does an effective job of making the hardware seem both sentient and deadly, giving the audience cause to suspend their disbelief and have fun with the wild premise.
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This ‘80s horror film is peppered with a number of inventive sendoffs. One character gets hanged by a wayward elevator cable. Another falls to his death in an empty elevator shaft. One unlucky soul gets his head stuck between the doors and finds himself decapitated as the car descends. The guillotine-esque sequence builds to a crescendo, with the realization setting in that something terrible is about to happen. And the viewer is held captive as the inevitable finally transpires.
I said I wouldn’t dwell on the film’s weaknesses and I won’t. But I should mention that the pacing is a bit up and down. The elevator takes an extended break from wreaking havoc around the halfway point and that void is filled by Felix and Mieke doing some investigative work and Felix attempting to keep his marriage from falling apart. Though The Lift drags a bit at times, the dynamic between Felix and Mieke is interesting enough to carry us through the second act lull. The marital strife piece unceremoniously fades into the background and that aspect is effectively eschewed in favor of more elevator-perpetrated carnage. But if I’m being honest, I don’t care. I’m watching for the elevator’s reign of terror, not the melodrama.
Matters pick back up when Mieke and Felix go undercover to investigate a shady corporation they suspect has a hand in the malevolent elevator debacle. From there, the picture builds to a dynamic conclusion that ups the tension level and delivers a couple more memorable sendoffs.
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If you make the decision to check out this overlooked horror film, you should beware of the dubbed version. The Lift (English-language dub) is available to stream on Tubi as of the publication of this post. But for the best viewing experience, you may want to track the picture down on physical media, taking care to ensure the version you order includes the original Dutch audio track. The English dubbing is exceptionally bad. It’s as if the voice actors thought they were reading for a comedy and hammed up dialogue that should have been delivered with stone-cold sincerity. However, I can find merit in both versions. The Dutch language track does less to derail. But the English dub brings a level of unintentional comedy to the proceedings likely to garner some chuckles.
All things considered, The Lift is an all-but-forgotten semi-precious gemstone in the rough. The picture certainly doesn’t get everything right. But Maas does an effective job at crafting moments of tension and some of the kill scenes are really enjoyable. Not to mention, the lead characters have fairly solid onscreen chemistry. In short, you could do much worse.
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