After watching this movie, I entered IMDb just to see if anybody dared to give it more than 2 stars. Not only many people gave it more than 2, but some users gave it 10. Simply incredible! Or perhaps those 10-star reviews are a sort of ironic mockery?. Because this movie has nothing worth the value, not even to make fun of it. Though, after some reflection, it has some value: it is the ideal movie to be exhibited at cinematography schools just to show future filmmakers everything they should avoid; it is simply the perfect example of a bad movie: from beginning to end, this insulting film is boring, stupid, confusing, ridiculous, predictable... every negative adjective applies to this film. I rented the DVD from a Blockbuster, deceived by the plot summary in the back of the case: "Mysterious deaths are happening in an elevator, so an investigator tries to find what is going on" or something like that; "sounds interesting", I thought. Another misleading fact is the presence of Naomi Watts: if this renowned actress appears, at least it should be a decent film. What a naivety!

I got this neighbor who scours thrift store video tape bins to find what I can only describe as the worst misuses of VHS media known to man. The worse the movie, the bigger his chest swells with pride for saving it from oblivion. So when he gives me another one of his treasures I said OK, because I was bored out of my mind anyway and knew it would be a trek into weirdness. Incidentaly, here in the US the title of the movie is "The Shaft", my neighbor happens to enjoy the company of men so I suspect he thought he had stumbled upon a porno! Heh, heh, heh... :). Anyway, I popped it in the VCR and was immediately struck by the quality of the cinematography in the opening scene, really novel and well done. The setting kind of reminded me of some of the mid 80's films HBO used to run as filler, the look and pace of it hail to a previous decade. I kept watching and became ever more surprised by all the twists and turns, it really keeps you off balance and that makes it fun. I found myself talking at the screen and bursting out in laughter with some of the ridiculous things the movie asks you to accept. Just a great little quirky, surprising and fun pseudo sci-fi ride.

Just for kicks, let's pretend you're a disgraced military scientist. You want to create "bio-machines" that incorporate mechanical devices with human intelligence. However, your first attempts were always kind of hard to control and turned out a little, well, homicidal. So the military fired you... but of course you want to continue your research. Well why not continue your dangerous research on an elevator in a busy, New York skyscraper that's open to the public? Seems like a good plan. What could possibly go wrong?That's the plot of this one. The elevator kills people because it is partially powered by human brain cells and is apparently evil for no good reason. Yep. Sound scary? Sound at all plausible? Didn't think so.This might be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The shocking thing is that Naomi Watts shows up as a newspaper reporter trying to get the scoop on the "killer elevator". What on earth is a real star doing in this thing? I realize it was earlier in her career, but one would think her standards were better than this. Did she read the script before taking the job? Ron Perlman shows up as well; maybe he failed to check out the script too.The dialogue is so bad it's hard to even laugh at it. The acting is hard to stomach. This movie just goes to show that a bad script and bad direction can make any actor look terrible. James Marshall is particularly laughable as the leading man. He looks like a high school drama student trying to remember his lines for the big play.The premise is so strange. Of all the things to experiment on, why would the scientist choose an elevator? Do we really need a super-intelligent elevator? With such a bad premise, one can certainly imagine how the half-baked plot plays out.It's hard to think of one good thing about this movie. It did make me laugh occasionally with its overall amateurish look and terrible dialogue. However, it's not a fun, campy B-movie. Down (aka The Shaft) is just plain boring, formulaic and doesn't make much sense.

The idea that a landmark building in NYC is having elevator problems of the most monumental sort is good for starters. But when it comes to the reason behind the elevator murders and mishaps, the writers had to be out to lunch.Some of the horrific happenings are well staged for maximum horror effect, but the characters are strictly one dimensional figures like puppets on a string. JAMES MARSHALL at least tries to give some depth to his leading role as an elevator technician who, midway through the story, accepts the help of an inquisitive newspaper reporter, NAOMI WATTS, to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths on uncontrollable elevators.NAOMI WATTS must have been waiting for good roles to come along, but this was not one of them and she gives it no real conviction at all. The film was released shortly before the terrorist attacks on 9/11, lucky for the producers. After the attack, it's not likely a film of this sort would have been allowed to rattle the nerves of the already nervous New York City dwellers who witnessed an attack on their landmark buildings.RON PERLMAN, EDWARD HERRMANN and MICHAEL IRONSIDE are unable to give much gravitas to the absurd story, but there are several chilling scenes involving the elevator shaft that makes the whole thing at least worth a watch and some gruesome deaths by elevator.Strictly a below average horror film, enlivened by some good staging of key scenes but crying out for better plotting and dialog. The Ingmar Bergman joke between two of the elevator workers is an insult to any movie buff. At least Naomi Watts had KING KONG in her future.