Four annoying customers at a restaurant stay late during a lightning storm. They leave and step inside an elevator. The elevator stops because the power goes out. While stuck in the elevator, the heating goes berserk (two people start having sex)! Thankfully, they survive, but management decides to hire Felix (Huub Stapel), a technician, to figure out the problem with the unstable lift.Stylish goofball black horror comedy supplies sufficient elevator kills (about three or four). The film manages to convey some tension with strong production design, special effects (most of the death scenes are shot backwards), and direction.The subplots (mainly the one concerning infidelity) and exposition deescalate the film. Also, find this film in Dutch because I had to grit my teeth through some of the dubbing. "De Lift" entertains and manages to waste time.

A state of the art elevator system starts to go haywire and kill people after being struck by lightning...almost like it has a mind of it's own.Meanwhile, an elevator repairman and local journalist have teamed up to figure out what is going on.It seems the elevator company is trying to cover something up.After a little digging, they reveal that the Japanese company responsible for designing the electrical components of the lift system, have developed a bio-chip: a biological computer chip that is known to become endowed with artificial intelligence.Which might explain a lot...if they can manage to stop the conspiracy...before they become it's next victims...This film really plays off the paranoia of the times- a fear of impending doom from the computer apocalypse, sort of thing.And it's not that great. It's pretty slow moving, the special effects are kinda lame, and the kill scenes are pretty anti-climactic.I'm not sure what you can expect though...there are only so many ways an elevator can kill somebody.5.5 out of 10.

Having long been wary of lifts, I was already in the right frame of mind to respond appropriately to this enjoyable and engrossing thriller; and as it progressed - as whenever I enjoy a relatively modern film - I paid it the compliment of hoping the ending was going to be up to the rest of the film so far.None of its components are in themselves particularly original ((I personally was reminded of 'Quatermass 2' and the 'Doctor Who' story 'The Mind of Evil', not to mention several earlier thrillers involving lifts; others will doubtless recognise other sources), but like Maas's later 'Amsterdammed' (1988) it has a witty script (including a terrific sight gag early on involving an ambulance), well-drawn supporting characters and a feisty and resourceful heroine. A thriller rather than a horror film (although it delivers a couple of the required shocks), the occasionally vivid use of colour is also worth mentioning.

Back in 1983 when this movie was made, it was a real shocking classic. Not because of the opening nudity-scene in the elevator (after all: this is the Netherlands and 'Spetters' had been released three years prior), but because it was a real scary and sometimes even gory mainstream movie.By todays standards it will probably disappoint you - the story about a rogue biocomputer-operated elevator is severely outdated and special effects are negligible. But nevertheless it really has something - eerie and terrifying music and some really scare scenes. Not the one with the guard being decapitated, but the one with the little girl begin enthralled by the three elevators is classic.Another classic scene is right at the end, where the surviving cast members take the stairs, 10+ floors down, instead of the (now normal) elevators.