I just want to say the acting from the two main characters was incredibly good as well as the acting from the security guard, I think they've been in a lot of movies so they have experience but the couple waiting for the elevator were awful, worst acting I've seen in a long time no idea how they got the okay as it compromised the film. The concept was good but the way they went about it was not the greatest. I just feel like it could have been done a whole lot better but still I thought it was alright, definitely not bad at all.
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lovelyxnight13 October 2021
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josiahhilbig9 June 2015I assumed this was a low-budget student-made film, based on the number of ratings and reviews, so I was not expecting anything good to come out of it. There were certainly moments that broke my suspension of disbelief; moments in plot that made no sense, ADR that sounded off, and brief moments of unbelievable acting, but overall, it was better than I expected.
In contrast, the main cast was phenomenal, both in performance, and in recognition. Imagine my surprise to see that an international director doing his very first feature-length film roped in three world-class actors.
In all honesty, it was the acting that held the entire thing together - as you may expect from a film set almost entirely in an elevator.
It was definitely slow to get going, though. It wasn't until the half-way mark that the plot actually got interesting. Occasionally things would happen that offered no value to the story line, and until the forty minute mark, a lot of it felt like filler, like the movie wasn't going to be long enough, so more scenes were added.
Nothing was more annoying than thinking something interesting was going to happen, only to realise that nothing was happening at all. I began to get bored after the opening sequence.
That being said, if you can endure the first act, you may be pleasantly surprised by the second, as things begin to pick up the pace, and the characters really begin to develop and take on their own stories.
In the end, I wasn't impressed by the actual plot, and its conclusion. It was an interesting idea, to be sure, but it made for a rather dull conclusion, when it was revealed what it's all about.
Basically, I was pleasantly surprised by the film, but only because I expected a no-budget indie film. -
ryleilove19 March 2023Oh my gooood get to the point already. Why is she doing this to him? What did he have to do with human organ trafficking?
I really wanted to like this movie. The concept of being held hostage in the elevator not because it got stuck but because it was done manually. However, at about 1 hr 4 min I found myself struggling to get through, desiring to know the ultimate why so it could be over.
First she takes 5011 hours to tell the story of her son, then takes another 5011 to tell us what he had to do with the death. It was just constant trivia questions and ugh just a drag.
I won't not suggest it....lol...but heed the warning of the lower ratings. -
kefalasgeorge29 November 2022How can.people.make such deplorable films? The acting is juvenile ,the dialogues contrived and the story line seems to be trying to create something out of nothing . The children seem to be obnoxious ,the woman a dumb erican blond and the father totally lost in space . However ,when you think what kind of audiences this film addresses,it's totally understandable. American films ,like almost all things American,are naive, unintelligent pieces of trash . And now the question arises : is there one single person with an IQ higher than that of a radish that would buy a ticket to watch this ? I for one stopped watching after 15 minutes.
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farrisalbert9 December 2020Nice movie, well done and not at all obvious. I don't understand why it has an insufficient average
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Foutainoflife23 January 2019So this is low budget but it is a good find. I'd rather give it a 6.5 rating because it is better than 6 but not quite a 7. This has a limited cast and it is shot mostly in an elevator. I like watching films like this just to see if people can come up with some interesting scenarios for such a tight set. It really isn't too bad. The acting is decent for the most part. It was filmed well and I liked the story. I was a little unsatisfied with the ending but only because I wanted to know more. This worked out just right for my rainy day and nothing to do.
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shoantell19 December 2014This movie reminded me of the 1991 movie "Closet Land".
Movies with a minimal amount of actors can sometimes be overwhelming with the lack of on screen charisma, but these actors are powerful enough to draw my attention for the limited amount of time they have to tell their story.
What I like best about this movie is the ending leaves you with the question, "What was said in the middle of the movie?" If you had seen this in the movie theater you would have left with an unanswerable question. Classic move on the writers part, and classic movie for people that like movies. -
tagheuer251 September 2015This is a very underrated film which was surprisingly good.
Given that this is a low budget film (the title is a give away. 90%+ of the scenes happen inside the elevator, which can feel monotonous but the director/script/actors did a good job to keep my attention throughout.) You are made to choose which of the two characters is the foe and which is the protagonist. The movie does a good job in changing your pick through out the movie. And then there's a twist in the end (or a couple). The final shot is also an excellent touch. It gives some sort of relief that everything worked out as intended. Though some can miss it as it wasn't as pronounced. -
cinemalibero10 December 2016As a critic I indulge myself by scoffing at loopholes in thrillers that could not exist without them. I guess I'm seeking the ideal of a thriller existing entirely in a world of physical and psychological plausibility. "The elevator" is about as close as I'm likely to get. Yes, there are moments when I want to shout advice at the screen, but just as often the characters are ahead of me. They also ask the same questions I'm asking, of which the most heartfelt, in a thriller, is "why didn't we do that?" The movie, directed by Massimo Coglitore and written by Mauro Graiani and Riccardo Irrera, embraces realism almost as a challenge. The movie resembles a chess game; the board and all of the pieces are in full view, both sides know the rules, and the winner will simply be the better strategist. Once we sense "The elevator" isn't going to cheat, it gathers in tension, because the characters are operating out of their own resources, and that makes them the players, not the pawns. The shot combines physical and virtual camera moves, a reminder that Coglitore is a visual virtuoso. He's also a master of psychological gamesmanship.
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The movie is very cool both from a technical and emotional perspective. From the outset the woman (Caroline Goodal) and Jackh (James Parks) are dwarfed by their surroundings. The elevator is a little, empty space and while the characters may be fighting over control of the panic room, there's a calm, detached air to the cinematography. Part of that is Coglitore's style, and part of that is his direction perfectly suiting the environment he created. The elevator was built like a puzzle that could be pulled apart and put back together with relatively low difficulty in order to get the necessary shots. To know about the amount of effort that went into making this indipendet movie is interesting, but I believe The Elevator has a lot to offer on its own merits. The technical craftsmanship is what's key to the film's success because the lift has dual functions. It's a prison and a fortress. It provides the illusion of safety. The characters are broadly drawn, but specific enough to be captivating. This is, it's just an escalating cat-and-mouse game. This is a movie of constraints and freedom. The camera can move anywhere, but the characters are trapped. That's really the standout aspect of the picture. We're in a movie where a womn and and a man are stuck in a elevator.
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Fabriziofeker0122 May 2020I'm very surprise of this movie. This is an italian thriller with international actors very great. I love this film!
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GabeRodriguez6917 June 2022A very strong film, and more than I was expecting for such a super low-budget production.
Jack (James Parks) is an obnoxious gameshow host who lives a fancy lifestyle. One night, he finds himself held hostage in his building's elevator by a strange woman (Caroline Goodall). She ties him up and forces him to play a "gameshow" of her own, with torture porn results.
Considering the majority of the film is set inside the elevator, it manages to sustain this as a suspenseful setting for its 85-minute runtime. The highlight of the film are the two lead performances; as sick and twisted as this woman's game is, just who is in the right and who is the wrong is left ambiguous, and our opinions on the two characters fluctuate throughout. And that's a credit to both actors.
Burt Young also has a minor appearance in the film, though sadly he doesn't appear much until the last third.
THE ELEVATOR takes a very basic thriller concept, but elevates it with good acting and a nice twist ending. It's a chance definitely worth taking. -
francymovie20209 December 2016The Elevator has superb lighting, an innovative use of cinematography in only a few locations and superb acting that is able to hold your attention from the first to the last frame. It jumps right to the inciting incident within the first few minutes, and the bloody fight between the protagonist and the antagonist is heavily suspenseful until the last scene. The superb dramatic action is well synced with the careful psychological crafting of the camera shots, always giving the audience a different look of the scene, even though the characters are at the same place.James Parks and Caroline Goodall are truly amazing at their parts. Overall, The Elevator is truly remarkable for being a smaller budget feature, filmed in the United States by an Italian producer Riccardo Neri and the Italian director Massimo Coglitore.
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cinemaforlife0910 December 2016Following the path started with DEADLINE, Massimo Coglitore, Sicilian director, debuted at Tao Film Fest, with THE ELEVATOR independent film produced by Riccaro Blacks. A courageous film, unusual, in English, with excellent acting, great photography and beautiful music, with which Coglitore likes to wink at genre cinema, the suspense. But here we are faced with a film that has its own life, its own soul, no reverence or blinking but only a film made impeccably. Coglitore lends conscientiously to THE ELEVATOR, a film that directs so beautiful and very personal from the technical point of view. Impossible not to be charmed by the basic colors of the photography, that icy green, unsaturated distinguishes the lift and that amazingly does not kill the color but enhances it in order to create the ideal setting in which the characters move to represent a hypothetical, violent chess game, a quiz here, based on primitive instincts. There are many themes, instinct for survival, power, revenge. Extraordinary and magnetic interpreters Caroline Goodall and James Parks where around them prevail only human ancestral impulses. A well-written film by Mauro Graiani and Riccardo Irrera, with a clipped role tailored to evergreen Burt Young. The lift of the film, a few square meters of pure claustrophobia, imprisons Jack Tramell famous American TV presenter, isolating it from the outside world. It 'clear charges of Coglitore the ills of modern society. Men tend to ghettoized, close in sophisticated prisons in which they themselves are the jailers, isolating themselves from the outside world, and the various issues. The woman burst into the comfortable life of the famous presenter, catapulting him on a journey into the unknown, where one misstep means risking their lives. different social realities, among them, but something links them, a thin wire, a terrible secret. Coglitore deftly changes the order of the game and reverses several times their parts, with a strong dramatic where violence - exploding at night in that elevator of an elegant New York -It seems to arm themselves in the hands and thoughts of everyone, without exception.
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maxfranceschini10 December 2016The overwhelming suspense does not detract from the moment-to-moment tension and indeed frees you to enjoy the film's technical accomplishment. The director, Massimo Coglitore, came to prominence in 2003 with your short film in 35mm ''Deadline,'' which similarly discovered new visual and stylistic possibilities. Coglitore also directed ''Uomo di carta,'' a Pirallendiano short movie and the TV movie "Noi due" a comedy love story where the look and atmosphere of that picture were so fresh, so persuasive, and so well matched that the logical instability of the story almost didn't matter. ''The elevator'' or "3 minutes" with its small cast of characters, and severe constraints on time and space, is a less grandiose undertaking. Aside from brief scenes at the beginning and the very end, the whole thing takes place on a single set in a single night. But its challenges were clearly attractive to the director, and his camera sense and assured pacing make it an above- average thriller. The director has mastered the traditional syntax of cinematic suspense: the shifting points of view, startling cuts and slow camera movements that work subliminally to fill us with dread and anxiety. But he also uses computer- assisted techniques to amplify the effects, extending what the camera can do. Vote 10!!!.
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Dr_Sagan12 January 2015This is obviously not a big movie. It's as low budget as it can be. Now that I watched it, it feels more like a claustrophobic episode of The Twilight Zone.
Movies which don't have the resources to excite otherwise, are often trying to impress with other means like disturbing images or provocative situations.
So... this is a thriller about a mature woman who holds prisoner a well known game-show host inside an elevator. No. It's not a "hostage situation" (if the production had the money for firemen and SWAT teams and negotiators, I wouldn't characterize this as "cheap"). It's more like...well..I won't spoil you...but if you get quickly through the short list of why a 55+ woman could do such a thing...well...soon you will have an idea about what is going on.
But it's not the beginning or the middle of the movie that will impress you. You will get a mental puzzle near the end! What is true and what is not.
Caroline Goodall, the good wife of ...Liam Neeson, Michael Douglas and even Bruce Willis, is the star in this. Despite the fact that she is a trained and experienced actress her performance is only adequate. You get that "crazy" vibe she went for, but in my opinion there was much room for improvement.
Burt Young should had let us remember him from the Rockies. Didn't know James Parks, he is good but he is kind of unattractive to play a wealthy game-show presenter.
Music works well, especially near the end where you will get the actual thrills.
Overall: A Cheap made thriller with OK performances and some plot twists to its last part, but nothing special. If you have time to spare, check it out.