THE LIFT

Netherlands, 1983, 99 minutes, Colour.
Hubbe Stapel, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Josine van Dalsum.
Directed by Dick Maas.

The Lift was a box office success in its home country, Holland. It is quite a good thriller - the touch of Stephen King style horror. The focus of the horror is the central lift of three in a new building. The camera-work suggests the menace of the lift until we see it in gruesome action. The plot becomes complicated because it is not only mechanical development that is threatening but technological and computer experimentation. The ultimate villain is a protoplasm computer gone berserk.

The characters are very well-drawn, the atmosphere well-set and there are excellent suspense effects. Perhaps there are some limitations in the ultimate explanation - with a touch of the ludicrous. However, all in all the film works very well. The central character of the workman who has to face the difficulty without being a superman is very well portrayed by Hubbe Stapel. The film was taken up for international release (unfortunately dubbed) and stands well beside its American counterparts.

1. An exciting suspense thriller? Popular horror? The touches of science-fiction and science-fantasy?

2. Production values? Authentic Dutch atmosphere? The focus on technology, computer technology? Ordinary and extraordinary? Silicone chips? Protoplasm computers? The colour photography and the detail of the lift and its workings? The importance of editing and pace: shock, surprise, build-up to climax? Pace and mood, suspense? The interweaving of domestic story with the confrontation with the lift? The writer-director's musical score and use of sounds (in the John Carpenter vein)?

3. Audience awareness of horror conventions? How well were they used here, transcended?

4. The theme of malevolent nature, malevolent machines? Mystery? The human coping with the mysterious, confronting it, experiencing danger, success? The value of the ultimate explanations?

5. The lift itself: in the centre, its appearance, a smooth modern lift, the audience getting to see its comfort and its workings, seeing the prototype in the factory? Its smoothness, sound? The mechanical detail, the electronic detail? The air-conditioning and the smothering of the drunks and their girlfriends? The luring of the blind man to fall into the shaft - after a false start? The decapitation of the guard? The little girl's doll being crushed in the doors? The janitor being taken in and killed, the chair crushed with Felix holding it? Its taunting people, playing with them? The lift with its personality? The final vengeful killing of the inventor?

6. The explanations of technology and their developments? Human error? The effect of human error on technology? Electronics, the professor and his explanation of chips, protoplasmic chips? The empty technological box? The protean gone berserk? its violent re programming? Its being shot at by Croon? Its getting revenge on him by hanging him?

7. The world of the multinationals, Holland, America, Japan? Power? Chips and brains? The background of the deals, the links with Japan and the Rising Sun? Cover-ups because of American business deals? The proprietors of the building, of the lift firm, of the Rising Sun? meetings, laboratories? Croon and his experiments? The personalities of the authority figures - Croon as sinister, the manager of the apartment block and his carrying on with his colleague's wife etc.?

8. The mood of the opening, the businessmen on the town, the girls, the lift and their asphyxiation? The atmosphere of the other deaths? The growing sinister atmosphere? The city, the factories? The contrast with Felix's home life? With the magazine offices?

9. Felix as central character: seeing him at home, his black eye and his alleged flirting, his love for his wife, a pleasant man, his friendship with his children, talking with them, fixing up the ambulance siren? The growing complications of his work? His study at home? His training and understanding of technology? His being baffled by the computer development? The encounter with the reporter? Her help? His wife's suspicion? The clashes? The effect on the children? His wife leaving and taking the bottle tops? Her phone call? Felix pursuing his goal, his detection work, his skills with the lift, the final victory? The rescue by the reporter? (The irony of audience expectations in their not having an affair?)

10. Felix at work, his worry, study, spending time, his conscientiousness? His fellow workers and their involvement? His visit to the asylum and trying to probe the mystery, the reaction of the insane worker with the mess on the wall? The reporter and her questions? Her intrusion, the drive with Felix, their working together, discussion with the professor, the visit to Croon and her masquerading as a worker? Clashes? The importance of Felix being sacked? Taking his own initiatives? Going to the lift, the chair, climbing the shaft, the discoveries, the lightning, the cable breaking, the various mechanisms threatening Felix, the suspense and his being saved by the reporter?

11. The film's comment on reporters, sensational magazine stories, pushiness?

12. The visit to the asylum and its effect? The friend taking over Felix's job? The quick delineation and effectiveness of these minor characters?

13. The detail of horror touches, themes? A satisfying Dutch production? Comparisons with American models - successfully?