Elevated (1996)

Nice effects though.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Before I start I just want to point out that this is my first movie review ever but when I saw this movie I was so stunned so I just had to review this little masterpiece. The movie was made on almost no budget and there was almost no special effects (exept a little blood)and it's only 20 minutes long but still it's an amazing movie. I'm not going to lie and say it's the best movie I have ever seen cause it's not but it's by far the best short movie I have ever seen so far in my entire life even though I always thought short movies was a bad thing this movie absolutely changes that thing. It's about two peoples in an elevator called Ellen and Ben (Vickie Papavs and Bruce McFee) that wants to go to the lowest floor on the building. But when they almost reached there destination a madman covered in blood called Hank (David Hewlett) shouts hold the elevator! He enters the elevator and he pushes the button to the highest floor. Ben says: What the f**k are you doing? Hank says that they gotta get to the highest floor on the building and barricade themselves and that the monster from Alien are killing every one outside the building. And thats basically the plot of this movie. it's very simple but then again it's a short movie and Vincenzo Natali the director of this movie pulled it of pretty good. But the must important part that makes this movie so good is David Hewlett's great acting. 8/10 A MUST SEE!

Two people get into a lift and are met by a madman who claims the monsters from the ALIEN movies are taking over the block . What can two people alone in a lift with a madman do to protect themselves ? It's said if you have a zero budget for a movie you can still write a script featuring three people in a lift . Guess what ? ELEVATED has a zero budget and features three people in a lift . Well maybe that's slightly untrue because a car park and a few walk ons appear in the last scene but this is a pretty good example of what can be done with no budget . The story itself is absolute nonsense and like most horror shorts we the audience are given no explanations whatsoever as to how the events came about but this doesn't really diminish the film itself , after all many short films are made for the simple reason to get the director and writer noticed at film festivalsI saw ELEVATED for the first and only time several years ago when it was broadcast on channel 4 . The fact that I could remember the title and be able to write a review off the top of my head says something about its quality

This short tells the exact same story as Cube. I liked Cube for the cute trick of having one set for the whole movie. But after seeing this I wonder if Natali actually has anything to say.People seem to be OK with being left to imagine a lot, but here you really have to imagine everything. There is virtually no plot apart from the movements of the actors. The dialogs are pointless and repetitive and the acting is not really convincing (like in Cube) but this is a small budget short.We are left with nothing as for the reality of the "aliens", the motives of the guy in the suit and of Ben's. Only the woman seems to be like some sort of office clerk who may well be a normal person trying to go home. Apart from the killing of Ben we don't have a clue as for what is going on, just people stuck in an elevator.Leave it to our imagination? I wonder after seeing Elevated and Cube if Natali will ever have more than one idea.I'll have to see Cypher...

After watching the excellent movie, Cube, I decided to research about the director, Vincenzo Natali. I found out about the short film "Elevated." I watched it on the Independent Film Channel late one night and found many similarities to Cube. It starts out with two people in an elevator. They're interrupted by a blood-covered man entering the elevator claiming that there is an "Alien-like" monster outside of the elevator and he insists that they should go up, to the top floor. It has the same creepiness and originality as Cube, which makes it an excellent 25 minutes. I do wish that the director would have made it into a long movie, making the 25 minutes the beginning and then the rest of the movie about the monster and the other people in the building. But then again, having it stay a short film leaves a lot to the imagination, which I cannot say is true about a lot of other movies these days. I give it ***1/2 out of ****