Elevator Review

Review: Elevator by Brian Kirst

Made by Romanian director George Dorobantu for approximately 300 US dollars, the award winning film Elevator takes the sex as death motif from the slasher flicks to superior artistic levels.

2 Romanian youths, a 17 year old girl on the verge of her birthday and a proclaimed 18 year old male lothario, break into an abandoned factory to pre-celebrate her natal awakening with a little carnal knowledge. All frisky sexuality, however, is replaced with desperation and fear when the two find themselves trapped in an elevator in the factory without proactive means of escape.

Spread over a period of 7 days, the film captures the two as they bond, fight proudly for their freedom and, occasionally, give into hysteria.

Director Dorobantu creates a taut atmosphere, decorated with poetically frank dialogue and the truthful brutality of the situation. He simply, yet lyrically allows the one location and two person cast to evolve into a film that quietly lacerates the audience’s soul.

Much like the actors in the shark baiting Open Water, Lulia Verdes and Cristi Petrescu, build personable and eventually beloved characters. Their performances are skilled yet natural and they often bring home the tragedy of their characters’ circumstances merely with a silent shrug or thoughtful glance.

Not necessarily horror, but definitely a taut, horror-filmed drama, Elevator is truly one of the best feature films of the past few years and its self-taught director and beyond miniscule budget contribute to making this a true (and wondrous) miracle of modern filmmaking.