IMDb RATING
4.7/10
5.3K
YOUR RATING
When the elevators in New York's 102-story Millennium Building start to malfunction, mechanic Mark Newman is sent to find the cause. After a series of gruesome and deadly "accidents" occur, ... Read allWhen the elevators in New York's 102-story Millennium Building start to malfunction, mechanic Mark Newman is sent to find the cause. After a series of gruesome and deadly "accidents" occur, Mark joins forces with spunky reporter Jennifer.When the elevators in New York's 102-story Millennium Building start to malfunction, mechanic Mark Newman is sent to find the cause. After a series of gruesome and deadly "accidents" occur, Mark joins forces with spunky reporter Jennifer.
William Vanderpuye
- Murphy
- (as Will Vanderpuye)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA wide theatrical release in the United States was canceled due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Although entirely coincidental, the film makes several references to terrorism in New York City, getting as specific as mentioning plane hijackings and Osama Bin Laden destroying the World Trade Center.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Cine-Masochist: THE LIFT (2021)
- SoundtracksShe's Not There
Written by Rod Argent
Performed by The Zombies
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Featured review
My rating of this movie.
I just happened to be in Blockbuster Video on August 14, 2004, looking for some good horror movies. I just happened to find "The Shaft" (or "Down", whatever you want to call it). As I read the summary, I decided to rent the disc, since I do not see very much action in movies involving elevators (other than the movie "Speed"). As I became more familiar with the characters and as the movie progressed, my first impression was that some evil spirit was haunting the elevator. I was really biting my nails when those pregnant women were trying to get out of the elevator.
I later saw the blind man and his dog fall to their deaths in the shaft, the other get decapitated by the elevator, the skater going in and out of the elevator with the White Light (which made me believe some supernatural force was controlling the elevator), the little girl playing with the doors and WORSE - the many people that fell through the elevator's floor. You see, I HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN TRAPPED in an elevator, and that's exactly what it makes you do - do Number One in your pants. It's a terrifying situation I would not recommend to any one.
I still believed it was demons at work until I viewed the scene where that German scientist and the MB's (Millennium Building) owner/manager had that secret meeting in their vehicles at a secret place. They were discussing the fact that the scientist needed to dismantle a mysterious invention that he had created to operate the elevators, since it was killing people. The elevator mechanic, journalist and that other guy were talking about this weird stuff earlier, which is supposed to be a biomechanism - which runs and operates like a machine of iron and steel, but thinks, feeds, grows and reproduces like a living thing (sounds almost like "Batteries Not Included", doesn't it?).
After observing all of this, I became more anxious to see what the heck was controlling those elevators. After, seeing the elevator mechanic go through several passageways, ups and downs, I finally got my answer as he opened that compartment and showed us that stationary "mechanical lifeform" with a lava-like glow. It was interesting to see him try to stab that thing to death (laugh). He goes through some more drama but manages to blow the thing away with a bazooka.
Overall, I gave this movie C+. It was good in bringing some elevator action to the table, which is rare, and the drama was excellent. The press conferences and investigations made it exciting also. However, biomechanics/biocomputers are LIGHT YEARS away from us right now, considering the fact that we don't even have have regular iron and steel computers with INDEPENDENT artificial intelligence, like HAL ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), JOSHUA ("WARGAMES") and SKYNET ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"). Besides, who would want a machine anyway that could possibly feel physical or emotional pain while doing all the hard and heavy work? Also, I would have been content with the City Mayor, not the United States President, to handle the problem with these elevators. (When that plane crashed in the Hudson several years back killing everyone on board, did the President even speak on that? No, just Mayor Guiliani.) However, something about the presence of the local SWAT teams made it real interesting though. Anyway, that's my opinion of the film for now. Goodbye.
I later saw the blind man and his dog fall to their deaths in the shaft, the other get decapitated by the elevator, the skater going in and out of the elevator with the White Light (which made me believe some supernatural force was controlling the elevator), the little girl playing with the doors and WORSE - the many people that fell through the elevator's floor. You see, I HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN TRAPPED in an elevator, and that's exactly what it makes you do - do Number One in your pants. It's a terrifying situation I would not recommend to any one.
I still believed it was demons at work until I viewed the scene where that German scientist and the MB's (Millennium Building) owner/manager had that secret meeting in their vehicles at a secret place. They were discussing the fact that the scientist needed to dismantle a mysterious invention that he had created to operate the elevators, since it was killing people. The elevator mechanic, journalist and that other guy were talking about this weird stuff earlier, which is supposed to be a biomechanism - which runs and operates like a machine of iron and steel, but thinks, feeds, grows and reproduces like a living thing (sounds almost like "Batteries Not Included", doesn't it?).
After observing all of this, I became more anxious to see what the heck was controlling those elevators. After, seeing the elevator mechanic go through several passageways, ups and downs, I finally got my answer as he opened that compartment and showed us that stationary "mechanical lifeform" with a lava-like glow. It was interesting to see him try to stab that thing to death (laugh). He goes through some more drama but manages to blow the thing away with a bazooka.
Overall, I gave this movie C+. It was good in bringing some elevator action to the table, which is rare, and the drama was excellent. The press conferences and investigations made it exciting also. However, biomechanics/biocomputers are LIGHT YEARS away from us right now, considering the fact that we don't even have have regular iron and steel computers with INDEPENDENT artificial intelligence, like HAL ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), JOSHUA ("WARGAMES") and SKYNET ("Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines"). Besides, who would want a machine anyway that could possibly feel physical or emotional pain while doing all the hard and heavy work? Also, I would have been content with the City Mayor, not the United States President, to handle the problem with these elevators. (When that plane crashed in the Hudson several years back killing everyone on board, did the President even speak on that? No, just Mayor Guiliani.) However, something about the presence of the local SWAT teams made it real interesting though. Anyway, that's my opinion of the film for now. Goodbye.
helpful•10
- doomsday_freak
- Aug 16, 2004
- How long is The Shaft?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Down
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $15,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $535,658
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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