Down (2003)

Fresh and Exciting

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely Fantastic

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

I have to laugh at the commentary from movie reviewers who take themselves and an obviousloy fun, clever movie too seriously. This movie has tight dialogue, doesn't bog down half way through and good action. Go ahead and spend a few hours with this enjoyable flick.

It amazes me how often deliberately cheesy, tongue-in-cheek horror films are misconstrued as poorly made garbage. Down (AKA The Shaft), director Dick Maas' 2001 remake of his own 1983 Dutch horror De Lift, opens with the camera gliding gracefully over the NY skyline to eventually come to rest on 'The Millennium Building' where two night watchmen use an observation telescope to spy on big-breasted hookers at work in a neighbouring skyscraper; it's a superbly executed and wonderfully trashy opening that should make it crystal clear that Maas knows exactly what he is doing—making a highly entertaining, campy schlock/horror that shouldn't be taken seriously—and yet there are still those who seem to have missed the joke.Oh well, it's their loss, because when viewed as intended, Down proves to be a lot of fun, packed as it is with outrageously silly deaths, delightfully daft dialogue, and knowingly clichéd characters—precisely the kind of stuff I would expect to see in a horror film about a murderous 'living' elevator controlled by a malevolent state-of-the-art computer chip enhanced by living brain tissue.An excellent cast clearly have a blast in their two-dimensional stock roles, with a gorgeous pre-A-list Naomi Watts as a feisty newspaper reporter, James Marshall as a cocky elevator engineer, Ron 'Hellboy' Perlman as the shady owner of the elevator company, Dan Hedaya as a grizzled NY detective, and Michael 'Scanners' Ironside as a loathsome scientist hellbent on perfecting his pet project, whatever the cost. Maas keeps the action moving along at a brisk pace, handling the special effects set-pieces, wry humour, and gruesome shocks with confidence, even going so far as to kill off women, children, and animals along the way.And if all that isn't enough to pique your interest, let's not forget about the eerily prophetic scene in which characters discuss the possible use of a plane in a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre; with 9/11 just around the corner, it stands out as a genuinely chilling moment in an otherwise intentionally ridiculous and wonderfully OTT piece of nonsense.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

How so, you ask? Well, it can be a slow ride, and while it gets you where it's supposed to with relatively little issue, it's not something that's gonna stay with you for very long. I haven't watched the original that the Dutch writer/director himself remade here, but it sounds like it's essentially just a bigger version of the same thing. The key to this is that it is entirely a B-movie. You're not meant to take it seriously, it's not trying to change your life, and it is quite cheesy. Fortunately, the handful of name actors that they got for this are all "in on it", and don't attempt to change this. The characters are unlikable, bordering on obnoxious. Acting is fitting for the tone. The dialog is also appropriate, with several one-liners. FX are OK, some are almost downright good. However, even for a hammy, "dumb" and just for fun picture, this isn't wholly enjoyable. It doesn't move as fast as it should, and at an hour and 40 minutes, it is *way* too long for this sort of thing. A lot of time is spent talking, and that's not what the audience is interested in from these. The ending is great, and there is great fun to be had during this, though. Editing and cinematography are straightforward, with at least one *marvelous* cut that I imagine will be effective to most viewers. There is reasonable tension in this. The cover was shamelessly redesigned to resemble that of The Ring, to cash in on Watts being in this, as well. And no, I could not tell you who the boy(?) on there is. There is constant gratuitous strong language, and brief nudity and sexuality in this. I recommend this to fans of this type of film. 5/10

The idea that a landmark building in NYC is having elevator problems of the most monumental sort is good for starters. But when it comes to the reason behind the elevator murders and mishaps, the writers had to be out to lunch.Some of the horrific happenings are well staged for maximum horror effect, but the characters are strictly one dimensional figures like puppets on a string. JAMES MARSHALL at least tries to give some depth to his leading role as an elevator technician who, midway through the story, accepts the help of an inquisitive newspaper reporter, NAOMI WATTS, to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths on uncontrollable elevators.NAOMI WATTS must have been waiting for good roles to come along, but this was not one of them and she gives it no real conviction at all. The film was released shortly before the terrorist attacks on 9/11, lucky for the producers. After the attack, it's not likely a film of this sort would have been allowed to rattle the nerves of the already nervous New York City dwellers who witnessed an attack on their landmark buildings.RON PERLMAN, EDWARD HERRMANN and MICHAEL IRONSIDE are unable to give much gravitas to the absurd story, but there are several chilling scenes involving the elevator shaft that makes the whole thing at least worth a watch and some gruesome deaths by elevator.Strictly a below average horror film, enlivened by some good staging of key scenes but crying out for better plotting and dialog. The Ingmar Bergman joke between two of the elevator workers is an insult to any movie buff. At least Naomi Watts had KING KONG in her future.