{"id":12627,"date":"2012-01-05T19:04:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-05T19:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thisblogrules.com\/?p=12627"},"modified":"2012-01-05T19:04:08","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T19:04:08","slug":"the-top-10-movie-elevator-scenes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thisblogrules.com\/the-top-10-movie-elevator-scenes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Movie Elevator Scenes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the world of film, an elevator can be a wonderful source of comedy and drama. An elevator is something many people use every day, whether this be in an apartment building, at work or at a shopping mall. People share elevators with others, with which naturally comes a whole heap of awkwardness \u2013 you have to stand in a big metal box in complete silence, waiting impatiently for the elevator to reach your floor, all the while trying to hold in that big fart you\u2019ve been holding in ever since you stepped foot through the automatic doors. With all of this natural tension, it\u2019s of little wonder that cinema has latched onto this everyday experience.<\/p>\n

Elevator scenes have been used in comedies; the aforementioned feeling of social awkwardness provides much potential for a whole array of LOL-worthiness. They have been used in horrors; the feeling of claustrophobia that many experience when inside an elevator can be taken advantage of, with victims helplessly trapped inside an inescapable box that\u2019s dangling on a wire. They have been used in thrillers and actioners; the inescapable box dangling on a wire can provide a cramped setting for suspenseful action sequences. In short, elevators provide much potential for effective moments in cinema and have been the setting of many great scenes in many great movies. Anyway, let\u2019s take a look at the ten best elevator scenes from the world of film. Caution: some of the scene descriptions contain spoilers.<\/p>\n

10. \u201cLiar Liar\u201d (1997)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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We start the list with \u201cLiar Liar,\u201d a Jim Carrey fantasy comedy from \u201cAce Ventura\u201d director Tom Shadyac. Carrey plays Fletcher Reede, a successful lawyer who, after his disappointed son\u2019s birthday wish magically comes true, is physically incapable of telling a single lie for a whole 24 hours. One result of this disability is hilariously horrible embarrassment for Fletcher when he enters an elevator with a, shall we say, well-endowed lady (she\u2019s got big boobies!). \u201cNew in the building?\u201d queries Fletcher, a slight grin on his face. \u201cYeah, I just moved in Monday,\u201d the lady cheerfully answers. \u201cEverybody\u2019s been real nice.\u201d \u201cWell, that\u2019s because you have big jugs,\u201d Fletcher bluntly replies. \u201cI mean, your boobs are huge!\u201d he desperately tries to correct himself. \u201cI mean, I wanna squeeze \u2018em!\u201d he continues before exclaiming the word, \u201cMama,\u201d puckering up and making loud sucking noises. After a big, hard, well-deserved thwack to the eye, a mortified Fletcher exits the elevator, holding onto his face as the cross-armed lady stares scornfully from inside the elevator. Briliant.<\/p>\n

9. \u201cTerminator 2: Judgement Day\u201d (1991)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s a whole boatload of high-octane, action-packed set-pieces in James Cameron\u2019s sci-fi masterpiece, \u201cTerminator 2: Judgement Day;\u201d this elevator scene, coming halfway through the film, is naturally one of the smaller ones, but also one of the most intense ones. The scene takes place in a mental asylum, where heroic robot the Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) and future resistance leader John Connor (played by Edward Furlong) are busting out John\u2019s wrongly committed mother, Sarah (played by Linda Hamilton). Meanwhile, shape-shifting villainous robot the T-1000 (played by Robert Patrick) is in hot pursuit of the escaping trio, who run into the asylum\u2019s elevator together. Not one to give up easily, the T-1000 cranks open the elevator doors, jumps down the elevator shaft, lands on top of the elevator, turns his arms into sharp-pointed blades and begins frantically stabbing through the elevator roof. The Terminator and Sarah both shoot through the ceiling to no avail; Sarah then has her shoulder sliced by Edward Blade-Hands moments before she exits with John and the Terminator when the elevator finally reaches the car park. It\u2019s ever so intense.<\/p>\n

8. \u201cFinal Destination 2\u201d (2003)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the first (and best) sequel of the very popular \u201cFinal Destination\u201d franchise, an elevator is the cause of an innocent woman\u2019s horrible death. This innocent woman is Nora Carpenter (played by Nora Boyd), a grieving mother who has recently cheated death and as such is on a \u201clist\u201d created by Death himself \u2013 she soon discovers that it is her name that is next to be crossed out. After leaving the group of fellow death-cheaters she\u2019s been tagging along with, Nora gets in an elevator with fellow death-cheater Eugene (played by Terrence C. Carson) and a creepy-looking man carrying a box full of hooks. It is then that Nora receives a phone call warning her that a man with hooks will be the cause of her death. In the ensuing panic, Nora\u2019s head gets stuck between the elevator doors as the faulty elevator begins to rise. And, in spite of the best efforts of Eugene, the man with hooks and two other death-cheaters to save her, Nora is slowly but surely decapitated as the elevator stubbornly lurches its way upwards. Take the stairs next time, dear.<\/p>\n

7. \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs\u201d (1991)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The elevator scene in Jonathan Demme\u2019s Oscar-winning thriller \u201cThe Silence of the Lambs\u201d arrives during Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins)\u2019s elaborate escape from his heavily guarded jail cell in a Tennessee courthouse. While taking an unconscious, heavily injured guard down to the ground floor in the building\u2019s elevator, police officers notice that there is blood dripping down from the top of the ceiling. Fellow police officers then take a look down the elevator shaft and spot Lecter lying face-down on top of the elevator. They give him a warning shot, shooting him in the leg, but the body does not react; maybe he\u2019s unconscious, maybe he\u2019s dead. Some police officers then hesitantly open the elevator\u2019s hatch and watch as Lecter\u2019s unconscious body swings down and dangles from the roof above \u2013 only it\u2019s not Lecter\u2019s body; it is in fact a guard who has had his face ripped off. Meanwhile, in the middle of a speeding ambulance, Hannibal Lecter rises up from a gurney, removes the guard\u2019s face (which he has been using as a mask) from his, and promptly kills the unsuspecting attendant sitting in front of him. Oh Lecter, you sneaky swine, you.<\/p>\n

6. \u201cThe Blues Brothers\u201d (1980)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The elevator scene in John Landis\u2019 comedy classic \u201cThe Blues Brothers\u201d takes place during the hilariously psychotic climax of this hilariously psychotic film. Brothers Jake (played by John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (played by Dan Aykroyd) are on the run from the law. Clad in the sharp suits, fedora hats and snazzy shades they\u2019re known to wear on occasion, Jake and Elwood enter an elevator in the Chicago City Hall building with the intention of paying a tax bill on the top floor. Meanwhile, hundreds of police officers, state troopers, SWAT teams, fire fighters and military police surround and invade the building, determined to catch and arrest the two brothers. We intercut between these two parallel scenes, one of which is a calm and casual elevator ride, complete with relaxing elevator muzak (commonly used bossa nova hit \u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d), while the other is a batshit insane display of madness and mayhem as dozens of law officers clamber up a staircase, gripping onto their guns and yelling at the top of their lungs. The result of this juxtaposition is comedic genius.<\/p>\n

5. \u201cTotal Recall\u201d (1990)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s another scene starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, this time in Paul Verhoeven\u2019s stylishly violent sci-fi actioner \u201cTotal Recall.\u201d Here, Arnie plays Douglas Quaid (no relation to Dennis), a construction worker in the future who\u2019s found himself stuck on planet Mars and in a whole lotta danger. During an action-packed sequence towards the end of the film, Quaid chases the villainous Richter (played by Michael Ironside) into an elevator with no walls. As the elevator gradually climbs towards the all-important control room, Quaid and Richter have a little struggle, during which Richter is thrown off the side of the elevator. However, Quaid grabs Richter\u2019s arms and holds onto him long enough for Richter\u2019s arms to be torn off by a dead end, following which Richter presumably falls to his well-deserved death. \u201cSee you at the party, Richter!\u201d yells Quaid before throwing Richter\u2019s newly amputated arms off the side of the elevator. That\u2019s some mighty good disarming there, Schwarzenegger.<\/p>\n

4. \u201cWilly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory\u201d (1971)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Now, this scene doesn\u2019t take place in any ordinary elevator; no no, this scene takes place in the great glass Wonkavator. As Mr Willy Wonka (the enigmatic Gene Wilder) proudly points out, a normal elevator can only go up and down, while the Wonkavator can go sideways and slantways and longways and backways and frontways and squareways and any other ways that you can think of. The wonderful Wonkavator is in fact the very last thing we see of Wonka\u2019s magnificently whacky and occasionally disturbing chocolate factory. Wonka, young Charlie (played by Peter Ostrum) and Grandpa Joe (played by Jack Albertson) enter the Wonkavator, in which Wonka tells Charlie to push the big red button. Charlie does so, causing the elevator to begin rising and rising, rising faster and faster until it eventually smashes its way through the factory\u2019s glass ceiling and flies high above Charlie\u2019s home town. As the Wonkavator flies high in the sky, Wonka informs Charlie that he is the heir to Wonka\u2019s chocolate factory. Hooray! Charlie then sadly died of morbid obesity years later.<\/p>\n

3. \u201cDressed to Kill\u201d (1980)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This elevator scene is a very Hitchcockian moment in a very Hitchcockian movie. In Brian DePalma\u2019s erotic crime thriller \u201cDressed to Kill,\u201d a woman is violently murdered inside the inescapable setting of \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 an elevator. This woman is frustrated housewife Kate Miller (played by Angie Dickinson), who has just embarked on a one-night stand with a stranger in his apartment. Having just discovered that the stranger has an STD, Kate leaves in horror and realises she has left her wedding ring on top of the guy\u2019s nightstand. So, she re-enters the building\u2019s elevator, is taken up to his floor and is about to stroll out to the corridor before coming face to face with a blonde woman sporting a pair of sunglasses and brandishing a shaving blade. The mysterious assailant slices open Kate\u2019s hand, enters the elevator with her and hacks Kate to bits as the elevator rides its way back down the building. Meanwhile, a call girl awaits the elevator on another floor and gets quite a shock when the elevator doors open up. She is also very nearly slaughtered herself, but is saved at the nerve-shredding last second by the sight of the hiding assailant in the elevator mirror. It\u2019s heart-racing stuff and magnificently gruesome.<\/p>\n

2. \u201cDrive\u201d (2011)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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This scene from last year\u2019s mesmerising crime-thriller \u201cDrive\u201d is a thing of rare beauty. It starts off tense: tight-lipped, nameless hero the Driver (played by Ryan Gosling) and love interest Irene (played by Carey Mulligan) enter the elevator of their apartment building with a rather suspicious-looking man whom The Driver notices is hiding a pistol in his jacket pocket. It then turns romantic: the Driver gently nudges Irene to the side and passionately kisses her as the film\u2019s speed very effectively slows down. It then turns unexpectedly violent: the Driver grabs the back of the mysterious man\u2019s head, smashes his face into the elevator\u2019s wall, gets him on the ground on his back and starts frantically smashing his head in with the bottom of his shoe, eventually turning the man\u2019s skull into a squishy pile of red goo. Beautiful, as I said.<\/p>\n

1. \u201cThe Departed\u201d (2006)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I suspect that when you, dear reader, read the title of this article, \u201cThe Departed\u201d was the first film to pop into your head; it certainly was for me when I came up with the idea of writing this article. Martin Scorsese\u2019s foul-mouthed, ultraviolent, Oscar-winning crime drama has one of the most infamous elevator scenes ever committed to celluloid. The scene I speak of takes place about fifteen minutes towards the end of the film. Police informant Billy Costigan (played by Leonardo diCaprio) is beyond pissed off with corrupt cop Colin Sullivan (played by Matt Damon), whom Billy intends to arrest for generally just being a sneaky bastard. Following a brutal fight on the rooftop of a derelict building, Billy drags a handcuffed Colin into the elevator and waits for them to reach the ground floor. \u201cJust fucking kill me,\u201d pleads a desperate Colin. \u201cI am killing you,\u201d replies Billy. The elevator reaches the ground floor. The elevator doors open. Billy prepares to exit, and then BAM!! Billy\u2019s dead, lying on the floor, his blood sprayed all across the wall, a bullet in his brain, shot by one of Colin\u2019s best buddies. Betcha didn\u2019t see that comin\u2019, did ya?<\/p>\n

Honourable mentions:<\/strong> \u201c(500) Days of Summer\u201d (2009), \u201cAliens\u201d (1986), “Barton Fink” (1991), “Borat” (2006), \u201cDiamonds are Forever\u201d (1971), \u201cDie Hard\u201d (1988), \u201cDie Hard with a Vengeance\u201d (1995), \u201cThe Eye\u201d (2002), \u201cFatal Attraction\u201d (1987), \u201cGremlins 2: The New Batch\u201d (1990), \u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d (1959), \u201cOldboy\u201d (2003), \u201cResident Evil\u201d (2002), \u201cSpeed\u201d (1994), \u201cSpider-Man 2\u201d (2004)<\/p>\n

Special honourable mention:<\/strong> \u201cThe Shining\u201d (1980), which was not included because THAT scene doesn\u2019t technically take place inside an elevator \u2013 marvellously haunting moment, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the world of film, an elevator can be a wonderful source of comedy and drama. An elevator is something many people use every day, whether this be in an apartment building, at work or at a shopping mall. People share elevators with others, with which naturally comes a whole heap of awkwardness \u2013 you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[20,211],"tags":[2186,3672,3670,1042,3673,3669,2436,1272,3675,3668,8532,3674,2058,1487,378,3667,793,3671],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","yoast_head":"\nThe Top 10 Movie Elevator Scenes 2023 | This Blog Rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the world of film, an elevator can be a wonderful source of comedy and drama. 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