A different way of telling a story

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

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

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.

Ever briefly get stuck in an elevator thats messing with you, malfunctioning and seems to almost have a mischievous mind of its own? That's the premise of Down, also known as The Shaft. It concerns an elevator in a huge residential/office building that has gone homicidally haywire. It traps, drops and tricks people no end, raising and lowering the interior temperature to dangerous effect and generally just being a great big meanie. No one seems so know what's going on with it though, especially the mechanic who installed it (Twin Peak's James Marshall). The incidents accumulate, attracting a perky tabloid reporter (Naomi Watts having a ball) who makes up all kinds of tall tales to explain the situation in sensationalistic terms. This infuriates the CEO of the elevator company (now there's a job title) played by a snarky Ron Perlman who gets a rant towards Marshall that walked in from a way better script (which leads me to believe it was the spawn of Perlman's legendary improv skills). There's also a cop played by Dan Hedeya who can't seem to figure it out wither. The truth is a lot more interesting than you might expect and has nothing to do with ghosts or spirits at all, but centers around a deranged research scientist (Michael Ironside, whacked out to kingdom come). It's not the least bit scary, but it's worth a watch simply for the fact that it's a movie about a damn elevator that kills people lol. Cujo and Christine ain't got nothing on this bitch. The scene where a gaggle of pregnant ladies enter the thing is just priceless in its blatantly gross out manner. Fun, fun stuff and great research to embarrass Watts with sometime down the road if you ever find yourself interviewing her on the red carpet hehe.

I got this neighbor who scours thrift store video tape bins to find what I can only describe as the worst misuses of VHS media known to man. The worse the movie, the bigger his chest swells with pride for saving it from oblivion. So when he gives me another one of his treasures I said OK, because I was bored out of my mind anyway and knew it would be a trek into weirdness. Incidentaly, here in the US the title of the movie is "The Shaft", my neighbor happens to enjoy the company of men so I suspect he thought he had stumbled upon a porno! Heh, heh, heh... :). Anyway, I popped it in the VCR and was immediately struck by the quality of the cinematography in the opening scene, really novel and well done. The setting kind of reminded me of some of the mid 80's films HBO used to run as filler, the look and pace of it hail to a previous decade. I kept watching and became ever more surprised by all the twists and turns, it really keeps you off balance and that makes it fun. I found myself talking at the screen and bursting out in laughter with some of the ridiculous things the movie asks you to accept. Just a great little quirky, surprising and fun pseudo sci-fi ride.

Believe it or not this is actually a remake of a 1983 film called "The Lift." That title would not translate easily to America, so writer/director Dick Mass, who wrote and directed both films, renamed it The Shaft and set it in Manhattan instead of the Netherlands. Maybe he named it The Shaft as Shaft was already taken, who knows, but that name still wasn't good enough, so the renamed it "Down." What? It doesn't go up? It is really not as bad a film as many seem to think. I like original monsters, and a crazed elevator (or lift as they say in the old country) is interesting. You can certainly get some interesting kills, and we do here. We also get some interesting views from the top floors of the skyscrapers looking into apartment windows.Naomi Watts and James Marshall eventually join together to find the cause of these death, and wouldn't you know it, a mad scientist is involved. Kicked out of everywhere Dr. Gunter Steinberg (Michael Ironside) joins with an elevator repair company to install his microchips that are built with human flesh.Now, that is something I can use when writing reviews - a thinking microchip. "Hey, Ben, do you always have to comment on titties?" "Hey, Ben, you don't give enough credit to the monster." "Hey, Ben, how about a clever line on getting "shafted" in this movie." No, you won't get shafted, and I just have to do the work myself. The movie does have titties, but it also has Dan Hedaya, and I always like him.Check it out.