History Main / ElevatorFailure

* Happened in an episode of the Australian series ''Series/PoliceRescue'', leading to real-life elevator repairmen to write in complaining of the technical inaccuracies involved.

!!Examples

* In ''Film/{{Earthquake}}'':

* ''Film/TheToweringInferno'' has:

* ''Literature/{{Another}}'': [[spoiler:Sanae Mizuno]] gets killed gruesomely inside an elevator when the cables snap and the car plummets to the bottom of the shaft. The investigation afterward finds lack of maintenance at fault, but the main characters know that the curse on class 3 was the real cause.

* This happens in ''VideoGame/DeadIsland'' at the start when you're escaping from the hotel.

* Happens a few times in the ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' games.

* This can happen in ''VideoGame/TheSims 2'' - the elevator a sim is in can crash to the bottom, and the unfortunate sim gets a rather large penalty to needs.

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* Happens to Wakko and Dr. Scratchnsniff in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. HilarityEnsues.

* This happened in WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow's "Comic Book Caper". While Slime Boy was carrying his comic book, he tried using the mezzanine elevator, but it wasn't working for whatever reason. This cause Scrappy to formulate a plan to swipe the comic by using Shaggy to lower Scooby to the monster briefly to grab the comic. This didn't work. Even if Slime couldn't use the elevator in the normal way, at least he briefly used the elevator as a prison cell for the Great Dane when he tied him up.

* In the first ''Literature/DresdenFiles'' novel, ''Literature/StormFront'', Dresden is escaping from a giant scorpion in his office building, and is carrying a wounded comrade and can't take the stairs. But because, as a wizard, he's a WalkingTechbane, the elevator fails halfway down. Dealing with the scorpion involves smashing the elevator against the roof, then the floor of the shaft and the resulting wreck regains power just long enough to open on the ground floor. (It's that kind of series.) A few books later, it's mentioned that the repairs raised the rent on everyone in the building.

** Barney Calhoun is assigned to fix one in ''[[VideoGame/HalfLifeBlueShift Blue Shift]]''. Go ahead, take a guess to what happens when he does.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' had the protagonist ([[ItMakesSenseInContext who was paranoid about being cursed by an ancient Mayan Emperor at the time]]) get trapped in a broken elevator, which goes pitch black [[SicklyGreenGlow and then creepily green.]]

* Happens to Fred Pacer in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'' during the scene where Finn [=McMissile=] is shown fighting off several Lemons in a back alley in Tokyo.
* This happened in ''WesternAnimation/{{HoodwinkedTooHoodVersusEvil}}''. After Wolf and Twitchy were tied up together back to back, gagged, and stuck in the elevator, the former had an idea of pressing the button on his back while the squirrel endured being squished between Wolf and the elevator buttons. This worked, but the elevator would stop at every floor. While it was doing that, Wolf and Twitchy tried to break free from their restraints, but they failed to do so and must wait until it reaches the top floor.

* ''Film/{{Anon}}''. The killer, who is a master hacker, hacks into the eye implants of the detective and torments him with fake images of what he's seeing. At one point the detective is about to step into an elevator, only to realise just in time the doors have opened on an empty elevator shaft.

* In one episode of ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'', a mean office manager suffers a KarmicDeath this way. While attempting to escape from a stopped elevator, the brakes fail and she is crushed/bisected.

* On ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', the elevator in Sheldon, Leonard and Penny's building is always out of service. In the flashback episode, Leonard reveals that he accidentally blew it up.
* On an episode of ''Series/TheBobNewhartShow'', Bob steps into an empty shaft. He hangs onto the cable, but for the rest of the episode is obsessing over his mortality.

* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Joey's character is killed off ''Series/DaysOfOurLives'' when he falls down an elevator shaft. Of course, it's a soap opera, so he comes back to life.

* This happened in WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow's "Comic Book Caper". While Slime Boy was carrying his comic book, he tried using the mezzanine elevator, but it wasn't working for whatever reason. This cause Scrappy to formulate a plan to swipe the comic by using Shaggy to lower Scooby to the monster briefly. This didn't work. Even if Slime couldn't use the elevator in the normal way, at least he briefly used the elevator as a prison cell for the Great Dane when he tied him up.

* This happened in ''WesternAnimation/{{HoodwinkedTooHoodVersusEvil}}''. After Wolf and Twitchy were tied up together back to back, gagged, and stuck in the elevator, the former had an idea of pressing the button on his back while the squirrel endured being squished between Wolf and the elevator buttons. This worked, but the elevator would stop at every floor. While it was doing that, Wolf and Twitchy tried to break free from their restraints, but failed to do so and must wait until it reaches the top floor.

* In a segment of WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow, this happened in "Comic Book Caper". While Slime Boy was carrying his comic book, he tried using the mezzanine elevator, but it wasn't working for whatever reason. This cause Scrappy to formulate a plan to swipe the comic by using Shaggy to lower Scooby to the monster briefly. this didn't work. Even if Slime couldn't use the elevator in the normal way, at least he briefly used the elevator as a prison cell for the tied up Great Dane.

* This happened in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil}}''. After Wolf and Twitchy were tied up together back to back, gagged, and stuck in the elevator, the former had an idea of pressing the button on his back while the squirrel endured being squished between Wolf and the elevator buttons. This worked, but the elevator would stop at every floor. While it was doing that, Wolf and Twitchy tried to break free from their restraints, but failed to do so and must wait until it reaches the top floor.

* This happened in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil}}''. After Wolf and Twitchy were tied up together back to back, gagged, and stuck in the elevator, the former had an idea of pressing the button on his back while the squirrel endured being squished between Wolf and the elevator buttons. This worked, but the elevator would stop at every floor. While it was doing that, Wolf and Twitchy tried to break free from their restraints, but failed to do so and must wait until it reaches the top floor.

* In a segment of WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow, this happened in "Comic Book Caper". While Slime Boy was carrying his comic book, he tried using the mezzanine elevator, but it wasn't working for whatever reason. This cause Scrappy to formulate a plan to swipe the comic by using Shaggy to lower Scooby to the monster briefly. this didn't work. Even if Slime couldn't use the elevator in the normal way, at least he briefly used the elevator as a prison cell for the tied up Great Dane.

* Subverted in the SoapOpera ''Series/TheCity'' (a reimagined ''Series/{{Loving}}''). When the elevator doors open and there's no elevator there, Sydney manages to stop herself from falling into the shaft. But just as she breathes a sigh of relief, she's ''shoved'' in by the SerialKiller who's been stalking the show for the past several weeks. Luckily, the fall isn't that far and she suffers only a broken arm.

* One of the few genuinely scary moments in the first ''Film/ResidentEvil'' film involves the supercomputer in charge of containing the outbreak cutting off access to the outside world by dropping The Hive's elevator cars straight to the bottom floor. People inside can be heard screaming in terror all the way down, and several zombies with severely broken limbs are seen later in the movie.

-->'''Selsome''': "Out of order? What do you mean 'out of order'? It was working just a second ago!"\\
'''Janitor''': "I'm sorry but it's not working now."\\
'''Selsome''': "But it was working, just a second ago."\\
'''Janitor''': "And a second ago I wasn't standing here talking to a moron."

* Variation in ''Film/MissionImpossible'': one of Ethan's crew is atop an elevator. Someone [[spoiler:(later revealed to be the team boss)]] hacks the elevator to make it go straight up into [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice triggered spikes]].