History Main / EmptyElevator

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. When Hilshire has to do an assassination without his cyborg Triela, he tapes down a button on the elevator control panel so he can take the bodyguard guarding the lift lobby by surprise, shooting him in the back of the head when he goes to investigate the empty lift. The lift stays on that floor until Hilshire rips the tape off so he can take it to the ground floor again to make his getaway.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. Hilshire has to do an assassination without his cyborg Triela, he tapes down a button on the elevator control panel so he can do this trope and take the bodyguard guarding the lift lobby by surprise, shooting him in the back of the head when he goes to investigate the empty lift. The lift stays on that floor until Hilshire rips the tape off so he can take it to the ground floor again.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. Hilshire has to do an assassination without his cyborg Triela, he tapes down a button on the elevator control panel so he can do this trope and take the bodyguard guarding the lift lobby by surprise, shooting him in the back of the head when he goes to investigate the empty lift.

* ''Manga/GunslingerGirl''. Hilshire does an assassination without his cyborg Triela, he tapes down the button the elevator so he can do this trope and take the bodyguard guarding the lift lobby by surprise, shooting him in the back of the head when he goes to investigate the empty lift.

Subtrope of InexplicableCorneredEscape.

* ''Film/{{Evolution}}'': The military points their guns at an elevator that turns out to be empty. Then ape-like aliens ambush them from an alternate opening.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', [[spoiler:the Auditors]] are waiting for their adversaries to come to them in an elevator. [[DeliciousDistraction They don't]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. In the first episode of ''2nd Gig'', a terrorist has a look of surprise when the lift opens to reveal an empty elevator, only to be shot in the face by Batou who's wearing [[InvisibilityCloak thermoptic camouflage]]. Incidentally, Batou isn't happy at being ordered to go up in the elevator; the only reason the Major told him to do so was because the terrorists were expecting the attack to come via the roof or stairs, and had the hostages there as a HumanShield, plus she used a ghost-hacked terrorist to kill most of the other terrorists waiting in ambush. The scene serves as {{Bookends}} [[spoiler:when Batou and the Major use the empty elevator trope to assassinate the BigBad in the final episode, sniping him from an unexpected direction when he's surrounded by CIA bodyguards.]]

* ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). The villain is in a hall of elevators, which start opening at random around him one by one. The hero then steps out from the end of the corridor, not having been in the elevator at all, so it was apparently just done for MindScrew.

* ''Film/TheStoneKiller'' (1973). The mercenaries sent to kill several mobsters are hanging beneath the elevator using abseiling gear. Once the mobsters have reached their floor and the doors close, they climb in through the service hatch, enter the room and kill everyone. The mercenaries are shown [[{{Foreshadowing}} rehearsing for the attack using a dummy elevator]] in their training camp in the desert.

* Played with in ''Film/GoldenEye''. The elevator reaches its destination and the doors open, revealing Natalya apparently unconscious on the floor as a guard walks in in confusion. Cue Franchise/JamesBond dropping down from the ceiling and smashing him into the wall [[WeNeedADistraction while Natalya gets up!]]

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Batman rides an elevator up to the observation deck of Wonder Tower. The BigBad's henchmen are waiting at the top with guns pointed at the doors. Fortunately, the access hatch is open, allowing Batman to climb out of the car and walk out onto the glass canopy above the armed henchmen and perform a takedown.
** Batman also attempted this trick [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins earlier in his career]]; unfortunately, Bane was GenreSavvy enough to reach up through the ceiling and grab him.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

Subtrope of ImplausibleCorneredEscape.

Depending on the context, the supposed occupant of the elevator may be the hero (in which case there'll be at least a platoon's worth of weaponry pointed at, or possibly already emptied into, the door when it opens), the villain or the monster.

You know the other guy is three or 30 floors down/up. The only way to here from there is the elevator. But LOOK! The elevator! It's MOVING! The other guy is headed right this way! Suspense builds. The elevator approaches. It stops here. There's a pause. Possibly a bell rings. Then... the doors open to reveal... nothing. There's nobody inside.

D. Already on this floor by another route\\

* ''Film/RawDeal''. After the mobsters use up all their ammo shooting up the empty elevator, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger enters by sliding down the ventilation shaft.

* ''The Stone Killer'' (1973). The mercenaries sent to kill several mobsters are hanging beneath the elevator using abseiling gear. Once the mobsters have reached their floor and the doors close, they climb in through the service hatch, enter the room and kill everyone. The mercenaries are shown [[{{Foreshadowing}} rehearsing for the attack using a dummy elevator]] in their training camp in the desert.

* ''Film/RawDeal''. After the mobsters use up all their ammo shooting up the EmptyElevator, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger enters by sliding down the ventilation shaft.

[[quoteright:200:[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/empty_elevator_7.jpg]]]]

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', [[spoiler:the Auditors]] are waiting for their adversaries to come to them in an elevator. [[DeliciousDistraction They don't]].

%%* ''Film/{{Evolution}}''

* ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''. In the first episode of ''2nd Gig'', a terrorist has a look of surprise when the lift opens to reveal an empty elevator, only to be shot in the face by Batou who's wearing [[InvisibilityCloak thermoptic camouflage]]. Incidentally Batou isn't happy at being ordered to go up in the elevator; the only reason the Major told him to do so was because the terrorists were expecting the attack to come via the roof or stairs, and had the hostages there as a HumanShield, plus she used a ghost-hacked terrorist to kill most of the other terrorists waiting in ambush. The scene serves as {{Bookends}} [[spoiler:when Batou and the Major use the empty elevator trope to assassinate the BigBad in the final episode, sniping him from an unexpected direction when he's surrounded by CIA bodyguards.]]

(a) on top of the elevator\\
(b) under the elevator\\
(c) doing a CeilingCling\\
(d) already on this floor by another route\\
(e) something even worse.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Leon''/''Film/TheProfessional'' ("Someone's coming up. Someone ''serious''.") (The hero's not in it, but as in ''Film/DieHard'' he has placed one of the bad guys in there instead.)
* Averted in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' - they're ''in'' the elevator, right in the firing line of two dozen mooks with automatic weapons. So they send in the Merc with the Mouth to "clean up" first.
* In ''Film/TimeChasers'', Nick and Lisa evade the bad guys this way. The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' crew are not particularly impressed: "They took the stairs! They're ''masters'' of evasion!"

* In ''Film/DeepRising'', the mercenaries are searching through the [[GhostShip abandoned cruise ship]] looking for any passengers or crew members, but none can be found. Then the elevator activates, and they can see it moving to their floor. They keep their weapons aimed at the door, but it's empty. Except for the blood-covered walls inside the elevator, that is.
* ''Film/ResidentEvilAfterlife''. The Umbrella Corporation mooks are pointing their guns at the elevator while Alice slips out of a roof vent behind them. In ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution'' as the elevator pad descends to the level of the waiting mooks, a round frizbee-like gadget is tossed out which fires bullets in all directions. The infiltrators turn out to be lying flat on the pad so the bullets don't kill them.

* ''Film/BatmanForever'': Two-Face's men blast away at the elevator which arrives at their floor, perforating the door and riddling its interior with bullets. The doors open to reveal -- nothing. Three seconds later, Batman bursts out, starting the first fight scene. It's not explained how he avoided the gunfire, although he probably just hid above the car.
* ''Film/OutpostRiseOfTheSpetsnaz''. A corridor full of German guards wait nervously for Dolokhov to come up to their level, but the doors open to reveal a [[OhCrap huge Berserker zombie]] who immediately attacks them. Dolokhov had ducked into the roof hatch to escape the zombie, so he just drops back into the elevator when the shooting stops, and [[BoomHeadshot finishes off the zombie]] who's now crawling after having killed everyone in the corridor and soaked up all their bullets.
* ''Film/RawDeal''. After the mobsters use up all their ammo shooting up the EmptyElevator, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger enters by sliding down the ventilation shaft.
* ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). The villain is in a hall of elevators, which start opening at random around him one by one. The hero then steps out from the end of the corridor, not having been in the elevator at all, so it was apparently just done for MindScrew.
* ''Film/JasonBourne''. A hit team is climbing a stairwell around a cage elevator. They peer closely at the elevator as it passes and see Bourne isn't there, not realising that Bourne is actually riding the elevator counterweight.

* In ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', [[spoiler:The Auditors]] are waiting for their adversaries to come to them in an elevator. [[DeliciousDistraction They don't]].

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Fourth Doctor does this to fool the guards in "The Deadly Assassin." Quoth Castellan Spandrell (basically a police commissioner):
--> "Well done, Hilred! [[TheGuardsMustBeCrazy You are trying to confuse him, I take it?]]"

* In ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' episode "Five Years Gone," Matt Parkman and a group of guards wait with guns pointed for Hiro to come out of the elevator, but when the doors open, Hiro is nowhere to be found.

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', Batman rides an elevator up to the observation deck of Wonder Tower. The BigBad's henchmen are waiting at the top with guns pointed at the doors. Fortunately, the access hatch is open, allowing Batman to climb out of the car and walk out onto the glass canopy above the armed henchmen and perform a takedown.

* ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' has a specific mechanic whereby you can climb onto the roof of any lift in the game to achieve this effect, in probable homage to Leon/The Professional.

[[folder:Web Comic]]

* ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'': In 20th Century San Francisco, Kirk et al are being chased through a hospital by cops. Our heroes beat the cops to the elevator. In an attempt to head them off, the cops rush down the stairs and wait for the elevator to arrive on a lower floor. As the elevator doors open, the cops draw their guns and yell "freeze!" But the elevator is empty; Kirk and co have been beamed away by Scotty in the nick of time.

* ''The Stone Killer'' (1973). The mercenaries sent to kill several mobsters are hanging beneath the elevator using abseiling gear. Once the mobsters have reached their floor and the doors close, they climb in through the service hatch, enter the room and kill everyone.