History Film / DeLift

Inside an office building in Amsterdam, an elevator inexplicably begins to function independently following a lightning storm. The elevator then goes on a murdering spree, killing and injuring anyone who dares to go near it or use it. Among its victims are an elderly blind man who falls to his death when the elevator doors open to an empty shaft, the building night watchman who is [[OffWithHisHead decapitated by the elevator doors]], and a janitor who is snared in the shaft in which his body drops through the elevator ceiling hatch. In response to the mysterious malfunctions, technician Felix Adelaar (Stapel) is hired to examine the system in order to find the cause of the problem. Over the course of his investigation, he meets Mieke de Boer (van Ammelrooy), a journalist for ''De Nieuwe Revu'', a tabloid magazine that Felix remarks he often finds in his friends' cat litter. As the inspection continues, Felix slowly becomes more and more obsessed with finding the cause of the anomalies, to the point that he stops interacting with his wife and son. Meanwhile, the body count rises, and the elevator intends to make Felix its next victim.

Despite the somewhat silly-sounding premise and mundane dialogue, ''De Lift'' is nevertheless a genuinely well-made, tense, and [[BlackComedy darkly funny]] thriller.

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* {{Jerkass}}: Saskia, who irrationally and shortsightedly accuses her HenpeckedHusband Felix of YourCheatingHeart without ever giving him a chance to hear him out to explain what is actually going on and then divorcing him and gaining full custody of their children.

* OneSteveLimit: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] - there are four people in the film named Kees: two security guards, the janitor, and Felix's brother-in-law. Multiple characters being named Kees is a [[CreatorThumbprint recurring element in Maas' films]].

* OneSteveLimit: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] - there are four people in the film named Kees: two security guards, the janitor, and Felix's brother-in-law.

Inside an office building in Amsterdam, an elevator inexplicably begins to function independently following a lightning storm. The elevator then goes on a murdering spree, killing and injuring anyone who dares to go near it or use it. Among its victims are an elderly blind man who falls to his death when the elevator doors open to an empty shaft, the building night watchman who is [[OffWithHisHead decapitated by the elevator doors]], and a janitor who is snared in the shaft in which his body drops through the elevator ceiling hatch. In response to the mysterious malfunctions, technician Felix Adelaar (Stapel) is hired to examine the system in order to find the cause of the problem. Over the course of his investigation, he meets Mieke de Boer (van Ammelrooy), a journalist for ''De Nieuwe Revu'', a local tabloid that Felix remarks he often finds in his friends' cat litter. As the inspection continues, Felix slowly becomes more and more obsessed with finding the cause of the anomalies, to the point that he stops interacting with his wife and son. Meanwhile, the body count rises, and the elevator intends to make Felix its next victim.

* {[Jerkass}}: Saskia, who irrationally and shortsightedly accuses her HenpeckedHusband Felix of YourCheatingHeart without ever giving him a chance to hear him out to explain what is actually going on and then divorcing him and gaining full custody of their children.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Felix Adelaar. His last name "Adelaar" is the Dutch word for "eagle," an animal regarded as having many admirable qualities in just about every culture, while "Felix" stems from the Latin word meaning "fortunate."

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Felix Adelaar: His last name "Adelaar" is the Dutch word for "eagle," an animal regarded as having almost purely admirable qualities in just about every culture, while "Felix" stems from the Latin word meaning "happy/lucky/fortunate."

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Protagonist Felix Adelaar: his last name "Adelaar" is "eagle" (a creature regarded to only have admirable qualities in just about every culture) in Dutch, and "Felix" is a name stemming from Latin meaning happy/lucky/fortunate.

* TurnedAagainstTheirMasters: [[spoiler:The elevator's final act of madness is to shoot one of its broken cables out to drag the Rising Sun CEO inside the shaft and hang him.]]

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Protagonist Felix Adelaar: his last name "Adelaar" is "eagle" (a creature regarded to only have admirable qualities in about every culture) in Dutch, and "Felix" is a name stemming from Latin meaning happy/lucky/fortunate.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Protagonist Felix Adelaar: his last name "Adelaar" is "eagle" (a creature regarded to only have admirable qualities in about every culture) in Dutch, and "Felix" is a name stemming from Latin meaning happy/lucky/fortunate.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/de_lift_300.jpg]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/strange_movie_monsters_2.jpg]]

--->'''Mieke:''' Isn't [your job] boring, being in elevators all day?
--->'''Felix:''' Sometimes it's boring, but why don't you drop by, then we'll take a ride together.

* OffWithHisHead: One of the security guards gets his head stuck between the closed elevator doors, and then is decapitated by the elevator itself.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9200000064038110.jpg]]

* OffWithHisHead: How the night watchman dies

* ElevatorGoingDown: Downplayed/Subverted. When the elevator first gets stuck at the beginning of the movie, one of the two couples in it take the opportunity to have sex in the elevator. Before they can carry this out though, the elevator fully turns evil [[spoiler:and everybody in it gets unconscious]].

* ElevatorGoingDown: Downplayed/Subverted. When the elevator first gets stuck at the beginning of the movie, one of the two couples in it take the opportunity to have sex in the elevator. Before they can carry this out though, the elevator fully turns evil [[spoiler:and everybody in it dies]].