History Main / ElevatorSnare

* Done in ''{{Sam and Fuzzy}}'', with the chaser taking the stairs. Of course, he's the determinator, so he arrives first...

* In ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', Ripley pounds on both elevator buttons in desperation to get either elevator car to her level for escape. She takes the first car that shows up. Moments later, as the Alien Queen stands there at the elevator lobby, the second car arrives, ready for use.
** It happens earlier in the film when Ripley and Hicks are trying to escape. They make it to an elevator, while the motion tracker is going crazy. Hicks repeatedly pushes the button, and the door starts to close... too late to stop a xenomorph from nearly getting to the heroes (and dousing Hicks with acid).

* In an episode of ''Series/DueSouth'', a man Fraser and Ray Kowalski are chasing dodges into an elevator. Ray tosses Fraser his cell phone, and while Fraser races up the stairs, Ray calls from a payphone to tell him which floor the elevator stops on.

* In an episode of ''Series/DueSouth'', a man Fraser and Ray are chasing dodges into an elevator. Ray tosses Fraser his cell phone, and while Fraser races up the stairs, Ray calls from a payphone to tell him which floor the elevator stops on.

* Happens twice at the end of ''Midnight Madness'':

* In the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' movie, ''The Ark of Truth'', replicators jam a door open on the ''Odyssey''. Mitchel shoots them off to close it.

* In ''MirrorsEdge'', this happens while you're chasing Jacknife, resulting in you having to take the other elevator.

* In ''MonkeyIsland2'', you have to use this to your advantage. [=LeChuck=] confronts you by an elevator. If you can get the doors to close on him, you can tear off part of his beard which you need for a voodoo charm.
* After defeating Ryan in ''Winback'', he blows up himself and the express elevator, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle redirecting you through the long way]] to the control center.

Occasionally, particularly when the pursuer is a killer robot, a horde of zombies, or other inhuman creature, the doors will close on their arms, forcing the hero to either push away or chop off the intruding limb(s) before their pursuer(s) manage to pry the door open. Never mind that a properly-working elevator should open automatically once it detects something in the way of the door. As ''[[{{Dilbert}} Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless]]'' says (following advice about avoiding {{Uncomfortable Elevator Moment}}s): "Don't try to crush people by pushing the 'Close' button. I've tried it and it doesn't work."

* The opening of ''Left4Dead2'' features Ellis getting ensnared by a Smoker just as he enters an elevator. Two common infected try to pull him out, but Coach chainsaws through them all and the four protagonists are safe (for about thirty seconds).

----

* Action variant in ''{{Terminator}} 2'': the T-1000 forces open the doors of the shaft and drops on top of the car, attacking through the car ceiling.

* The Second Elevator variant is used in ''TrueLies''.

* Played straight in ''TheRock''. Sean Connery takes a lift down six or seven storeys, Nicholas Cage takes the stairs. Resulting increase in lead = 0.

* In ''{{Aliens}}'', Ripley pounds on both elevator buttons in desperation to get either elevator car to her level for escape. She takes the first car that shows up. Moments later, as the Alien Queen stands there at the elevator lobby, the second car arrives, ready for use.

* In ''AdventuresInBabysitting'' a girl is being chased by two car thieves because she has information that they needed for their next job, she ducks into the elevator, and the door closes on the thieves, forcing them to wait for the elevator to come back down, later the babysitter and her friends take the elevator and retrieve her...

The chase inevitably leads into a multi-story building. The chase-ee ducks into an elevator, and the chaser arrives just in time for the doors to close in on his or her face. As their quarry rides up to the top in relative comfort, the pursuer is forced to wait for the next elevator or, more likely, take the stairs. Regardless of which route they take, it's still somehow possible for the chaser to arrive at the same floor just seconds after their quarry. This can also be used in a race against time. Bonus points if the chase-ee frantically presses the "Close Door" button, in the hopes that this will make the door close faster than normal[[note]]In a bit of TruthInTelevision (the vast majority of "Close Door" buttons will only actually work in tandem with a firefighter's key), it never will.[[/note]]

The chase inevitably leads into a multi-story building. The chase-ee ducks into an elevator, and the chaser arrives just in time for the doors to close in on his or her face. As their quarry rides up to the top in relative comfort, the pursuer is forced to wait for the next elevator or, more likely, take the stairs. Regardless of which route they take, it's still somehow possible for the chaser to arrive at the same floor just seconds after their quarry. This can also be used in a race against time. Bonus points if the chase-ee frantically presses the "Close Door" button, in the hopes that this will make the door close faster than normal[[hottip:*:It doesn't]].

* In ''DeadSpace'', this happens when a necromorph chases you near the start. The elevator slams shut, cutting its body in half. Not exactly OHS compliant...

* Justified in Schwarzenegger's film ''{{Commando}}'' when he jumps on top of the elevator car the chase-ee is taking.

* The Opening video for Left4Dead2 features Ellis getting ensnared by a smoker just as he enters an elevator. Two common infected try to pull him out, but Coach chainsaws through them all and the four protagonists are safe for about thirty seconds.

* After defeating Ryan in ''Winback'', he blows up himself and the express elevator, [[NotSoFastBucko redirecting you through the long way]] to the control center.

* In ''MirrorsEdge'', this happens while you're chasing Jack Knife, resulting in you having to take the other elevator.

* Happens twice at the end of ''MidnightMadness'':

* No matter how the Big Bad Wolf tries to escape Droopy, whenever any door he shuts is re-opened, the doggedly determined Droopy will be standing there.

* In ''{{AlienS}}'', Ripley pounds on both elevator buttons in desperation to get either elevator car to her level for escape. She takes the first car that shows up. Moments later, as the Alien Queen stands there at the elevator lobby, the second car arrives, ready for use.