History Main / EmptyElevator

* Very much 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/DeepRising'', the mercenaries are searching through the 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.

** This ''might'' be a MythologyGag to when Batman pulled off essentially the same stunt in ''Film/BatmanForever'' (see above).
** 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.

* ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', when Scotty beams the elevator's occupants out while the doors are closed.

** In "Last Call", a gang of kidnappers start shooting the moment the lift doors open to reveal a suit...on a coat hanger. Cue {{kneecapping}} by the [[PersonWithTheClothing Man in the Suit]], who apparently came up the stairs.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Film/OutpostRiseOfTheSpetsnaz''. A corridor full of German guards wait nervously for [[BadAss 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.

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

* ''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.]]

* Hitman: Blood Money 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.

* Played with in ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.

* The opening cut-scene in ''PerfectDark'''s second mission shows a soldier guarding an elevator. Suddenly the door opens... but the guard doesn't see Joanna hiding on the ceiling, and when he goes to investigate, she knocks him out.

* In the second season finale of ''Series/BeingHuman'', Kemp and one of his men watch the elevator descend expecting Mitchell to be there for them to kill. The door opens to reveal a dead body while Mitchell reveals himself elsewhere in the compound.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Last Call", a gang of kidnappers start shooting the moment the lift doors open to reveal a suit...on a coat hanger. Cue {{kneecapping}} by the [[PersonWithTheClothing Man in the Suit]], who apparently came up the stairs.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Last Call", a gang of kidnappers start shooting the moment the lift doors open to reveal a suit...on a coat hanger. Cue being {{kneecapped}} by the [[PersonWithTheClothing Man in the Suit]], who apparently came up the stairs.

* ''The Art of War'' (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.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. In "Last Call", a gang of kidnappers start shooting the moment the lift doors open to reveal a suit...on a coat hanger. Cue being kneecapped by the [[PersonWithTheClothing Man in the Suit]], who apparently came up the stairs.

* ''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.

* ''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 has a WTF reaction 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.

* ''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 cameoflage]]. Incidentally Batou has a WTF reaction 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.

* Subverted in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'', as when the elevator door opens, the "heroes" are very much in the lift, right in the firing line. But it doesn't matter...

* The [[DoctorWho Fourth Doctor]] does this to fool the guards in "The Deadly Assassin." Quoth Castellan Spandrell (basically a police commissioner):