Elevated

After watching the excellent movie, Cube, I decided to research about the director, Vincenzo Natali. I found out about the short film "Elevated." I watched it on the Independent Film Channel late one night and found many similarities to Cube. It starts out with two people in an elevator. They're interrupted by a blood-covered man entering the elevator claiming that there is an "Alien-like" monster outside of the elevator and he insists that they should go up, to the top floor. It has the same creepiness and originality as Cube, which makes it an excellent 25 minutes. I do wish that the director would have made it into a long movie, making the 25 minutes the beginning and then the rest of the movie about the monster and the other people in the building. But then again, having it stay a short film leaves a lot to the imagination, which I cannot say is true about a lot of other movies these days. I give it ***1/2 out of ****

this is still one of my favorite short films.... it's so weird. you can watch it over and over and it's entertaining every time!! i don't know if was supposed to be funny, but these actors do such a great job of tearing into each other! check out 'cube' as well... done by the same director.

A woman is taking an elevator to her parking garage. A burly workman joins her, and shortly thereafter a second man enters the elevator, only this guy is covered in blood and in a state of panic. He claims monsters or possibly aliens have invaded the building and they must remain in the elevator to stay alive. Pretty soon, it becomes a battle of wits among the trio. David Hewlett, a familiar face from British and American movies and TV, plays the bloodied man. This short horror film is tense and scary, and a model for no-budget flicks. From the man who brought us CUBE. Warning: this is not a film for the squeamish. I haven't seen this much blood since I worked in a hospital emergency room on Saturday nights.

Having seen this short in a film class, it is one of the better shorts that I've seen in quite some time. Blending dark comedy, horror, and suspense, it plays it all up to exhilarating effect. Definitely a worthy calling card, especially considering that it was shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm (looks very, very slick).

This short tells the exact same story as Cube. I liked Cube for the cute trick of having one set for the whole movie. But after seeing this I wonder if Natali actually has anything to say.

People seem to be OK with being left to imagine a lot, but here you really have to imagine everything. There is virtually no plot apart from the movements of the actors. The dialogs are pointless and repetitive and the acting is not really convincing (like in Cube) but this is a small budget short.

We are left with nothing as for the reality of the "aliens", the motives of the guy in the suit and of Ben's. Only the woman seems to be like some sort of office clerk who may well be a normal person trying to go home. Apart from the killing of Ben we don't have a clue as for what is going on, just people stuck in an elevator.

Leave it to our imagination? I wonder after seeing Elevated and Cube if Natali will ever have more than one idea.

I'll have to see Cypher...