Elevator Horror Movies

Image by Silke from Pixabay

Elevators are an extremely safe mode of transportation, but in the movies, it’s a different story. For decades, filmmakers have amplified the drama — and the horror — by placing characters in harrowing elevator scenarios. Entrapment serves as a potent plot device. A stalled elevator is a setting that inspires dread, paranoia and uncertainty for both the film’s characters and its viewers. Creepy Catalog recently published a list of the “Best Horror Films Featuring Elevators,” and in the spirit of the Halloween season, we share their picks with you. Watch at your own risk!

Lady in a Cage (1964): A wealthy widow is trapped in her home’s elevator and must watch through the cage as her mansion is robbed.
The Lift (1983): In this Dutch film, an elevator “with a mind of its own” becomes the tale’s villain. Are deaths being caused by a series of unfortunate lift malfunctions, or is something more sinister at play?
Tower of Terror (1997): In the first Disney movie to be based on a Disney theme park attraction, a disgraced photojournalist and his niece investigate a decades-old mystery in which five people disappeared from an elevator struck by lightning.
Down (2001): A remake of The Lift, the premise is basically the same, except that it takes place in NYC.
Dark Floors (2008): A man and his daughter are transported to a world full of monsters when a power outage strikes while they are inside a hospital elevator.
Devil (2010): Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, this film centers around a group of people trapped in an elevator. The terror intensifies as it is revealed that one of the passengers is not who they say they are.
Elevator (2011): This movie also features a plot including strangers stuck in an elevator, but this time, one of them is wearing a bomb.
The End? (2017): A virus that turns people to zombies is spreading rapidly. Meanwhile, a businessman is trapped in an elevator. He manages to pry open the door enough to see out, but not to escape. What will he witness from inside?
Down (2019): In this Hulu release, a pair of coworkers are trapped in an elevator over a long weekend. The situation grows increasingly dire as the entrapped man and woman struggle for survival.