Down (film)
| Down | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Dick Maas |
| Produced by | Laurens Geels |
| Written by | Dick Maas |
| Starring |
James Marshall Naomi Watts Eric Thal Michael Ironside Edward Herrmann Ron Perlman Dan Hedaya David Gwillim |
| Music by | Paul M. van Brugge |
| Cinematography | Marc Felperlaan |
| Edited by | Bert Rijkelijkhuizen |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista International |
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Release date
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May 20, 2001 |
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United States Netherlands |
| Language | English |
Down is a 2001 horror film written and directed by Dick Maas about a killer elevator, starring James Marshall and Naomi Watts. The film is also known as The Shaft, which is the name used for the United States DVD release. The film is a remake of the 1983 Dutch film De Lift (The Elevator), which was also directed by Maas.
Watts plays the role of pushy journalist Jennifer Evans, and Marshall is Mark, an elevator repairman and former Marine. The movie was mainly filmed in the Netherlands, although the crew briefly visited New York City and the District of Columbia as well for exterior shots.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2001, but was not released on video in the United States until two years later.
Produced before the September 11, 2001, attacks, the film makes several references to the possibility of terrorists attacking New York City and even specifically about Osama bin Laden, the use of airplanes by terrorists, and the Twin Towers.
The film takes place at the Millennium building in New York City, which has 102 floors and 73 elevators. One evening, lightning strikes the building, which causes the three main express elevators to begin acting strangely, resulting in a guard's flashlight being crushed. The next day, a group of pregnant women are held up between floors 20 and 21. The elevator overheats rapidly, causing two women to give birth and hospitalizing the rest. Reporter Jennifer Evans (Naomi Watts) is called to write a report on the incident. After an investigation by METEOR elevator company technicians Jeff (Eric Thal) and Mark Newman (James Marshall), they determine that nothing is wrong with the elevators, a large part being Jeff's inability to actually admit there is something wrong (he states throughout his scenes that the computer controlling the elevators has absolutely no defects).
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