Lift to Hell
电梯惊魂
China, 2013, colour, 16:9, 88 mins.
Director: Ning Jingwu 宁敬武.
Rating: 2/10.
Lamely written hospital horror generates minimal suspense or thrills.
STORY
A city in northern China, the present day. At the old Peninsula Hospital, head nurse Ma (Yang Qing) mysteriously dies in the lift one night after receiving a message saying “Today it’s your turn”. Shortly before her death, Lin Fei (Lan Zhenglong), son of hospital head Lin Siyuan (Su De), had seen what looked like a female ghost through a telescope in his flat opposite the building. Soon afterwards, the hospital’s aged caretaker, Hu Wei (Cai Hongxiang), tries to commit suicide by slashing his wrist but is rescued in time. Lin Fei starts to believe staff gossip that the lift is haunted. He’s disliked by senior heart surgeon Zhang Tiankai (Robert Lin), and when the latter receives email messages accusing him of plagiarising a German medical dissertation he suspects Lin Fei is behind them. Soon afterwards the surgeon also receives a “Today it’s your turn” message and, after being terrified in the lift, kills himself by jumping out of a window. With Lin Fei behaving more and more strangely, nurse Bai Jie (Zhou Xiuna) breaks off her relationship with him and goes on a date with Ouyang Ke (Xie Junhao), a senior doctor. Next, Hu Wei receives the deadly message, but Lin Fei is able to save him in time. Then one night, while watching the hospital building through his telescope, Lin Fei sees Bai Jie and Ouyang Ke in the building along with the same female ghost.
REVIEW
Based on the internet novel 18 Floors Underground 地下十八层 – under which titles the film was shot in Tianjin – Lift to Hell 电梯惊魂 represents the low end of China’s current horror-movie boom. A hopelessly disorganised tale about a haunted hospital with a nasty lift that supposedly whisks its victims down to some 18th circle of Buddhist hell, it’s devoid of suspense, logic and even plot continuity. The presence of any one of the foregoing would have been a bonus in the circumstances, which more often evoke giggles than gasps.
Journeyman director Ning Jingwu 宁敬武 has made some interesting, if flawed, movies in the past (family-reunion drama The Birthday 磨剪子抢菜刀, 2006, ethnic minority tale Lala’s Gun 滚拉拉的枪, 2008) but the horror genre seems to be beyond his grasp, given some of the film’s clumsy staging. On other technical levels it’s solid enough, with mildly atmospheric photography by California-raised d.p. Yuan Jianwei 袁建维 [James C. Yuan] (US gay drama Ethan Mao, 2004, Taiwan splatter Invitation Only 绝命派对, 2009), but the bitty screenplay is incapable of building any sustained drama or tension, let alone character. Both Taiwan actor-model Lan Zhenglong 蓝正龙 (who looks vacant throughout) and Hong Kong-based actress-model Zhou Xiuna 周秀娜 [Chrissie Chau] (who gets a regulation shower scene) require stronger writing and direction than either gets here, while Hong Kong’s Xie Junhao 谢君豪, the strongest of the leads, is largely called upon just to look hostile. The finale, poorly staged with flashbacks, is barely comprehensible.
CREDITS
Presented by Huaxia Film Distribution (CN), Wanda Media (CN), Xiaoxiang Film Group (CN), Guangzhou Jinyi Zhujiang Movie Circuit (CN), HG Entertainment (CN), Henan Culture Media Group (CN), Beijing New Film Association (CN), Jiangsu Province Film Company Culture Communication (CN), Hubei Insun Cinema-Chain Film (CN), Hebei Film & TV Group (CN), Beijing Hairun Pictures (CN), Beijing Spring Thunder Films (CN), Beijing Chunqiu Sihai Movie Investment (CN), Dadi Century Film Distribution (Beijing) (CN). Produced by Huaxia Film Distribution (CN), Wanda Media (CN), Xiaoxiang Film Group (CN), Guangzhou Jinyi Zhujiang Movie Circuit (CN), HG Entertainment (CN), Henan Culture Media Group (CN), Beijing New Film Association (CN), Jiangsu Province Film Company Culture Communication (CN), Hubei Insun Cinema-Chain Film (CN), Hebei Film & TV Group (CN), Beijing Hairun Pictures (CN), Beijing Spring Thunder Films (CN).
Script: Liu Yunpeng, Ning Jingwu, Liu Wu. Photography: Yuan Jianwei [James C. Yuan]. Editing: Jia Cuiping. Music: Chanda Dancy. Art direction: Zhang Xiaobing. Sound: Shi Yonglong, Lu Kai. Visual effects: Mei Wenyu. Executive direction: Miao Sheng.
Cast: Lan Zhenglong (Lin Fei, doctor), Zhou Xiuna [Chrissie Chau] (Bai Jie; Yang Zi), Xie Junhao (Ouyang Ke, doctor), Cai Hongxiang (Hu Wei, caretaker), Robert Lin (Zhang Tiankai, doctor), Yang Qing (Ma, head nurse), Zhang Shu (hypnotised girl), Su De (Lin Siyuan, doctor, Lin Fei’s father), Ding Ding (young Ouyang Ke), Wang Wenjie (Gan Qiang), Cui Xiaojing (Xiaoliu, Zhang Tiankai’s nurse), Wang Ding, Han Xiangyi, Li Xuan, Yuan Xin, Tian Tian (nurses), Yang Yi (archivist), Cong Yuting (Zhang Dongmei, Lin Fei’s asthmatic patient), Yang Lihua (her mother).
Release: China, 22 Feb 2013.
(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 11 Aug 2013.)