ELEVATOR Game is the new film from Rekebah McKendry, the director who brought us All The Creatures Were Stirring and the hugely impressive comedy/horror Glorious starring Ryan Kwanten.
Now showing on Shudder, it is based on an online phenomenon of the same name. The film follows Ryan (Gino Anania) who kowtows his way into a group of galling high school graduates that run an online web series debunking urban legends.
Ryan’s sister disappeared months earlier and he believes these soulless ghostbusters are responsible for her disappearance after participating in this dangerous online challenge.
The urban myth around the elevator game predicts death and misfortune for those who ride a lift in a specific sequence, invoking a supernatural creature called ‘The 5th Floor Woman’ who takes her victims back to her hellish ‘Red World’.
In an attempt to gain more information as to the whereabouts of his sister, Ryan persuades the group to play the game once more, and risk unleashing the most fearsome consequences imaginable.
In comparison to classic Japanese movies based on viral folk stories, such as The Ring and The Grudge, McKendry’s film lacks the vision and artistry to capture viewers imaginations and set spines a tingling. Elevator Game is far too cheesy and poorly written, the characters far too unlikeable and grating, and, if I’m honest, they turned me right off.
This feels more like the Halloween episode of some sickly American teen drama than a ghoulish chiller that will put fear into your heart.
When you are hoping the lead characters will be hacked and slashed and cut to ribbons, and feel no sense of trepidation or dread on their part, you really are wasting your time. I spent the whole 90 minutes watching this drivel just wishing someone would take an axe to them.
It is hard to believe this trash is made by the same talent that brought us Glorious, a trippy and downright off-the-wall existential bathroom horror.
Don’t mind taking the elevator, I’d throw this irritating garbage headfirst down the stairs!
(2/5)
