The story line is simple enough, a group of people get trapped in an elevator and things start getting strange. One by one the people start dieing off in the elevator and the police are watching the security footage as it all happens.
A police officer who lost his wife and son in a hit and run accident five years earlier in the story, played by Chris Messina (Julie and Julia) just happens to be the first officer on the scene. He watches as the lights begin to flicker in the elevator and one by one the people start dieing.
The first to die, a crooked business man played by Geoffrey Arend ( Super Troopers). He is not in the movie for very long. From what we see of the mainly television star Geoffrey Arend he plays a pompous ass very well. They cut most of him out of the movie, I can just say from what little i saw of his character I'm glad he died first. If you don't recognize the name, and don't worry I didn't either, you may know him as the very high kid who ate all the mushrooms in the beginning of Super Troopers.
The second person that mysteriously dies is the little old lady in the elevator. We only discover how awful this little mystery woman is when you review the deleted scenes on the blu-ray disc. The little old lady, who turns out to be the Devil in disguise, is played by Jenny O'Hara (Big Love). If you appreciate the scary movie genre as much as I do then you see automatically that the little old lady is the odd one out no matter how hard they try to make her look bad. She plays a vindictive racist jerk that complains too much and no one likes. Overall she is a very good actress, because she can look mean.
After everyone starts freaking out because two people are dead there are only three left. The next to die is a security guard that is temping at the building who just happens to have a record of assault and battery. The security guard is played by Bokeem Woodbine (Saving Grace). The virtually nameless actor plays a very good paranoid claustrophobic but equally as soft character that grows close to the only other female character in the elevator. He is a giant person that gets his head twisted completely around on his body and the only other person in the elevator is supposed to believe that a female half his size did it with her bare hands. All in all a very weak part played by a new actor, even though I admire a director using new people, with new actors its a hit or miss.
The last female in the group and second to last one to die is a black widow that all the men in the elevator are supposed to ogle over, nothing special if you ask me. Bojana Novakovic (Edge of Darkness), another nameless person, in a very small role I would say she was great for the part. I literally have nothing to say about this woman. I believe that in a bigger role she would be a decent actress, but in this role I got nothing. She was okay, I guess.
The last left in the elevator and the only one to confess his sins and admit that he thinks he deserves his punishment is a young mechanic trying to get a better job so he can support his fiancee. In the end when faced with the devil himself the young man, Logan Marshall-Green (Deep Blue), admits to the detective that five years ago he hit a woman and child and accidentally killed them and ran from the scene of the crime. The only thing that saves his sole from hell is the detective forgiving him. This young man was the one person in the elevator that had the most dialog and the one you knew was going to live through it all. The young actor played the part well, and I am really looking forward to seeing him in more movies. Hopefully not one written or directed by M. Night Shymalanana, or how ever you spell that crazy name. Not to mention he was pretty cute in the jaded kind of bad boy way.
This movie had an original story line, that was actually based on real superstition of "The Devils Meeting." If you haven't guessed who the devil was, which is very hard to ignore, it would keep you jumping in your seat racking your brain to figure it out. One promise of this movie is that M. Night Shyamalan didn't get to mess it up by helping in the writing or directing. There are very little special effects, but of those few they were actually pretty good. None of the deaths were very ostentatious and slightly believable. Plus when ever I step in to an elevator I am scared to death that it will get stuck on a random place and I will be trapped inside. This just reaffirms my belief in stairs.
All in all I would give the movie a 3.5 out of 5
http://www.thenightchronicles.com/
If you like this movie or you are a fan of scary movies, check out the website. I actually thought that "Signs", that came out when I was in middle school, was pretty creepy when it first came out. Hoping that M. Night Shyamalan gets back on his game and just forgets the last couple of movies he has written, THE LAST AIR BENDER WAS THE WORST MOVIE EVER, and teams up with Bruce Willis once again to make another "Sixth Sense or Unbreakable"
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