Top Ten Elevator Scenes in Movies

Our picks of the top ten elevator scenes in movies! **Spoiler Alert!**

  1. Bridget Jones’ Diary

She might be the only chick flick to make our list but Bridget holds her own (or Daniel Cleaver holds it for her) in this hilarious elevator scene.

Hugh Grant fumbles his words with office romance Renee Zellweger when their nosey yet unwitting boss walks in. The conversation falls silent at the peril of Mr. Fitzherbert thwarting the romantic advances of Daniel Cleaver. A bit of casual chit-chat and the camera flicks to a shot where Cleaver slowly raises his hand to rest on Bridget’s behind. A hilariously cheeky display of affection!

  1. Devil

M Night Shamalayan elevates his horror game by starring Hollywood’s horror superstar – the elevator – as the setting for Devil.

Devil scores special points for its dedication to lifts where the entirety of the film is set. Office workers trapped in a lift with the Devil literally among them. When the power drops dead so does another sinning suit – creepy.

  1. 9/11

So we might be guilty of lift related favouritism on this one – but as far as lifts go we just can’t get enough of ‘em! And neither can Martin Guigui in this thought-provoking drama set in the confines of an elevator.

Clashing personalities are forced together in the claustrophobic space forcing their unlikely bonding. Mix a millionaire and wife (divorcees-to-be), a father on their child’s birthday, custodial engineer and an incredibly anxious sugar-baby in a lift together and you get heart-wrenching confessional tales.

The film sheds some light on the myths and technical facts about lift breakages and shows some pretty cool shots of elevators and how they work!

  1. Suicide Squad

Probably the sexiest appearance on the list – and Margot Robbie isn’t bad either! Harley Quinn raises the glass elevator bar by kicking ass in a travelling lift in this punch-packed-minute-long fight scene!

  1. Mission Impossible

Emelio Estivez rises to his demise in this spine-stiffening death scene. Hiding out on top of an elevator car, the audience gets an inside-view of the elevator shaft and how it works while it’s travelling. Note from Sheridan Lifts: Emelio Estivez and dramatic spikes not included!

  1. The Shining

Need we say more?

  1. Drive

Can we ask more of an elevator scene than a beautifully decorated lift car interior, a romantic snog and a good-old-fashioned-graphic-gory-head-stamping-starring-Ryan-Gosling? We think not!

Nicholas Winding Refn absolutely nails packing such a raw display of emotion into one lift stealing Drive the 4th stop in our top elevator scenes!

  1. The Departed

Although the state of those lifts gives us the heebie jeebies (someone modernise them – please!) Leonardo DiCaprio’s murder in The Departed hits us with that shock factor – the lift doors smoothly slide open and DiCap gets a bullet straight to the head – wow!

  1. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

Destination runner up is the unrivalled machine fighting scene where Arnie goes head to head with the homicidal T-1000!

It breaks our hearts to see a lift mistreated in this way but the palpitating slice of metal through metal in the stab-a-mole-style battle scene is heart-stopping entertainment!

  1. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Willy Wonka’s golden rocket glass elevator has to be the last stop on this ride.  Pushing the altimeter to its limits and smashing through the roof. We can’t think of any better elevator than Willy Wonka’s lift of pure imagination!

That’s our ten top picks of the best movie elevator scenes thanks for travelling with us! Are there any elevator scenes you think should make the top ten? Comment below!