‘Elevator Game’ Review – Going Up?

The horror genre faces an excruciatingly disappointing deficit in showcasing elevators for what they really are — ghastly devices. Wherever we went wrong, director Rebekah McKendry is attempts to reclaim the fear deposited into this societally accepted concept of putting yourself in a metal box suspended by cables, and hoping you get out alive. McKendry is not new to the limitless possibilities of horror. Far fucking from it, in fact — she’s been a student of horror as far back as she can remember, and teaches film & television production at USC as an adjunct professor. It’s only recently that she’s been working more in the director’s chair, and it’s evident that she’s bringing to life the stories she has always wanted to see. Her feature film Glorious premiered to great interest, a story surrounding a man trapped in a rest stop bathroom with a mysterious figure in a stall with a gloryhole through which untold horrors might escape. It’s safe to say no one but McKendry could have given that film life.

With her latest feature film entry Elevator Game, McKendry focuses on a group of kids about to realize they’re in over their heads after taking on a passion of theirs and turning it to profit: a YouTube channel focusing on ghost-hunting and other related endeavors of the spooky kind. Running out of ideas and on thin ice with their sponsor, the kids entertain an interview with Ryan who desperately wants to join their numbers and work on the show. He suggests an urban legend that they cover to become relevant in the fast-paced social media world by playing what has become known as “The Elevator Game.” 

The rules are pretty simple: board an elevator, then travel to specific floors in a specific order until you get to the 5th level. An entity is supposed to walk in and join you before you press the final button to the first floor. But if done correctly, the elevator will instead travel up to the top floor and transport you to a different dimension. The procedural nature of the rules in certain horror films are especially bare bones here, but this is all so front-loaded towards the first act and its final destination delivers some really entertaining and enthralling territory. McKendry’s approach is multi-tiered in how she frames social media culture, urban folklore, and original monster design from Travis Seppala’s script. 

Eagle-eyed viewers will also catch that McKendry’s husband David provided some additional rewriting on the script, and it would be my guess that his efforts helped shape and blend together these elements as well as the treatment of the urban monster of The 5th Floor Girl. It’s an engrossing creature, and though the more we learn about her the less interesting it gets, the realm she resides in retains the mysterious allure she so teases. The advent of the Red World in Elevator Game works in the film’s favor to create something that negates our main character’s faith in a grounded sense of safety. 

The final effect of what McKendry does for Seppala’s story is what you’d prefer out of a director; she manages to extract something memorable and attractive about something so simple as its premise to become, in a way, somewhat elevated above its surface value (I’m not apologizing for that pun). Just look at McKendry’s filmography and you’ll see that what she wants to put out into the world are things we really haven’t seen before, but her sense of fun and humor never become separated from where she envisions the story will end. Take it for what it is, and enjoy the ride. See you at the top.

The Elevator Game is currently available to stream on Shudder. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aABUVWzH8YQ]