The Lift

In a Building in Amsterdam, the elevator begins functioning on its own amid a lightning storm. A power outage traps four people inside, forcing them to endure the claustrophobic confinement. When power is restored, the doors still refuse to open, keeping the passengers trapped and in danger.

Over the following hours, a series of malfunctions claims lives. An elderly blind man dies when the elevator doors open to an empty shaft. The building’s night watchman is decapitated. A janitor is seemingly burned alive, adding to the deadly mystery.

Felix Adelaar, a technician from Deta Liften, begins examining the elevator’s electrical system to find anomalies. He meets Mieke de Beer, a journalist, who becomes involved in the unfolding mystery.

After multiple inspections, no clear faults are found in the electrical system. Felix grows increasingly obsessed with the elevator’s malfunctions, and his fixation strains his marriage as Saskia grows suspicious.

Felix notices a van parked outside the building with a Rising Sun logo. He and Mieke collect newspaper clippings about Rising Sun, hinting at a hidden link to the elevator’s computer.

Felix and Mieke attempt to arrange a meeting with Rising Sun’s CEO, who behaves nervously and answers abruptly, suggesting a cover-up behind the elevator’s malfunctions.

Mieke introduces Felix to her former university professor who specializes in electronics. The professor explains how microprocessors can be sensitive to external fields and recalls a computer that once self-programmed and ran out of control.

The next morning, Felix is suspended by his boss for the unauthorized Rising Sun visit. That evening, the owners of Deta Liften and Rising Sun meet to discuss how to stop the elevator’s organic computer from harming people.

Saskia leaves Felix, taking their children with her. With little left to lose, Felix returns to the building to try to solve the elevator mystery and perhaps save others.

Felix confronts the elevator, realizing it has a sentient mind that resists him. He climbs into the shaft and discovers a pulsating box containing a silicon chip—the elevator’s heart—covered in sticky goo.

Felix attacks the box with a wrench, and the elevator’s counterweight knocks him off balance. He manages to land on a ledge just below the doors, and Mieke pulls him to safety before the elevator can crush him.

Rising Sun’s CEO arrives and fires into the biocomputer in a last-ditch attempt to kill it. The computer retaliates by dragging the CEO into the shaft and hanging him. Felix and Mieke walk down the stairs as the elevator’s heartbeat continues to pulse.