10 Best Elevator Scenes In Horror Movie History
4. The Cabin In The Woods (2012)
The elevator scene in The Cabin in the Woods has become infamous due to the amount of detail and Easter eggs that are included in it. It is played incredibly well by the two young actors, whose characters have absolutely no idea what they are letting themselves in for by descending but are desperate to escape certain death by staying on the surface.
Dana and Marty are the only survivors in what they still believe is ‘just’ an attack from a family of hillbilly zombies. Covered in blood and out of options, they decide to go down in the elevator that Marty has discovered.
The slow descent down the seemingly endless elevator shaft is a masterclass in tension, all four sides of the glass staring into darkness, making it impossible to tell how fast or which direction they are going, leading to an incredibly disorientating effect.
The special effects team created some unbelievably creepy monsters providing jump scares or just silently staring, until Dana has the revelation that they chose their attackers by the object in the cabin basement. The following shot must be the most paused in the movie as the camera pans out to show all the monsters in the adjoining boxes, slotting in and around each other.
The elevator plays a further role in the movie when all the monsters are released, but this first scene sets up the final act of the story perfectly.