Blackout (2007)

Amber Tamblyn trapped in an elevator with a serial killer?  Okay, I can go for that.  I'm really afraid of being trapped in an elevator, especially because lots of buildings in NYC are super-old and have creepy creaky elevators.  So this movie will probably set off my claustrophobia.  Sweet.

So we've got a bereaved hottie (Amber Tamblyn as Claudia), middle-aged doctor (Aidan Gillen as Karl) and badass biker guy (Armie Hammer as Tommy)  I'm  guessing right from the start that the biker dude is a red herring and the doctor is the actual serial killer.  I really hope they didn't intentionally make it that easy on me.

These three folks are all getting into the elevator for different reasons, but unfortunately they all suffer the same fate.   The elevator peaces out in between floors and leaves these peeps stranded.  But, oh, isn't there emergency buttons in the elevator for these particular situations?  Unfortunately this button does not work.  But wait, won't someone notice that the elevator is not coming and call for help?  Nope, there's only four units occupied in this building and the fourth unit was just spotted leaving for a long weekend.  This makes me never want to get in an elevator again.

This movie is kind of Lost-style, in that it splices in backgrounds/events in characters lives amidst the rest of the plot so we can figure out what the heck is going on.  As it turns out, they all have kind of wack reasons for being in this elevator.  Claudia's grandma got hit by a car and she's trying to get back and retrieve some sort of picture so she can die with it.  Tommy is running away with his girlfriend, and is heading back to his apartment to pack.  And, wait for it, Karl has to get back upstairs and clean up the dead club chick he did in the previous night.

As expected, they try a bunch of ways to get out of the elevator without much success.  There's some name-calling, bitch-slapping, broken bones, and tons of screaming for help.  Not to mention a healthy dose of Karl acting like a total douchebag in every way imaginable.

This movie was actually better than expected.  The plot moved pretty fast and the background info was actually useful and not distracting.  Amber Tamblyn has moved beyond Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and I would not mind seeing her in another horror movie.  The only downside of this movie is that I keep having minor flashbacks to it when I step into an elevator.  And there's lots of elevators in New York.  Let's hope they all have (working) emergency buttons.

Side note: I did get stuck in elevator once by myself and it was horrifying.  I started tearing up when I was talking with the lady from Otis.  Fail.