Elevated 1996

Ellen takes the elevator from her workplace on floor 38, heading toward the parking garage. Burly workman Ben boards a few floors below. At floor 4, the doors open to an empty corridor, and just as they are about to close, a shout rings out. Panic grips the car as security guard Hank, his shirt blood-stained, bursts in.

Hank mutters that something outside looks like an alien, a killing threat that almost got him. Ben remains skeptical, trying to coax the elevator back down, but Hank uses his security card to override the controls. Ben lunges to grab the card, and Hank pulls a knife to defend himself. Ben restrains Hank while Ellen tries to call for help on the elevator telephone, only to find the line dead.

The elevator rocks and the lights flicker out. Claustrophobia tightens around Ben as he opens the control panel with Hank’s knife and attempts to operate the system, but Hank blocks him. He then tries to pry open the ceiling hatch, warning that the monsters will kill them all. Somehow the elevator regains motion, and Ellen wrestles the card away from the men, sending the elevator down to the garage. Ben hurries to press the button for floor 39.

When the doors open there is no sign of any alien threat. Ben steps out and invites Ellen to leave via the stairs. Ellen initially agrees, but the sight of Hank’s knife tucked in Ben’s pocket makes her reconsider, and she darts back into the elevator. As the doors close, Hank halts the descent with the stop button, and something outside pounds at the hatch. Hank keeps the hatch shut and orders Ellen to send the elevator to floor 44. The thing outside dents the hatch before the entry attempt ceases. Ben’s mutilated corpse tumbles into the car.

Ellen blames Hank for not letting Ben back in, and they struggle over the security card, which slides down the gap between the door and the floor. Ellen uses the knife to pry open the panel while Hank tries to persuade her that it’s safer to stay in the elevator. In a swift, cruel moment, she stabs Hank—first by accident, then purposefully—killing him as the car continues downward toward the parking garage.

The doors finally open to a mob of shouting people squeezing into the elevator, and Ellen wears a grim, malevolent grin as the scene ends.