Twitch

From here on in we have a violent, claustrophobic character study a la Cube. Yamaguchi has assembled a broad range of characters - a school girl, a young mother, a professer, a sullen teen, the coolly efficient elevator operator, the two criminals and their police escort - and the question is how each will respond to the pressures of their situation and who will survive.

While there is no doubting that Hellevator is an ultra low budget affair - audio and video quality both tip this off at different stages - Yamaguchi largely overcomes his limits by confining the scope of the film to a handful of finely detailed retro-tech sets, an array of interesting camera angles, a handful of solid performances and quality use of effects both digital and analog. While far from a perfect film - in addition to the budgetary limits the script is a little under developed - Hellevator is an impressive debut, one that clearly shows Yamaguchi has a natural eye for mood and composition. Give the man a bit of time and a bit of money and he could produce something truly dazzling. At the very least he should prove to be a more thoughtful version of Ryuhei Kitamura.

Media Blasters has done a surprisingly thorough job packaging and presenting such a little known film. You get an anamorphic widescreen transfer, flawless English subtitles and the original Japanese 2.0 soundtrack plus a 'Making Of' feature, a discussion of the film's worldview from the director, plus cast and crew interviews. All in all a solid package.