History Main / ElevatorEscape

* n the 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'', Tatopoulos escapes the baby Godzillas by elevator and has to boot one of the lizards in the head to get the doors to close.

* Subverted in ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom''. When the ''Indoraptor'' first escapes his cage, [[spoiler:Eversoll]] runs into an elevator and manages to close the doors just in time... until the ''Indoraptor's'' tail smashes the button and causes the doors to open again.

%%* Used in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' when Kirk and company is escaping a hospital. Security manages to reach the ground floor before the doors open, but the transporter ensures that there's nothing to find. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', Sarah, John and the T-800 use an elevator to get a lead on the pursuing T-1000 during Sarah's rescue from the mental hospital. The T-1000 reaches the doors just as they close and pulls them open, but a well-placed shotgun blast stuns him and the doors close normally.

* Kevin from ''Film/HomeAlone2'' ducks into the Hotel elevator just as the staff is finally getting off the floor to try and grab him.

Occasionally, particularly when the pursuer is a killer robot, a horde of zombies, or other inhuman creature, the doors will close on their arms, forcing the hero to either push away or chop off the intruding limb(s) before their pursuer(s) manage to pry the door open. Never mind that a properly-working elevator should open automatically once it detects something in the way of the door. As ''[[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} Dogbert's Clues for the Clueless]]'' says (following advice about avoiding {{Uncomfortable Elevator Moment}}s): "Don't try to crush people by pushing the 'Close' button. I've tried it and it doesn't work."

In comedy settings, expect the chased to calmly wait for the lift to arrive at its destination before resuming the panicked running once the doors open. Bonus points if the scene cuts between [[ElevatorSnare the chaser rushing downstairs with dramatic music playing]] and the chased listening to the calming elevator music.

A bit of FridgeLogic applies when you realize that elevator doors are not bulletproof, so a sufficiently armed member of TheMafia could probably shoot Bob even if the doors ''did'' close. Until, of course, the elevator starts actually ''moving'' out of the way (see also ConcealmentEqualsCover). Also, if your enemies happen to have grenades handy (not very common with most mafias but quite common with well-funded terrorists and certain [[TheCartel cartels]]), one of them thrown into an elevator as the doors close or dropped into it from above can [[ChunkySalsaRule ruin your whole day]].

** Towards the end when the Queen alien is pursuing them -- Ripley barely gets into the service elevator in time, driving the Queen back with her flamethrower just as it's running out of fuel. The Queen is snarling in fury when a second elevator arrives, summoned by Ripley's frantic button pushing.
* Happens in ''Film/BallisticKiss'', a movie about an elite hitman named Cat. One of Cat's targets tries to flee after witnessing Cat slaughter all his guards, but Cat catches up with him, blocks the elevator when it's doors are two inches from closing, and sarcastically asks why isn't he practicing the common courtesy of holding elevator doors open. In the next scene, the elevator door opens to reveal the target dead and Cat smoking a cigarette over his corpse.

* Tatopoulos escapes the baby Godzillas by elevator in the 1998 American ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'' film, and has to boot one of the lizards in the head to get the doors to close.
* Played with in ''Film/TheGrandBudapestHotel'', Agatha runs into an elevator while being pursued by Dmitri. Dmitri runs in after her, and they ride the elevator in tense, awkward silence. Then Agatha gets out, and Dmitri tries to get out too, but the doors close on him. Dmitri wrenches them open, but this gives her a head start on the escape.

* Larry does this in the first ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'' movie when running from the Huns.

* In the ''[[Franchise/StargateVerse Stargate]]'' movie ''Film/StargateTheArkOfTruth'', replicators jam a door open on the ''Odyssey''. Mitchel shoots them off to close it.
* Used in ''Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'' when Kirk and company is escaping a hospital. Security manages to reach the ground floor before the doors open, but the transporter ensures that there's nothing to find.
* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', Sarah, John and the T-800 use an elevator to get a lead on the pursuing T-1000 during Sarah's rescue from the mental hospital. It's initially subverted when the T-1000 reaches the doors just as they close and pulls them open, but then immediately put back on track when a well-placed shotgun blast stuns him and the doors close normally.

* Played with three times in Creator/MatthewReilly's ''Literature/ContestMatthewReilly''. Double Subverted when the contest starts when an alien (Reese) almost breaks through the doors after they closed, but they still escape after shutting the doors again. Subverted properly, when the next alien they try to escape from (Karanadon) this way pulls them back up by the cables. Invoked and Subverted by the BigBad Bellos so he could trap them by going through the ceiling hatch.
** The personal elevator was used exactly once by the marines in ''Area 7''. Played dead straight, of course they immediately escape through the ceiling hatch anyway because the elevator is a death trap.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Played with in ''Literature/SmallFavor''. Harry is running from three of the Billy Goats Gruff (a lot more dangerous than they sound), and ducks into an abandoned building to escape them. Knowing that they'll soon find a way in, even if they have to [[ThereWasADoor bash down a wall]], he runs to the elevator and starts pushing the button for the top floor. Being that elevators run on electricity, and Harry is a WalkingTechbane, it takes a few tries and lots of near-panic before it works.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E1Rose "Rose"]]: The Doctor and Rose get into an elevator to escape the Autons. One Auton is slightly faster than is usual for this trope, and gets its arm between the doors as they close. So the Doctor pulls it off.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E1E2Spyfall "Spyfall"]]: The Doctor exits her meeting with [[spoiler:the Master]] atop the Eiffel Tower this way, having just {{frame|up}}d his German officer disguise for being a DoubleAgent, so he's left banging on the elevator door before being held at gunpoint by several Nazis.
* ''Series/TheManFromUncle''. In "The Mad Mad Tea Party Affair," the mysterious stranger infiltrating UNCLE HQ avoids our heroes this way, ducking into an elevator, then when Solo and Kuryakin decide StairsAreFaster, calmly stepping out again, thanks to a device he's carrying that lets him control all the electronics in the building, including the floor indicator. [[spoiler:However, he turns out to be an UNCLE agent sent to test their security. Later when TheMole is exposed, he uses the same device to trap the escapee between floors]].
* ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'': In "The Fine Art of Crime," {{Mooks}} are sent after Diana Prince. She ducks into an elevator, [[SpectacularSpinning transforms]] into Wonder Woman, and scares the mooks into trying to escape by car. [[PedestrianCrushesCar They fail.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', this happens when a necromorph chases you near the start. The elevator slams shut, cutting its body in half. [[NoOSHACompliance Not exactly OHS compliant]]...
** It's a subversion in the beginning of that part, though. Isaac makes it into an elevator and the door shuts in front of the Necromorph...then the Necromorph ''pulls the doors open'' and manages to get inside before the door slices it in half.

* Both ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' and ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' have campaigns where this can happen, with the survivors fighting off waves of zombies while they wait for the elevator doors to open up. Often viciously averted in VS Mode, when smart infected players spit acid into the elevator or pull a survivor back OUT just as the doors are closing.
* A staple way to gain a mid-chase break in ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge''. Here the doors clearly ''are'' bulletproof since their closing is met with a barrage of dents appearing as the trigger-happy Blues spray the area. At one point Faith gets to experience the other side, as Jacknife ducks into an elevator and [[SmugSnake gives an insufferably smug wave as he disappears]].
* In ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', you have to use this to your advantage. [=LeChuck=] confronts you by an elevator. If you can get the doors to close on him, you can tear off part of his beard which you need for a voodoo charm.
* The ''No Mercy'' mission from ''VideoGame/PAYDAYTheHeist'', being set in the same hospital as the ''Left 4 Dead'' campaign of the same name, has the crew escape to the roof using the elevator for a helicopter rescue. There's a chance that the elevator will lose power mid-escape and fall to the basement, though this has almost no effect on the gameplay - instead of the helicopter, the crew escapes via an ambulance parked in a basement entrance.
* Midway through ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', James and Maria have to pull one of these off to escape [[ImplacableMan Pyramid Head]]. [[spoiler:Only James makes it]].

%%* In ''Webcomic/{{Zap}}'' this happens to [[http://www.zapcomic.com/2005/02/20071203/ Grontar]].

* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': In "The Infiltration," Brain escapes Gadget in this manner. In the stairwell, Gadget performs his own version of this with the Gadget Copter... only to crash into a chandelier.

* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', near the end of the second season. Shaak Ti and two other Jedi take Chancellor Palpatine down a hallway as Grievous begins slashing his way through the assembled guards. They call the elevator while listening to Grievous fighting, and when it all goes quiet, the Ithorian Jedi repeatedly mashes the button. They do make it inside though, despite Grievous busting out of the office and running down the hall towards them.

* The backstory of how [[Music/HallAndOates Daryl Hall and John Oates]] met. In 1967, they were both with separate bands at a competition in Philadelphia when a gunfight broke out between two rival gangs. They both ran to the same service elevator to escape, started talking, found they shared interests and once they discovered they were attending the same college, they eventually began hanging out with each other. The rest, as they say, is history.
* Deivant Ollam [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUvGfuLlZus points out]] that this is actually inverted in most corporate buildings. Elevators are fundamentally insecure due to safety overrides with keys that can easily be found or stolen and yet they are often used as an element of the security perimeter of most buildings.

* ''[[Series/TheTenthKingdom The 10th Kingdom]]'' inverts this in the first episode, as Virginia escapes a group of trolls by trapping them in a broken elevator.

* Played with three times in Creator/MatthewReilly's ''Contest''. Double Subverted when the contest starts when an alien (Reese) almost breaks through the doors after they closed, but they still escape after shutting the doors again. Subverted properly, when the next alien they try to escape from (Karanadon) this way pulls them back up by the cables. Invoked and Subverted by the BigBad Bellos so he could trap them by going through the ceiling hatch.

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* Subverted in ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom''. When the ''Indoraptor'' first escapes his cage, [[spoiler: Eversoll]] runs into an elevator and manages to close the doors just in time...until the ''Indoraptor's'' tail smashes the button and causes the doors to open again.

* In ''Film/TheTwinsEffect'', Helen pushes Razaf (who is weak from lack of blood) into an elevator and turns to face their vampire pursuer. She's almost killed before [[spoiler:Razaf pushes the 'Doors Open' button and pulls her inside with him.]]

* ''Series/TheManFromUncle''. In "The Mad Mad Tea Party Affair", the mysterious stranger infiltrating UNCLE HQ avoids our heroes this way, ducking into an elevator, then when Solo and Kuryakin decide StairsAreFaster, calmly stepping out again, thanks to a device he's carrying that lets him control all the electronics in the building, including the floor indicator. [[spoiler:However he turns out to be an UNCLE agent sent to test their security. Later when TheMole is exposed, he uses the same device to trap the escapee between floors.]]
* ''Series/{{Wonder Woman|1975}}'': In "The Fine Art of Crime", {{Mooks}} are sent after Diana Prince. She ducks into an elevator, [[SpectacularSpinning transforms]] into Wonder Woman, and scares the mooks into trying to escape by car. [[PedestrianCrushesCar They fail.]]

* Midway through ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'', James and Maria have to pull one of these off to escape [[ImplacableMan Pyramid Head]]. [[spoiler:Only James makes it.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': In "Prophecy of Doom", the prophet's henchman tries to kill Bruce Wayne by cutting the cable. It would have succeeded, too, had Bruce not been [[CrazyPrepared wearing his Batman costume under his suit and armed with a Batgrapple at the time]].

* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': In "The Infiltration", Brain escapes Gadget in this manner. In the stairwell, Gadget performs his own version of this with the Gadget Copter... only to crash into a chandelier.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague''. In "Eclipse", Flash finds himself stuck on the Watchtower when the Justice League is possessed by the MonsterOfTheWeek. He uses his SuperSpeed to race for the elevator... then has to wait for it to arrive with Superman charging up behind him.