In a perverse way, you might consider The Shaft to be a kooky prequel to The Ring. (Get it?) Both feature possessed/demonic household items (elevator/videotape) and both star Naomi Watts as a reporter.

You might also consider that if you decide to watch a movie with a title like The Shaft, that's exactly what you'll get... the shaft.

Or you can just let it go, and try to enjoy this nutty production, which has a possessed elevator chewing up the tenants and guests of the Millennium Building (cough), New York's most famous landmark. Turns out someone is powering the elevator -- for what reason, unknown -- with an experimental organic computer. Just wait until you get a load of it in the flesh! (So to speak!!!)

Hopelessly corny, The Shaft is nonetheless redeemed by the always-earnest Watts and a gaggle of awe-inspiring character actors, including Michael Ironside, Edward Herrmann, Dan Hedaya, and Ron Perlman. In one scene, all four of them appear together at a conference table! Yes!

Of course, by making The Shaft a typical body-counter, shades of dreck like The Mangler come to mind, where innocuous machines take on lives of their own. Blame technology, right? It's always easier than crafting a real villain.

Aka Down.