The Elevator Game

The Elevator Game is an interactive film with a focus on narrative-driven choices through the eyes of two characters, A and B. Throughout the film, the viewer pieces together clues from each character’s point of view as they navigate the spirit world, the elevator game, and B’s cause of death. The film starts off as A wakes up alone in the middle of a desert-like dreamscape with no recollection of how or why she got there. There is nothing for miles, save for a red cross in the far distance. A sees a vision of a girl nearby, accompanied by the sound of an elevator bell. This triggers a short flashback to a brief interaction with her friend, B. When A awakens from the flashback, she accidentally cuts herself on a shard of glass buried in the sand, and blood rains from the sky. She hears the sound of an elevator bell, and sees the vision of the girl again, next to a shelter. In the shelter, A has a flashback of her and B playing the elevator game together. She realises that it was her that encouraged B to play alone first, leading to B’s death. But just how did B die? In this arc, the experience is shown from B’s point of view as she begins the ritual game and encounters a malicious entity disguised as A. After the flashback ends, A is back in the spirit world and the rain has stopped. She comes across items from her past - chrysanthemums, a card, and a stuffed toy, each one triggering different flashbacks that provide her more background on her and B’s pasts, their friendship, and their experience while playing the elevator game. In the final flashback of those items, A remembers playing the game again by herself shortly after B’s death, trying to find her again. She is brought back to the present time at the sound of the elevator bell. After the last flashback, A wakes up on her bedroom floor, leading her to believe it was all a bad dream. However, upon discovering she has no reflection in the mirror, her shock brings her back to the spirit world, where everything has turned to water. As the water rises, she tries to escape to higher ground, but is swallowed by waves. At the last second, she hears the sound of an elevator bell and is pulled to safety by the girl she saw from afar, who is revealed to be B. As A and B reunite, A expresses her regret for causing B’s death and is faced with possible outcomes - staying trapped in the spirit world, leaving unscathed, or lastly, not knowing if she was ever able to leave or not.