"Shafted", Way to Die #856, is the second death featured in "You're Dead! LOL!", which aired on February 10, 2010.
Plot[]
Heather, an uber-bitchy, mean-spirited office manager, treats her employees like trash. One day, she gets inside an elevator with her employees. However the elevator gets stuck, and Heather gets claustrophobic and desperately wants to get out. In attempt to get out, the other employees pry open the doors to let her out. As Heather is climbing out, fate drops a nasty surprise. The elevator's hydraulic brakes fail and the elevator proceeds to descend, crushing Heather's abdomen/bisecting her, and she dies, send this mean-spirited bitch straight to hell where she deserves to be.
Transcript[]
(Ding)
Heather: (To the office workers) How was it?
Narrator: Do you ever get on an elevator and wonder "what if..."?
(Heather and the office workers get in the elevator)
Narrator: That's what happened to Heather.
(Suddenly, the elevator stops, Baroque Death is playing)
Heather: Oh my...!!!
-Narrator: And she was extremely claustrophobic.
-Heather: Okay. Alright, what was that?
Heather: I need to get out of here now.
Dr. Alex Yufik: The phobia is an irrational fear. In their mind, they're having all sorts of scenarios play out of "What will happen if this elevator stops?" And "What will happen if I can't get out?"
Narrator: Besides claustrophobia, there's another thing you need to know about Heather:
(Before the elevator scene, Heather trash-talks to the male office worker #1, Tango Death is playing)
Heather: All right, well, you've disappointed me again...
Narrator: She was a major bitch on wheels.
Heather: Did you even go to college? Because this is kind of awful.
Narrator: Her nasty, cruel, streak and relentless ambition had brought her to the top of the company. But, he left a trail of resentment in her wake.
Male office worker #2: (To the female office worker) She's slept with him and now she's coming in here, just changing everything...
(Heather finishes her talk)
-Heather: Hi.
-Male office worker #2: Hi.
-Narrator: It was unanimous. Anyone who worked under Heather couldn't stand her.
-Female office worker: Oh my god.
(Later, they wait for the elevator)
Narrator: She lorded over her underlings like the wicked witch of the west. And fed off their intense hatred.
Heather: Oh, don't make that sad face.
(Here we started)
(Ding)
-Narrator: Now back to the elevator.
-Heather: How was it?
(The elevator stops)
Heather: Oh my...!!! Okay. Alright, what was that? Was that normal?
Narrator: Her employees were surprised to see the always-confident-uber-bitch, freaking out.
Heather: I need to get out of here now.
Narrator: If she wanted out, they were more than happy to get rid of her.
Heather: Come on! Can someone open this?
(Male employees open the door)
Narrator: I need to get out!
Male office worker #2: Push!
Noland Sims Jr.: In the case of an elevator means stuck between floors, I would say the worst thing that you could is actually try to get out of the elevator.
(Heather climbs out from the elevator)
Narrator: Then another passenger came on board the elevator sight unseen. His name: let's call him "fate".
(Suddenly the elevator moves down, Creepy Death is playing)
Heather: (Screams)
(The elevator crushes Heather's abdomen, Heather coughs blood, dies; Medical Attention is playing, CGI human's abdomen crushed by the elevator)
Narrator: The hydraulic brakes on the elevator car released. The emergency backup brakes kicked in, but not before Heather was crushed.
(Recap, Supernatural Spell Death is playing)
Narrator: On her way up, Heather stepped on everyone's backs.
(The elevator stops)
-Heather: Oh my...!!!
-Narrator: That's why no tears were shed when she broke...
(The elevator crushes Heather's abdomen, dies)
Narrator: her own.
Cast and Interviewees[]
- Unknown actress - Heather (lead: intended victim)
- Jeffrey A. Gorman - Male Office Worker #1
- Rex Hoss - Male Office Worker #2
- Unknown actress - Female Office Worker
- Dr. Alex Yufik (clinical/forensic psychologist)
- Noland Sims, Jr. (elevator technician)
Trivia[]
- Dr. Hitoshi Nikaidoh, in 2003 at a hospital in Houston, TX died when an elevator decapitated him. Even though Heather was bisected, his death could be a base for Shafted. Snopes also listed other similar deaths in an article: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/houston-elevator-death/
- The death segment was based on a scene from Total Recall (1990), where Douglas Quaid (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) moves aside where it's safe because the worker elevator climbs up through the block ceiling and lacerates Richter's (played by Michael Ironside) arms and he screams while falling to his death.
- This death also happens to Cuddles from Happy Tree Friends in the episode See You Later, Elevator (a pun on See You Later, Alligator).
- This death could also be based on the death of character Nora Carpenter from Final Destination 2 (2003) but she got decapitated instead.
- Basically, being cut in half by an elevator is a common death in movies and television.
- The name of this death was used in Handi-crapped (190)
- Heather’s death is also similar to the real life death of a Chinese woman who died after riding on an elevator, On May 15, 2013 she was riding on an elevator with her colleagues. She exited the elevator halfway, when it malfunctioned and suddenly started descending and despite the attempts of those in the elevator she was cut in half. The article about this can be found here.
Segment Nicknames[]
- Elev-I-Dead
- The Office Crush
- Stuck in a Dead Spot
- Later Elevator!
Foreign Names[]
- Accidente En El Elevador (Accident in The Elevator / Elevator Accident) - Latin American Spanish dub
- En El Hueco Del Ascensor (In The Elevator's Hole) - European Spanish dub
- Elevada (Elevated) - Brazilian Portuguese dub
Gallery[]
