De lift (1983) Online

1983 Huub Stapel Willeke van Ammelrooy Josine van Dalsum Dick Maas

Original Title :: De lift
Genre :: Movie / Horror
Year :: 1983
Directror :: Dick Maas
Cast :: Huub Stapel,Willeke van Ammelrooy,Josine van Dalsum
Writer :: Dick Maas
Budget :: €350,000
Type :: Movie
Time :: 1h 35min
Rating :: 6.2/10

De lift (1983) Online

A lift begins displaying some erratic behavior, like trapping some party goers and nearly suffocating them, and decapitating a security guard. Felix, the technician from the lift company, can't find anything wrong with the circuitry. When he and a nosy reporter begin asking questions of the lift company's electronics partner (Rising Sun Electronics) his boss puts him on a leave of absence. A subsequent visit to a professor leads them to believe that some evil experiments are being conducted with MICROCHIPS.

Cast overview, first billed only:
	Huub Stapel	-	Felix Adelaar
	Willeke van Ammelrooy	-	Mieke de Beer
	Josine van Dalsum	-	Saskia Adelaar
	Liz Snoyink	-	Vrouw in Lift
	Wiske Sterringa	-	Vrouw in Lift
	Huib Broos	-	Man in Lift
	Pieter Lutz	-	Man in Lift
	Johan Hobo	-	Ober
	Dick Scheffer	-	Gérant
	Matthias Maat	-	Ober
	Ger van Groningen	-	Ober
	Jan Anne Drenth	-	Nachtportier
	Emma Onrust	-	Dochertje
	Sydney Kuyer	-	Zoontje
	Cor Witschge	-	Dagportier

Dick Maas was fired halfway of the production because of continuing arguments with producer Matthijs van Heijningen about casting. However, he kept on working during that day and was rehired the day after, because Van Heijningen couldn't do it without him.

The scene where the security guard is decapitated by the elevator was shot several times, that's why the head that falls down the shaft is smudged and disfigured.

Dick Maas composed the entire score on two borrowed synthesizers: a Jupiter 8 and a Juno 60. Recording only took one day. According to Maas, producer Matthijs van Heijningen originally wanted to hire 'some other band' to score the film, but finally conceded when Maas proved to be more cost effective.

The movie was shot in 30 days and had a very small budget.

All the actors performed their own stunts, as there were no actual stunt men on this film. For instance, to keep the actors safe, the scene in which Gerard Thoolen's head gets stuck between the elevator doors was filmed backwards.

Dick Maas needed the help of an elevator manufacturer to make the film, and Schindler Liften BV liked the idea and gave their full cooperation.

Apart from the elevator interior and a tiny piece of elevator shaft, the entire film was shot on location. Production designer Harry Ammerlaan managed to dress the same hallway in numerous different ways to resemble different floors in the building. They kept the floor wet constantly to keep it shiny and more ominous.

Crewmembers were often asked to fill in as extras. For instance, caterer Mariëlle Sprong appears as Piet Römer's secretary.

A hastily subtitled copy of the film was shown at Cannes and was such a success that Warner Brothers purchased the distribution rights.

According to director Maas, actress Van Ammelrooij did not quite have a clue what the movie was about after the shooting was finished.

The elevator firm where Felix works was originally called "Delta Liften", but because this name was already registered they changed the name to "Deta Liften" just before shooting began.

The blind man's family name is Vink. This is an inside joke because the Dutch translation for blind tick is 'blinde vink'.

The opening sequence, an idea of cameraman Marc Felperlaan, was inspired by the opening sequence of Star Wars (1977).

The office building Kronenstede where the lift is in, is still operational under this name to this very day. It houses a software firm. During the film, after the first incident with the lift, Felix gets a phone call, and mentions the house number 14: this is correct since the building is located on Prof. W.H. Keesomlaan 14, in Amstelveen.

The decapitation scene was filmed backward, as if the actor was pushing the lift upward.

The security guard Kees is decapitaded by the movies' antagonist (the elevator). Maas' later 'Amsterdamned' also features a Kees (environmental activist) that is decaptitaded by the movies' antagonist (the diver).

User reviews

Garne

It seems that Dick Maas' De Lift has become a true horror gem over the years and I even picked up that it's most wanted among cult-collectors. Well, here in the home countries (The Netherlands and Belgium) you can still easily find an old copy in videostores or even on flee-markets, so all you avid fanatics should come pay us a visit! To me, "De Lift" will always remain special because it was one of my very first encounters with the horror genre but even from a more objective viewpoint, I still think it's a very decent film with some genuine scares and an impressively grim atmosphere. The plot is far from brilliant (on the verge of ludicrous, actually) but that's widely made up by some effective shock-sequences and Maas' talent to build up slow suspense. After several people got injured by the newly installed elevator in a fancy building complex, mechanic Felix Adelaar is hired to do a detailed check up. Together with a persistent female reporter, he discovers that the production company has been experimenting with new chips that totally haven't been approved yet. There's a painful use of clichés, the dialogues are poorly written and granted there's a little too much talking going on. But, when the characters aren't talking nonsense, there's some pretty unsettling stuff to see! In the scariest sequence of the entire film, the fiendish elevator plays a deadly game with a young girl while the ominous music will make you move to the end of your seat. The footage filmed in the ugly shaft is really chilling and there's some excellent low-budget gore as well, with a nasty decapitation and a vile hanging as the absolute highlights. The biggest criticism I've come about this site is about the awful dubbing but, since I'm Dutch speaking, I luckily didn't suffer from that. "De Lift" was Dick Maas' first long-feature film and he also pleased the Dutch audiences with the happily deranged adventures of the Flodder family before emigrating to Hollywood where he remade his own debut. Even though Maas managed to recruit a great cast for this project (Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya...), it totally lacks the obscurity and dark cinematography of the original. Give it a look....if you can find it.

Kelerius

I agree with John Hartl's review about the quality of this movie. It could easily have been silly, but it definitely is not. The last part, with Felix lit only by his industrial hand lamp in the enemy's own domain, is completely engrossing. The - quite sparse - music is eerily effective and the photography very good, as are the performances. In the version I saw, the dubbing is well done and convincing. Another winner from the Netherlands. About time we high risers took the lift seriously!

Ausstan

What do you get when a new elevator is installed and the evil of Stephen King's Christine? You get...THE LIFT. Dick Maas directed a stylish thriller about an elevator with malicious tones. Try suffocation, a blind man falling down the shaft (nice sound FX for this scene) and the famous decapitation scene. My friend was grossed out after seeing the decapitation scene. Nevertheless, it is up to our hero Felix (Huub Stapel) to find out what is wrong with the lift. After seeing this, I want to check out the 2001 remake DOWN, also directed by Maas with James Marshall in the role of the maintenance man in search of the lift's problems.

Frei

De Lift was for me, as a 14 year old boy, very scary. The music, the cast, and the special effects, it was terrifieng, but I loved it. But the first scene, when Liz Snooyink is having sex, is typical Dutch. Not nice. I mean, is the sex-scene needful for the story? No. Another thing that was not really good, was that Huub Stapel's character is getting in a divorce, because his wife thinks that he's sleeping with another women. Dick Maas (the director) doesn't show how it ends with his wife. But Holland can be proud of such a scary movie, that's for sure!!

Mavegelv

An elevator seems to have a mind of its own, and it is deathly. The director builds a solid horror movie on people's fear of elevators. This is clearly a B-horror movie, but as such it is good. There are various truly shocking scenes.

The story line is very simple. The main character is an elevator-repairman and he must repair an elevator that caused an accident. What he finds out is truly bizarre and unbelievable, but scary nonetheless.

One of the best dutch made horror movies (but frankly, I don't know many other dutch horror movies).

Flower

In a high rise office building in the Netherlands, an elevator repairman named Felix Adelaar (Huub Stapel) is busy trying to solve a mystery. The elevators in this place are now functioning improperly, incapacitating passengers if not killing them outright. Could the cause be some sort of human error, or is something supernatural going on? Felix works the clues in the company of an aggressive, sassy reporter, Mieke de Beer (Willeke van Ammelrooy).

Writer & director Dick Maas ("Amsterdamned") deserves some credit for treating his premise with some measure of restraint. Therefore, it won't be to all tastes. It admittedly comes up a little short in the thrills department, with a slow pace and a talky script. Yet, there are fun moments, such as when an unfortunate security guard is decapitated by an elevator. Also, Stapel is an appealing working-class, Everyman sort of hero, and he has some chemistry with the striking van Ammelrooy. They receive able support from players such as Josine van Dalsum (as Felix's wife), Siem Vroom (as a police inspector), and Hans Veerman (as the boss at "Rising Sun", the electronics company working in tandem with Felix's employers).

The script does possess some passing interest for the way that it touches upon the subject of technological evolution (with computers that used to fill up entire rooms now becoming much more compact, and the advent of computer chips).

"The Lift" is a little light on gore and other exploitable elements, but overall it's fairly entertaining to watch. Maas does pretty well working with the limited budget, and IS expert at crafting suspense, especially the eerie and atmospheric finale with Felix in an elevator shaft. The electronic score (composed by Maas) is likewise a highlight.

One of the set decorators is Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., who 28 years later, directed the prequel to John Carpenters' "The Thing".

Seven out of 10.

Light out of Fildon

A state of the art elevator system starts to go haywire and kill people after being struck by lightning...almost like it has a mind of it's own.

Meanwhile, an elevator repairman and local journalist have teamed up to figure out what is going on.

It seems the elevator company is trying to cover something up.

After a little digging, they reveal that the Japanese company responsible for designing the electrical components of the lift system, have developed a bio-chip: a biological computer chip that is known to become endowed with artificial intelligence.

Which might explain a lot...if they can manage to stop the conspiracy...before they become it's next victims...

This film really plays off the paranoia of the times- a fear of impending doom from the computer apocalypse, sort of thing.

And it's not that great. It's pretty slow moving, the special effects are kinda lame, and the kill scenes are pretty anti-climactic.

I'm not sure what you can expect though...there are only so many ways an elevator can kill somebody.

5.5 out of 10.

Folsa

Back in 1983 when this movie was made, it was a real shocking classic. Not because of the opening nudity-scene in the elevator (after all: this is the Netherlands and 'Spetters' had been released three years prior), but because it was a real scary and sometimes even gory mainstream movie.

By todays standards it will probably disappoint you - the story about a rogue biocomputer-operated elevator is severely outdated and special effects are negligible. But nevertheless it really has something - eerie and terrifying music and some really scare scenes. Not the one with the guard being decapitated, but the one with the little girl begin enthralled by the three elevators is classic.

Another classic scene is right at the end, where the surviving cast members take the stairs, 10+ floors down, instead of the (now normal) elevators.

lucky kitten

"De Lift" is, as horror/thriller goes, a movie that is more than decent. Huub Stapel is convincing as the mechanic, who is desperate to solve the puzzle. His determination to make an end to the terror is apparent.

The special effects could have been better, if it had been made in 2002. But remember you are watching a movie from 1983! The shock effects, however, are up to Dick Maas' usual superb standard. There is not much gore, but to me that is an asset, not a defect. The less they show you, the more your imagination will kick in, and that usually makes uglier scenes than any director could believably depict. Do try to find the original with UK subtitles though, if you watch any synchronized movie, a lot of the quality gets lost, things like sarcasm, irony, annoyance, and amazement won't come through. Neither will the play on words, for that usually isn't understood by the translators, or they cannot find the right substitute. If, like me, you like this movie, you will like Dick Maas' absolute master piece: Amsterdamned. Although some of the jokes, are for Dutch-aholics only.

Sharpbringer

So i was in a second hand movie store looking for a good silly, foreign overdubbed film.

The Lift caught my eye. The cover of the movie exclaims "Take the stairs, take the stairs, for god's sake please take the stairs"

How can you lose?

Seeing this movie for the first time was kind of strange. The lighting is really dark, but the overdubs are good.

The film holds ground nicely, save one part where our hero is talking to a scientist about chips that reproduce themselves, where the word "chip" was used around 30 times in a 2 minute scene.

The hero of the story is rather well scripted, kind of cold, and cool.

The music is kind of strange also, not really complimenting anything, but making the scenes stranger.

I did end up buying the hour and a half movie, as it is a must see for any fan of silly horrors such as Evil Dead, or Dawn of the dead.

Dianaghma

A superb Dutch film, with truly suspenseful moments! Nothing is quite so sinister as stretches of silence in movies, especially when they accompany Hitchcockian (which is to say here, predictable) suspense sequences. From the moment you read the synopsis, and figure that a film about bewitched microchips cannot expect to be taken seriously, you'd be forgiven for laughing at yourself for even contemplating seeing the film. However, If you're like me, and you consider that music, background noise, post-production, lipsynching, subliminal messaging goes too far in films, rendering terrible scenes risibly hyperactive, then you'll get off on the real-time sparsity of effects used here. Each delay to the denouement, agonisingly adds to the deathtoll. Is this going to change the world? Would a suspiciously murderous lift, in the real world? Tell the director, I'd like to see more.

Lavivan

A new lift has been installed recently. A few people get stuck in it. A few days later, a blind man falls into the shaft. A guard is beheaded by the same lift. 'What we have here is a killing machine...!'

Director Dick Maas is a big fan of Steven Spielbergs films (same here, but only his earlier movies). 'De Lift', describable as another alternative for the JAWS-formula, makes clear that Dick Maas lacks a lot in comparison to the most successful Hollywood-director.

The movie has a few good scenes which are shocking, but the majority of the movie is surprisingly dull and tedious. As long as the story keeps to the elevator, it's OK. However, there are a lot of scenes about family problems and interminable discussions about elevators. Those do not build up tension, they're just very, very boring and though I am not much of a sadist, I only kept watching because I was anxiously waiting for the next person to be killed by the lift. In a very cruel way of course. One should not watch this movie for the story-line in the first place. The plot doesn't make ANY sense: how would you explain a killer lift? Anyhow, there IS some kind of explanation in the movie, but only kids under 8 years old would believe that nonsense. Under 8, for I watched this movie first when I was 7 years old and I was scared to death. Perhaps I am too old for this movie now..

Aiata

Foreign horror movies are something to take notice of. In "De Lift", it's worth the watch. Dick Mass has put up a masterpiece that is reassuring and intriguing at the same time. Here you have a elevator in a very big building with one sinister secret. During a dinner party, four guests are very drunk and they go in the elevator to their rooms. However, it stops midway, and the guests begin to overheat.Fortunately, they do get rescued and sent to the hospital. The mechanic Felix(Huub Stapel), takes a look at the building and check it out from top to bottom for flaws. He finds none. But he's still curious about it. After checking it out, another tragedy strikes. Then there's the guard who lost his head. Felix's obsession with the lift gains the attention of a reporter(Willeke von Ammelrooy) who followed up on him. His obsession with the lift has put a strain on the marriage. Which would lead to the company he works for. A super chip has given the computer to give life which proves to be fatal. A very intriguing film. Fun to watch. Recommended for the rainy day times. 3 out of 5 stars

Efmprof

I really love this movie. No big budget, no special effects, no Hollywood crap, just pure thrill. Some will mind the flaws, some will find it ridiculous, but I don't care at all. The idea is unique and the film is full of details.

It is very impressive how Dick Maas creates such a suspense with such a little budget. He lets your own phantasy and fears do the job. And they do very well, at least for me. If you like strange stuff like "Death Machine" this movie is well worth checking out.

Modred

Keep in mind that this low budget film was made for a dutch audience, and was only released internationally because of it's tremendous success in the Netherlands.

The english voices are horrible! I was able to see this version when I visited the US and found it in a small-town video store. The english voices pretty much ruined the movie.

This is no reason to give the movie a low rating however, since the movie in it's original form was an amazing breakthrough in Dutch film making. This movie's rating would be much higher if it was only rated by it's intended, dutch audience.

HelloBoB:D

Dick Maas has made himself the big guy of Dutch cinema with this excellent thriller. The concept of an elevator with an evil mind of his own is hilarious.

The suspense Maas has been able to create using some flashlights and low budget actors is amazing. Even though you always know what's coming, it still scares the heck out of you.

Any Dutch movie of this age wouldn't be Dutch without some bare breasts, but all in all it is well worth seeing it. Provided you find it somewhere...

Iraraeal

"De Lift" is really just a bunch of set pieces strung together by an almost supernaturally boring middle piece. I know it's difficult to keep having people killed by I'll state again, an elevator, but that's no reason to throw a bong-driven explanation and half an hour of soap opera in. The piece de resistance in this movie is the beheading of a random security guard. The only reason why anyone has ever heard of it, the only reason why anybody might consider watching it is the beheading. Despite the poor special effects the scene is pretty effective, especially because of the presence of another guy who just stands there. It's true, when an elevator has trapped you between its doors well you're screwed. You can have the entire audience of Wheel of Fortune standing around, you're screwed. But the problem is, an elevator can't chase you, and they are not numerous to the point that you accidentally walk into one all the time either. Once people know there's something wrong with the elevator, well there's no danger anymore and there's still an hour of horror left to fill. But the beheading, that was cool.

Beabandis

I agree that the movie does have a lot of flaws, but considering the fact that it is impossible to make high budget movies in Holland (Paul Verhoeve could never have made a movie like Robocop in Holland!) and considering how old the movie is, it's a quite decent movie.

There are enough American movies in English which are far worse.

Faegal

An elevator lift with malicious intentions seems to be murdering people with no explanation. A seasoned technician is called in to see what the problem is. Little does Felix know what he's in for. I knew I was in for a bizarre movie going into this one! The sheer audacity to make a movie about a killer elevator had me curious. It's actually decently made with good intentions. I just had one problem...IT'S TOO SLOW! There are too many scenes in this movie where nothing happens! I love character development, but this was far too talky for its own good. They try to throw in an interesting mystery, but it was lacking. They should have taken advantage of a bizarre concept, but it looks like they bit off more than they could chew. My biggest complaint was the lift's actions not being fully explained. We get a glimpse at the end, but nothing is fully explained properly. Why is the lift doing this? why does it seem to have a mind of its own? These are questions that deserved to be answered. They didn't capitalize on the potential this movie had. It was a very claustrophobic setting, this should have been taken advantage of. There isn't much gore in this movie either despite a couple of brutal murders. Some of the highlights are a decapitation and a blind man plummeting to his death. I watched this in subtitles, but the dialog was rather crude at times. Felix (Stapel) actually says this to his wife about their son " See? He's not as stupid as you think" The acting is good for this sort of thing. The two leads reminded me of the two leads from Deep Red. Huub Stapel is very solid as our hero. His reactions were believable and expected. His vulnerable performance was better than this movie deserved. The last 20 minutes or so is the best part about this movie by far! It's actually highly suspenseful with controlled tension. I was actually very uncomfortable, wondering where this skill was for most of the movie! It was adroitly done, but it was too little too late.

It's not an entirely bad movie. The last 20 minutes are great, acting is solid as well. There is just too much talk for me to recommend this movie. Horror fans will likely get curious from the absurd premise, but it's not as good as it sounds! I found this on You Tube, but it's probably very hard to find. It seems to be rather obscure and it should probably stay that way

5.3/10

Nidor

Although I did not particularly enjoy "Amsterdammned" (a similar sort of film), I gave it another shot because I did not want to believe that - as the Dutch themselves often say - the Dutch cinematography in general is just worthless (however, you DO get "tits, sex and throwing up" in most films ;o) ). I have seen "Antonia" and "Character" and enjoyed them both very much. Moreover, living in the Netherlands I wanted to know what a 'cult' movie that the locals consider "the most thrilling Dutch film ever" (4 out of 5 stars in a renowned TV magazine) looks like. Well, to tell the truth, I was nothing but disappointed. Even if I overlook the shaky idea of an 'evil microchip', the predictable direction and the cheap effects, I just cannot overlook the HORRENDOUS acting of the whole cast. They were all in desperate need of some Strasberg classes... All in all, if you want to get a positive picture of the Dutch cinematography, please do NOT waste time rolling your eyes up during this flop!

Drelajurus

A dark and stormy night at Hotel Icarus, and close-up of a girl's gaping laugh, before a loud and obnoxious group of drunken socialites become stranded in a lift. Fifteen minutes of darkly lit photography later, they are rescued. A lift repairman goes into the the lift by himself to investigate the cause of this boredom, and is followed by a female journalist out looking for a story. The lift's wiring, as it turns out, is possessed by demons from hell, causing deaths for no apparent reason, in all sorts of contrived ways. A well done decapitation scene (juxtaposed with a policeman slicing the end of his cigar) and a decent enough death of a blind man, as well as impressive set designs and lighting are about all this Dutch "thriller" have going for it. This film barely even qualifies as a horror movie, as there is so much blah blah blah blah blah it could almost be considered a character study of the lift repairman. Pardon me, while I yawn uncontrollably.

Film tries to be a serious, atmospheric suspense/ thriller, but there is just no possible way to make interesting a story of a killer lift.

Khiceog

Ridiculous horror film about an elevator that kills people. Seriously! A man figures out and tries to find out why the elevator is acting this way...and get it to stop.

How a film with such a stupid premise got made is beyond me. Let's face it--elevators just aren't scary! They can't chase after you or catch you. To avoid them you just take the stairs! Even if you can accept that it doesn't even stay true to its own premise. At one point a blind man is waiting for the elevator. The doors open--but there's no car there and he falls to his death. How exactly did the elevator KNOW that the guy was blind? Even worse we never get a plausible explanation as to why this is happening. We get lots of boring family drama and loonnggg talks about elevators. Seriously--there is WAY too much talk in this. Three times I had to rewind the tape to be able to read all the subtitles (this is from the Netherlands). This gets a three for some cool murders but, all in all, boring and pretty pointless.

Gathris

I've watched this movie dozens of times. One of the scariest and most suspenseful movies I've ever seen. I saw it when I was like 14 years old or so, but I still consider it one of my very favorite movies of all time. What makes this movie especially so creepy is its sound. That is, the sound of the elevator. Some scenes simply stay scary no matter how often you look at them. For instance the scene with the psychiatrist who's standing all nervous in the elevator. The sound of that scene freaks me out all the time. The atmosphere surrounding the elevator is SO creepy. This is a must see movie for everyone who loves a truly terrifying movie.

9.5 / 10

crazy mashine

I laughed a lot with this movie from the very first scene till the end. That was the only reason I watched it all (and the money I should pay for it). I can't believe there are persons who liked this awful movie. I watched it when I was 13 and I found it silly. I don't want to know what my opinion would be if I'd watch it now. This movie sucks! It is not scary (at all!) the direction is completely awful and the casting is even worse. Every time I'm on a bad mood I think of this movie and I start laughing.

Here's the main plot: An elevator has problems with its microchips and starts killing people. A man will try to find out what causes this problem and we are supposed to get scared. 1/10.

Whiteseeker

This movie is 5% horror, 60% boring detective work, 15% dull family life, and 20% filler scenes. It's supposed to be a horror film, but most of it is as dull as actually sitting down and watching a lift repair-man in action. Well, "action".

It's as if a stuffy accountant directed this thing; even the main character is apathetic, almost always unemotional, with one facial expression (like a damn painting), going about his business with the élan of a nursing-home inmate playing chess with himself. I have rarely seen such a sleepy, disinterested-looking lead male/character.

The makers of this failed attempt should have aimed for either a tongue-in-cheek approach or an all-out horror film, without the unnecessary and very tiresome detective crap and the evil-corporation conspiracy nonsense. Ultimately, the film's undoing is the writer's attempt to lend this ridiculous premise some seriousness by connecting all the silly goings-on to the real world. But there is nothing even remotely serious or realistic about a malicious lift killing people, so the obvious approach would have been to give this less exposition/plot and far more action.

Will the repairman keep his marriage or not? It's exciting questions like these that turned the movie into the instant horror classic that it still is today. His wife's female friend speculates on why he's been depressed lately: "Perhaps he is having an affair?" she suggests stupidly, completely ignoring the plain-as-day fact that he's involved in the repairs of an elevator that had just killed a blind man and decapitated another. This does not enter as a possibility to explain his low mood? Straight to adultery – duh; a silly plot-device introduced here for just one reason: so that the repairman can have some family trouble – as if horror films with cheesy premises thrive on family matters as their main source of fuel. This serves as yet another needless sub-plot in a movie already choking in its own inactivity.

I find it hard to believe that a building with this many accidents has people going inside it, let alone using the elevators, over and over, as if nothing had happened. This sort of story would be headline news in Holland (and elsewhere), and everyone would know about it. But this medium-level illogicality is the least of the film's problems. The fact that it's dull is what most viewers, and I, were annoyed by. Far too much talk, too much focus on the elevator repairman and even his very dreary family life.

A 6.1 average? Had this been an American movie, the rating would have been half that. But for some reason non-American movies are reviewed and critiqued far less harshly than American ones. It's that silly old "exotic bonus", plus a bit of envy thrown in.

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