Creepshow - Lydia Lane's Better Half

Tricia Helfer of “Battlestar Galactica” fame stars in “Lydia Lane’s Better Half” as a corporate powerhouse of a Fortune 500 company, Lydia of the title. Her lover, Celia (Danielle Lyn), doesn’t get a Switzerland CFO promotion she felt she was entitled to, with Lydia choosing a male competitor, Harding (Michael Scialabba) instead. It seems Lydia decided on Harding because she wanted Celia to be by her side as she rises to supposed further heights, but that isn’t at all what Celia wanted. Celia, instead, scolds Lydia, letting her know that all she wanted was the promotion, even calling her a fraud and hypocrite, not at all the female empowerment figurehead she so claims to be. A slap to the face because of the ridicule from Lydia to her face causes Celia to threaten assault, also preparing to out her as a failure for helping women in the workplace rise. An accidental push causes Celia to land headfirst into a “woman of the year” crystal trophy mounted on a square, killing her, leaving Lydia to try and remove her from the building. But despite escaping from the office, a minor earthquake causes the elevator to freeze while on its way down to the ground floor. What commences is Lydia stuck in the elevator with Celia’s dead body, seemingly rattled by how her eyes seem to be open time and time again. Eventually it does seem, as the hours pass, that Celia isn’t just dead. Somehow an arm reaches from the wound of Celia’s head to grab Lydia’s throat, and when Lydia tries to escape through an opening to a floor from the opened doors, Celia seemingly grabs her with the elevator moving with the expected grisly results. Sort of reminded me of the Japanese Onryu films, with Celia’s vengeful spirit not allowing Lydia to just get away without revenge. The severed head in the lap of the corpse is a prop that is a bit disappointing considering Nicoterro and his skilled animators at his disposal have produced much better in the past, even when under a rather restricted budget. I thought Helfer was quite good, though. She was under stress as her CEO was pelted with verbal rebuff of her affections by her lover, having to recover when hoping to move the body out of her office through the building to the elevator, and the various emotions that resulted from behind stuck in the elevator…fear, resentment of her lover for thinking she could be as successful as Lydia, and ultimately determination to get out. Creepy enough, I guess, and claustrophic, with the knowledge that Lydia was probably screwed even if she had escaped the elevator not physically harmed hanging on the mind while trapped in the closed confines. 3/5.