Fall

Title: Fall
Director: Scott Mann
Released: 2022
Starring:  Virginia Gardner, Grace Caroline Currey, Jeffery Dean Morgan, Jasper Cole, Julia Pace Mitchell

Plot: Best friends Becky (Currey) and Hunter (Gardner) find their plans to climb a radio tower taking a turn for the worst when the ladder collapses leaving them stranded 2,000 feet up with no way to get down.

Review: Born out of an off camera conversation director Scott Mann was having with his crew while filming his previous film Final Score, were while filming on top of the stadium he was filming he found that it really tapped into the primal fear of heights and falling and felt that it would make a great subject for a short film only for it to grow into a full feature. 

Introducing our two leads Becky and Hunter engaging in another high altitude adventure as they attempt a mountain climb with Becky’s husband Dan only for him to be killed and send Becky spirling into a suicidal spiral which leads the two friends to drift apart only to be reunited on the impending anniversary of Dan’s death as Hunter now an internet celebrity from filming her adventures invites Becky to join her for her latest challenge to climb a decommissioned TV tower which soon sees the pair stuck 2,000 feet up when the ladder collapses.

Becky and Hunter are both likeable characters and while not only are they best friends but equally mirror selves of each other for while Becky is struggling with confidence and finding her purpose a year one from her husband’s death. Hunter meanwhile is the vibrant outgoing personality who doesn’t feel alive unless she is putting herself in situations in which she feels some element of danger with the tower climb being the latest fix. Their friendship is certainly believable which is a key element to the film working especially when their situation forces them to face up to the issues from thier past as much as it does working out a way out of their predicament. 

One of the big issues with basing your film in a single location is always going to be how you maintain the attention of the audience especially for a location like this where the two girls have a small platform and little else around them apart from a very long drop and seemingly no obvious way they are going to get down. Mann certainly plays this element well especially when he manages to invoke a real feeling of anxiety on the climb up the tower which seemingly was constructed by the same crew who made any structure featured in a Final Destination movie as the ladder they climb creaks and groans while bolts rotate in their socket threatening to drop out at a moment’s notice. Of course if this wasn’t enough we also get to see the pair engaging in the familiar urban climber antics including hanging off the platform and seemingly doing everything they can to make the ladder breakaway before it eventually does. 

While Mann has originally planned on shooting the film using green screens and sets and instead opted for building the top portion of the tower on top of a mountain in the Mojave desert and certainly it really does make you think the actors are really on top of a tower when in reality they were only a hundred feet of the ground, though the shoot still found itself being plagued with issues caused by lightening and high winds which it seems the actresses used in their performances and selling the idea that they are 1000’s of feet in the air. 

Much like with The shallows there is a decent amount of Macgyver style creativity on hand as resources are limited and with the surrounding environment and local wildlife growing increasingly hostile it only adds to the growing tension that of course if your not finding your stomach lurching every time of one them wanders towards the edge especially with Mann’s direction truly selling the illusion of height so key to making the film work. 

While I was sceptical that the film could pull of the illusion of height let alone hold my interest with such a limited location and certainly the film delivers on both fronts as it proves itself to be continually inventive in both in its plans to escape the situation as it is with how it uses the location only further helped by the availability of things such as drones and smart tech which are both used to great effect. Yes the ending will be diverse with some finding it a clever twist while leaving others to roll their eyes as the film jumps the shark. Either way it’s a worthwhile experience though whether it has repeat value remains to be seen as certainly having spent the film feeling my stomach lurching and feeling overly anxious it’s not one i’m rushing back to as much as I enjoyed it.