Director Scott Mann takes the survival thriller to new heights in this excellent suspense flick
In 2022, it’s easy to feel like the B-movie is something of a lost art. No, not The Bee Movie – the B-movie! Low-budget, high-concept films that try their utmost to do a lot with a little. In an age of cinematic universes, there’s a lot to be said for lower-budget efforts like Fall, a thriller that’s as both as simple and effective as its title suggests.
Made on a budget of less than $3m (miniscule by today’s standards), Fall charts the escapades of two friends (Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner) who ascend a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower in the middle of the desert, only to find themselves stranded at the very top. With little water, no food, and seemingly no way down, it’s everything the pair can do to avoid a very, very quick trip back down to Earth.
There’s a surprising amount to like in Fall. What could have been a naff, easily-forgotten movie is rendered genuinely thrilling and unexpectedly moving thanks to the sheer dedication of its cast and crew – in particular its two leads. Not only do both Currey and Gardner put in excellent acting shifts, they do a lot of their own stunts, too. In fact, there’s more practical stuff in Fall than you might think: the production crew built two separate replicas of different parts of the tower, and did as much location shooting as possible. What this does is to effectively sell the film’s realism, which, when combined with the excellent camerawork of MacGregor (Vivarium), works an absolute treat. There’s a real sense of danger to every move the two women make when they get stranded, and a real sense of fear and vertigo in MacGregor’s sweeping wide shots. A handful of dodgy green screen composites aside (none of which harm the movie massively), this is one good-looking movie that uses its visual composition to further not only its plot, but its creeping sense of dread.
Thrills like this, however, are nothing without characters we can be invested in. Luckily for Fall, that isn’t an issue. The first third of the film’s runtime is spent setting up Becky (Currey, Shazam!) and Hunter (Gardner, Halloween), their relationship and their headspace. A brief (but extremely effective) prologue shows us how Becky’s husband was killed in a climbing accident a year before the bulk of the film takes place, and she hasn’t managed to cope with losing him. When Hunter arrives at her door out of the blue to suggest the trip, with the pair having barely spoken in the year since Dan’s (Mason Gooding, Scream) death, Becky feels a certain trepidation about making the climb before being pressured into it. It’s this inciting conversation that not only kicks the plot into gear, but also clearly lays out Becky and Hunter’s dynamic: Hunter is a bad friend.
Make no mistake, this isn’t a criticism of the film, but of the character herself. Everything surrounding her is stellar. She’s well-written and excellently acted by Gardner… she just happens to be a pretty selfish person who seems more interested in her social media following than in making sure her friend is okay. But hey, for the purposes of the narrative there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this: conflict has to come from somewhere! And this is certainly preferable to something more artificial and manufactured, especially as that seems to be the more common way for scripts like this to be written. But no, Hunter isn’t a great person, and as such it’s far more believable when she and Becky do clash as the film goes on.
These clashes are made even more believable by Gardner and Currey’s natural chemistry together. Both have provided some excellent supporting roles in the past few years, and here prove themselves more than worthy of being leading ladies. Their charm is effortless, endearing us to both characters initially, but as the stakes of their situation become higher we see a depth to them that keeps them interesting: it’s the characters that drive the plot forward, not the other way around. And frankly, that’s the best way to write a movie like this – it makes the whole affair feel more natural, and it’s much easier to be invested in the entire movie.
When taken at face value, Fall might not seem like much. But in actuality it’s a taut, tense little thriller that’s elevated by two incredible lead performances and some of the most stomach-churning cinematography we’re likely to see all year. It’s surprisingly effective at home, but this is one movie that’s absolutely worth seeing in a cinema. As long as you’re okay with heights, that is.
Fall is in UK cinemas from 2 September.
Images courtesy of Signature Entertainment. All rights reserved.
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