Fall (2022)

To produce a high class survival thriller not based on a true story is a tricky mission to accomplish. When watching one that's based on events that really took place, it's almost impossible to refrain from thinking "I can't believe this actually happened."

Last year's superb Society of the Snow, the second depiction of the 1972 Andes plane crash (after 1993's Alive) is not only the most recent that comes to mind, but is also one of the genre's best ever entries. Danny Boyle's 127 Hours (2010) is another impressive example, as is Kevin MacDonald's excellent docu-drama Touching the Void (2003).

But as far as fictional survival thrillers go, we'd be talking Castaway (2000), Buried (2010) or All Is Lost (2011) as up there with the finest of their own sub-genre.

Fall opens with a sequence in which Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) loses her husband Dan- unsurprisingly in a climbing accident. Her best friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner) is also with them at the time, and it's clear this is the sort of thing they do all the time. Indeed, when the story then picks up again a year later, Becky is still drowning her sorrows and is a complete wreck, while Hunter has become a successful YouTuber specialising in extreme stunts.

Becky's Father is understandably concerned about her but apparently that's just annoying to Becky, and her Father enlists the help of Hunter to get Becky back on track. Hunter's solution to the problem is naturally to get Becky back into a similar environment and face her fears; so after some cajoling, the pair of them set off to climb a 2,000ft tower in the middle of the desert- one that's halfway point we're reminded, is the height of the Eiffel Tower.

The whole thing is utterly ludicrous, and you can never quite get rid of the stupidity of what these two are undertaking here. However, the opening fifteen minutes or so after they begin to climb the tower had me feeling almost physically sick, in the best way possible. The tower is essentially a spike, with a rusty ladder ascending to the top and once they reach the very summit, the top of the ladder comes lose and falls to the ground, leaving them stranded at the summit.

There are no surprises whatsoever; it comes as standard that there's no phone signal at the top of the tower and seemingly no way down. Every effort made to escape is inevitably thwarted and it is very hard to sympathise with the characters for the predicament they find themselves in.

But director Scott Mann brings a terrific efficiency to things, and this is a solid entry into the survival thriller pantheon. Plenty of the shots surrounding the tower are effective, certainly I found many of them nail-biting. Mercifully it doesn't outstay its welcome, and holds your attention while its in front of you. 6.9/10