Macabre…ish Horror Review: Fall
Fall, 2022/ 107 min
After friends and adrenaline junkies’, Becky (Grace Caroline Curry) and Shiloh Hunter’s (Virginia Gardner), ill fated climb that cost Becky her husband, Dan’s (Mason Gooding), life when he lost his footing. A year later, Becky is still inconsolable and a mess, she’s isolated herself but her dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is trying to save her before it’s too late.
It doesn’t work, after a night of drinking and just before swallowing a handful of pills, Hunter shows up at her door. She has a great adventure to pitch. A base climb, the B 57 tv tower, the 4th highest structure in the U.S. with an 1800 ft ladder and it’s only a 6 hour drive away. They can even release Dan’s ashes at the top. Becky just can’t do it.
But the next morning, Becky has a change of heart! They’re going to climb the tower but first, the 6 hour road trip. It’s fun and it’s like the old days. Hunter is a youtuber now and she adventures for an audience of 60,000.
Once they get to the location, they have to walk or turn back because of a locked gate with a No Trespassing sign, so they trek to the tower and it’s so much higher than expected. Becky is spooked but Hunter convinces her to go up.
Clipped together with rope and harnesses, they climb the ladder. On the way up, rusty rungs break from the ladder. Unnoticed by them, long loosened bolts are working their way out of their fittings, all around them rusty pieces have sheered and are wrenching from the structure. During their first break, they’ve already climbed the height of the Eiffel Tower.
By the time they get to the landing, Becky is terrified but she pushes on. The higher they climb, the fewer bolts there are holding the ladder to the tower. The last little bit, past the satellite dishes, Hunter helps pull her up but it’s windier than ever and bolts are actively falling now, as they ascend.
They finally make it to the top and they do not realize it but the ladder is now the weakest it’s ever been. Very few bolts are holding it now. Then they post for pics and video and release Dan’s ashes.
And just as they climb down, the ladder buckles, collapses and Becky falls, still connected to Hunter. Hunter struggles to pull her back up to the platform but she does, then they realize the ladder is gone. There is also no cell signal because they are too high. Oh and their bag is hanging off of one of those satellite dishes that is now below them. On top of that, Becky has a deep laceration in her thigh.
They try to stay positive though. Hoping someone heard the ladder fall and that help is on the way. They hope. After 5 hours, still nothing then they see a man and his dog at the base of the tower and throw their shoes. But they can’t get his attention. That night, they shoot their flair and get people’s attention but instead of getting help, they get robbed.
Then Becky finds out a secret that really sucks. The next day Hunter decides to try for the bag before they dehydrate. The rope is too short and she makes a risky move to reach it.
They might die at the top of this tower but they’ll try everything to survive.
This thriller was directed by Scott Mann. And it is quite a thrill ride. Small but good cast, good cinematography and pacing. Very nice twists! If you liked Descent and Frozen, you’ll probably like this!