The most effective scares in movies are typically the most relatable, and few fears are as universal as the prospect of plummeting from a great height. That’s what Scott Mann’s 2022 film Fall played on to perfection, stranding two women atop a disused TV tower in the middle of the desert and wringing every bit of suspense from it. With a modest budget and healthy box office returns, a sequel was inevitable and while Fall 2 is more expansive than its stripped-down predecessor, it has the same basic premise at its centre – and many of the same thrills.
The film follows Jax (Harriet Slater), the younger sister of Shiloh Hunter, the social media thrillseeker who fell to her death in the first film. Still grieving the loss of her sister, Jax is clearing out Shiloh’s belongings when she stumbles upon her “Fuck-It List” – a bucket list of extreme stunts she never got to complete. Spurred on by Shiloh’s friend Luce (Arsema Thomas), Jax decides to honour her sister’s memory by ticking one thing off the list: a perilous plank walk around Mount Kwan, a fictional Thai mountain that sits 4,000 feet above sea level.
To complete this highly illegal climb, the pair enlist the services of John (Tom Brittney), a shady guide they find hanging around the mountain’s nearest dive bar. He warns them of the dangers they might face, including volatile weather, massive earthquakes and local authorities who won’t be in a hurry to help them should they get into any trouble. Despite being inexperienced climbers, Jax and Luce go for it anyway – what could possibly go wrong?
Everything, of course.
After a fairly long and involved set-up, Fall 2 really comes into its own once Jax, Luce and their guide John are on the cliff face. Though this setting doesn’t allow for the same 360-degree peril as the TV tower, it is different enough to prevent the film feeling too familiar, and presents a variety of dangers for the girls to face. Mann still writes, but has handed the directing reins to the Spierig Brothers, who capably handle the escalation of tension here. Starting with some near-slips and ominous shots of creaky boards and rattling bolts on the janky walkway, the directors establish a sense of dread before ramping things up into full-on nerve-shredding suspense.
As rain soaks the boards and an avalanche strands the girls on a few small planks, things become increasingly unnerving. Even the simplest actions feel unbearably stressful due to the bottomless drop beneath them, so when they are leaning over the edge trying to reach the radio, swinging across rusty beams or crawling over precarious bridges, it’s at times hard to watch. The relief when they manage to scramble back to relative safety is palpable.
That is the basic pleasure of the film. It taps into that uneasy feeling of holding your phone over the edge of a high building or carrying your car keys over a drain, only 4,000 feet in the air with your life on the line. These moments are effective regardless of, and often in spite of, the plotting, which feels considerably denser and sillier than the first film. All Fall 2 really needs is a reason to get the characters up the side of a mountain and the screenplay threatens to overdo it, throwing in numerous wild plot twists and repeatedly moving them to new locations. That the film ultimately works is a testament to the high-altitude set pieces that overcome the schlockier elements of the script.
In true modern Hollywood fashion, an epilogue establishes the setting and premise of another sequel, so it seems the Fall universe will continue to expand. In truth, the franchise may be better suited to unrelated stories connected only by their basic premise. For all its overcomplicated plotting, Fall 2 suggests the formula has legs. When it sticks to the simple business of putting people in very high places and finding increasingly terrifying ways for them to fall, it remains brutally effective.
