FALL is a new fear-of-heights thriller that is every bit as much a subgenre as “shark horror” is. I mean, just think about how many people suffer from fear of heights. Also, for most people, it’s a fear they’re confronted with quite often. Not many people, who fear sharks, ever have to be near them.

I wasn’t sure that this movie could handle a runtime of 1 hour and 47 minutes. In my mind, this should be around the 90-minute mark. However, yet again, I had to just pack away my own ideas about what “should be”. This movie has enough to last as long as it does.

The story that turned into Fall was actually conceived as a short film. Fortunately, it turned out that there was enough there to create a feature film.

Inspired by movies such as Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (where the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai is scaled) and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin’s Oscar®-winning documentary Free Solo, they went to work. Especially that last one is easy to see in the opening scene.

The result: Best friends Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and Hunter (Virginia Gardner) climb 2,000 feet to the top of a remote, abandoned radio tower. After reaching the platform and getting ready to get back down, pieces of the tower collapse and they find themselves stranded with no way down.

For a few moments, I did fear that some relationship drama would take up space. However, it was just a small part of the movie. Also, while some elements along the way might annoy you, just hang in there until the complete story has been told.

To keep it real and get all the best shots, the filmmakers decided to actually shoot this on a platform out in the real world. Sure, some movie magic is included (they’re not the full 2,000 feet in the air with no safety net). But no green screen was used for Fall.

Of course, this also meant that the casting included making sure that the two stars could handle heights. Fortunately, both Grace Caroline Currey (Becky) and Virginia Gardner (Hunter) could work with heights. Both work remarkably well in this movie!

In the only other two roles that actually matter, we see Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Unholy) as Becky’s father, while Mason Gooding (Scream 5) plays her husband.

While I am not crazy about heights, I don’t really have a fear of heights. I know as much because my Heaven of Horror co-founder, Nadja, does have a fear of heights. As a result, her palms (and even her feet) started sweating profusely… and that was from just watching the trailer!

Watching the entire Fall movie was like an actual workout. Within the 107-minute runtime, there is probably at least a good 90 minutes of full-on terror for anyone uncomfortable with heights.

While I was experiencing increased heart rate and thought it was very fascinating (and yes, out of my comfort zone), she was sweating and squirming. So much that her Fitbit complimented her on the fact that she was getting a solid workout.

What I’m trying to say is simply that watching this survival movie will probably feel like an actual survival experience if you have a fear of heights.

Consider yourself warned!

And also, go for it, it’s a great way to explore just how bad your fear of heights is.

Watch Fall in theaters – if you dare!
Scott Mann is the director of Fall with the screenplay written by him and Jonathan Frank (Mara). Scott Mann previously directed the movies The Tournament (2009) and Heist (2015). Currently, the two have a new survival movie in pre-production.

The title is Tsunami LA which probably tells you all you need to know!

To double down on having people attached who knew how to create survival terror, producer James Harris is also onboard. He produced the movie 47 Meters Down which deals with both the fear of sharks as well as claustrophobia and fear of drowning.

With Fall, the filmmakers have stated that they “wanted it to be the ultimate fear of heights movie” and they might just have succeeded. The simplicity of this concept is executed so well that it gets under your skin as the story (and survival element of the story) evolves!

Fall is out in theaters from August 12, 2022.