Some movies derive horror from common experiences — Obsession begins from the relatable concept of an unrequited crush, for example. Others present the audience with a premise that’s so extreme, there’s really no need to worry about it happening to you in real life. That’s the case with Fall, which dramatizes a situation that’s easy enough to avoid: Don’t climb a 2,000 foot rusty steel pole in the middle of the desert, and you should be all set.
That being said, a fear of heights is quite common, and the vertigo-inducing cinematography in Fall was thrilling enough that the 2022 survival thriller recouped its budget several times over at the box office. It was so successful, in fact, that the surprise hit is getting a sequel, Fall 2: Deadpoint, starring Harriet Slater (Outlander: Blood of My Blood) and Arsema Thomas (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) as hikers who make the totally optional, wholly preventable decision to climb the (fictional) peak of Mt. Kwan in Thailand, where someone seems to have forgotten to build the rest of the walkway on a particularly treacherous portion of the trail.
