Fall 2: Deadpoint suspends disbelief over the side of a mountain
In every corner of horror, there exists a niche sub-genre that every avid enjoyer finds themselves enjoying even when it’s less than perfect.
In this case, the formula of “a somewhat naive person ends up in a life or death scenario they absolutely could have avoided” is mine. It’s more than a guilty pleasure when it becomes a thrill ride where you can actually sit there and know you would actually survive the horrors because you would never involve yourself.
In Fall 2: Deadpoint, even the feeling of clinging to your seat while stressing over the characters' fates does not cover up the truth behind this film’s bones.
Fall 2, and its predecessor Fall, were written by Scott Mann, although he did not return to direct the sequel. Directed by The Spierig Brothers, the film follows the younger sister of Shiloh Hunter, Jax, following Shiloh’s death in Fall. We had no knowledge of her in the first film, but are informed that the two had a somewhat complicated relationship - Jax, living life in her adventurous sister’s shadow while being reserved, even being envious of her relationship with Shiloh’s best friend Becky. It’s always hard when a sequel informs us of a sibling, parent or friend that we knew nothing of in the prior film, and it’s especially hard here the story begins in the height of Jax’s grief for Shiloh.
Heavily drinking and struggling with Shiloh’s internet followers forming a parasocial relationship in the time following her death, Jax finally makes the choice to sell her sister’s beloved Jeep to one of Shiloh’s friends, Luce, who we also never heard of in the first film. It’s a bittersweet moment for both women, but nonetheless ends in them deciding to embark on what would’ve been Shiloh’s next planned climb.
The typical choice to suspend your disbelief while watching a movie is especially complicated in this case. The two women, who even comment on never having met each other, decide to fly to Thailand together with essentially no prior climbing experience to take on what they’re told is the deadliest place in the entire country. They then pay a local, Jon, $5,000 to guide them on the climb, entrusting him completely because “Shiloh would’ve wanted it.”
Jax, played by Harriet Slater, gives a convincing performance of a young woman who struggled with the very sister who she mourns intensely. She dreams of her, specifically of their last time seeing each other where they argued. Though it often results in her panicking, second guessing the choice to embark on the climb, only to be convinced again that it’s a perfectly fine idea by Luce.
The actual climb actually doesn’t feel long, though that’s not difficult in a tight knit 97-minute runtime. The trio come across a section of the planks they’ve been walking across that have no safety chain, though safely walk across, with the real panic ensuing when an earthquake and storm hit the mountain and separate the girls from Jon. It leads into a somewhat stressful and yet short lived segment where the girls have to try retrieving their bag from a loose hanging railing. It takes an injury to Luce’s hand and loses part of their rope, but in a sequence that is unfortunately concocted with AI-generated effects, Jax successfully reaches the bag. It allows them to reunite with Jon, who we’re told was simply knocked out somewhere on the opposing side of the mountain.
Even though both Fall films are easy films to follow, the repeated formula feels tiresome in this case. One person doesn’t feel brave enough to adventure, someone convinces them, the trip immediately becomes dangerous, someone dies, and somehow against all odds the reserved person outlives the other person. It’s beat for beat, though there is an added element here that at least tries making itself stand out from the first film.
Upon being saved by Jon, the women discover he used his title as their guide to use them as unknowing mules for drugs he’s attempting to smuggle to the other side of the mountain. In anger, Luce tosses one of the two containers of drugs into the ravine, then is killed in return by Jon. He nearly knocks Jax unconscious, though somehow she tricks him into falling off the mountain.
We’re led to understand that she then uses the remaining container to secure safety off the mountain. It’s more than unbelievable, and honestly is too ridiculous to take in after the change of pace at breakneck speed. The ending feels even harder to take in when we are set up for a third film in the series, with Jax reaching out to Becky to take on another planned trip from Shiloh’s bucket list.
These films aren’t aiming to be bigger than life, and yet this sequel rests even further below what came before it by reaching far too beyond its grasp.
