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I don't have a full-blown fear of heights, but if I'm playing a video game and have to walk my character across a chasm, I will feel some intense discomfort. So I knew that there would be scenes in "Fall 2: Deadpoint" that would make me clench, and in that regard, Michael and Peter Spierig were successful. Even with some thrilling, heart-stopping moments, the absurdity of the surrounding story was so laughable that it dissipated much of the tension.
Jax Hunter (Harriet Slater) is the surviving sister of Shiloh (Virginia Gardner), who died after plummeting to her death from a 2000-foot tower. Jax is trying to move on when Shiloh's college friend, Luce (Arsema Thomas), shows up and suggests that she and Jax should take a thrill-seeking trip to celebrate Shiloh's memory. They decide to go to Thailand to Mount Kwan, where there is a plank walk that Shiloh wanted to do. The girls hire John (Tom Brittney) to help them with the climb, but an earthquake leaves Jax and Luce stranded. Now the pair need to find a way to safety and confront some uncomfortable truths along the way.
"Fall 2: Deadpoint" doesn't have a lot going on narratively aside from "these people are way up high and get stranded," so there will have to be some added drama in terms of character development. Unfortunately, the storylines that writers Scott Mann and Jonathan Frank have crafted stretch credulity entirely too far for me to take the actual peril seriously. It's not quite "Marlena is possessed by the Devil" levels of soap opera silliness, but the film definitely feels like it ripped off some daytime television stories.
The performances are pretty good, considering what they had to work with. Slater and Thomas work well together, and even when the story spins out of control, they go with it convincingly enough. Slater, in particular, does a solid job of representing grief and guilt around her sister's death. Brittney is in the movie, but brings nothing particularly special to his role.
The best part of "Fall 2: Deadpoint" is absolutely the way that it creates suspense while Jax and Luce are trying to find a way off the mountain when no way exists. We know from the first movie that the writers are willing to allow characters to fall, so every time one of them tries to retrieve a backpack or walk across a scary plank, it could lead to their demise. As a result, the film has some legitimately frightening moments.
There is a fine line between horror and comedy. Sometimes the two combine, and it creates something special. What is important is that all of these aspects need to be intentional. "Fall 2: Deadpoint" is fairly successful in its horror elements, but it is hard to enjoy those moments of terror when the characters start talking about life off the mountain. That unintended humor makes the scary bits fall off a cliff.
Rating: 2.5/5
Alise Chaffins is a freelance and Tomatometer-approved film critic.