Fall review: Heightened suspense in effective genre thriller

The plot, like all good B pictures, is the title. This nifty high-concept thriller brought to you “from the producers of 47 Metres Down,” a similarly slick girl-bonding actioner, offers vertiginous thrills, jagged-edged post-production dialogue, and melodramatic twists and turns.

Fall concerns newly widowed, extreme-sporty Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) and her best pal and Insta-climber Hunter (Virginia Gardner) as they climb a 2,000ft radio tower in the Mojave Desert.

They are ostensibly there to spread the ashes of Becky’s late husband, Dan (Mason Gooding) whose last moments comprise the film’s overture. In truth, Hunter has planned this mad expedition to pull Becky out of the grieving, drunken funk that has become a concern for both Hunter and Becky’s dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

Two girls and one insanely high tower. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. In a series of effectively sickening creaks and groans — maximised by cinematographer McGregor aka Miguel López Ximénez de Olaso’s nervy close-ups — the ladder they’ve used to get to the summit hurtles to the ground, leaving the girls with no water, no food, and no mobile phone signal. Vultures circle, darkness falls, and — just to really sour their daring escapade — revelations shatter.

Suspension of disbelief is a must, not least because Scott Mann’s efficient $3 million genre film was acquired by Lionsgate, who demanded a PG-rated edit and the removal of more than 30 expletives. TrueSync AI-based technology — the same doodahs that are used to create deep fakes — allowed the actors to re-record their not always convincing, cleaner dialogue. “Now we’re now stuck on this stupid freaking tower in the middle of freaking nowhere,” says Hunter, omitting all of the words that someone stuck on a 2,000ft tower might use.

The acting isn’t always top drawer. The plot — conceived by Mann and co-writer Jonathan Frank — is all kinds of ludicrous. But the adrenalin is real. The use of green-screen chicanery disappears against dizzying Imax-shot heights and nail-biting genre kicks. Dumb, fun, and definitely not for the acrophobic. See it. Then go argue plot points with people on the internet.