Fall 2: Deadpoint (2026) Review: Thrills or Falls?

The setup is deceptively simple. Jax (Harriet Slater), a seasoned climber still haunted by the death of her father, and Luce (Arsema Thomas), her sharp-witted and less experienced best friend, are on a multi-day ascent of Mount Kwan. The goal: a “deadpoint” - a technical climbing move where you momentarily float weightless between holds, effectively committing to the void. But what begins as a bonding trip turns into a nightmare when a sudden rockfall destroys their anchor line, stranding them on a narrow, exposed ledge hundreds of feet above the valley floor. With supplies dwindling, a storm rolling in, and their only escape route in pieces, the pair must decide how far they’re willing to go to survive - including whether they can trust each other.

The film doesn’t waste time with a complex narrative. It’s a two-hander essentially, with brief flashbacks to Jax’s childhood (played by Juju Journey Brener) that explain her obsession with risk. Tom Brittney and Einar Haraldsson pop up as fellow climbers and a local guide, respectively, but their roles are perfunctory - mostly there to deliver exposition or create false hope. The real story is the rock face, and the film knows it.

Let’s address the elephant in the room: vertigo. Spierig, who co-directed the first film with his brother Peter, now flies solo, and he brings a more clinical, almost documentary-like eye to the proceedings. The camera lingers on the tiny footholds, on the wind-whipped dust, on the sweat pooling in the creases of Slater’s neck. The IMAX-friendly compositions are genuinely stomach-churning, especially in a sequence where Luce dangles inverted from a single carabiner. It’s the kind of filmmaking that makes you instinctively pull your feet off the floor in the theater.

But where the original Fall had the gimmick of a radio tower and a startling, crowd-pleasing twist, Deadpoint plays its hand more honestly. That’s both a strength and a weakness. There’s no third-act surprise here; just a grinding, exhausting battle against the elements and the limits of human endurance. The script, credited to the same writing team, throws every obstacle at the pair - dehydration, hallucinations, a stray bird, a smuggler’s abandoned stash (hence Andrey Kasushkin’s brief but memorable appearance) - and some of these feel less like organic threats and more like checklist items on a survival thriller bingo card.

The emotional core rests squarely on the shoulders of Slater and Thomas, and they deliver. Slater’s Jax is all coiled tension and guilt, carrying her father’s ghost in every grimace. Thomas’s Luce brings a welcome warmth and pragmatism; her line about “not dying to make you feel brave” lands with real sting. Their chemistry is believable enough that when the film forces them into a contrived moral dilemma - one that involves a secret and a betrayal that felt shoehorned in - it still mostly works.

TMDb’s middling 5.6/10 rating feels a touch harsh. This isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s far from a misfire. The pacing flags in the middle act, where the pair waits out a storm in a cramped bivouac, and the dialogue turns repetitive. The film also struggles with its own logic: certain rope physics and the timely appearance of a drone (operated by a “Nearby Climber,” played by Alexandra Bartlett) stretch credulity to its breaking point. If you’re the type to yell at the screen about tensile strength, bring earplugs.

Still, for pure, unadulterated suspense, Deadpoint delivers. The final 20 minutes - a desperate, lightning-struck traverse across a sheer face - are as white-knuckle as anything released this year. It’s a shame the emotional payoff doesn’t quite match the physical climax.

Pros

• The cinematography is stunning, making you feel every inch of the 3,000-foot drop.
• Harriet Slater and Arsema Thomas give committed, physically demanding performances.
• The sound design - screeching metal, howling wind, the agonizing scrape of boots on rock - is immersive.
• The final act is a masterclass in sustained tension.

Cons

• The middle section drags, with too much repetitive dialogue and not enough action.
• Several moments rely on implausible survival luck that will test audience patience.
• The supporting cast is wasted, particularly Tom Brittney, who has little to do.
• The thematic exploration of grief feels surface-level, never digging deeper than a brief flashback.

Fall 2: Deadpoint doesn’t reinvent the wheel - it just takes that wheel and straps it to the side of a mountain. It’s a lean, efficient thriller that benefits from its stripped-down premise and charismatic leads, even when the script asks you to swallow a few too many impossible coincidences. For fans of high-altitude horror and survival melodrama, it’s absolutely worth the climb. For everyone else, wait for streaming, but make sure you watch it on the biggest screen you can find - and maybe take a motion sickness pill first.