Fall

It was theatrically released in the United States on August 12, 2022 by Lionsgate Films. It was a box office success, grossing $21 million worldwide against a $3 million budget, and received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its suspense, atmosphere, cinematography, practical effects, Mann’s direction and Currey’s and Gardner’s performances, but criticizing its screenplay and pacing.

The next day, Hunter and Becky arrive and successfully climb a severely corroded ladder to a tiny platform at the top of the tower, where Becky scatters Dan’s ashes. As the two begin their descent, however, the ladder breaks, stranding them several hundred feet above the next intact section and almost two thousand feet above the ground. Moreover, the backpack with their water and a small Quadcopter drone have fallen onto a communications dish, just beyond the reach of their rope.

Despite the remote location, Hunter is initially confident that emergency services will notice the crash of the ladder, but help never arrives. They try to use their cellphones, but find that radio interference from the communications dish is blocking the signal. Hunter tries sending a message for help by packing her phone in one of her shoes and dropping it out of range of the interference, but the phone is destroyed upon impact with the ground before the message can be transmitted.

The pair later notice two men camping in an RV nearby and get their attention with a flare gun found in an emergency box on the platform. The men see it, but instead of helping them, they steal Hunter’s car and drive off.

As the night falls, Becky notices a tattoo on Hunter’s ankle: “1-4-3”, a numeric code Dan used to tell Becky that he loved her. Hunter tearfully admits to a four-month affair that ended shortly before Becky and Dan’s wedding, but Becky is unmoved by her apologies. The next day, in penance, Hunter climbs to retrieve the backpack but nearly falls to her death. She injures her hands in the process, but successfully ties the rope to the bag, and Becky uses all of her remaining strength to pull both Hunter and the backpack up. Becky uses the tower’s aviation obstruction lighting warning light to charge the drone and sends it to a nearby motel a few miles away with a written message for help, but it is struck by a truck and destroyed while flying over a road.

At night, Becky is delirious from the lack of food and water, but in a brief lucid moment, when she asks Hunter for her other shoe to pad it with her phone inside, Becky realizes Hunter had actually fallen onto one of the communication dishes when retrieving the backpack and was killed; Becky has been hallucinating her presence since then. The next day, Becky is awakened by a vulture gnawing at her wounded leg, and kills and eats it. Her strength partially restored, Becky climbs down to the dish where Hunter’s body lies and types a text message to her father. She then puts the phone into Hunter’s shoe for protection, shoves it into a hole in the corpse’s abdomen, and pushes it off the tower. Hunter’s body cushions the impact and the message transmits. Becky’s father alerts emergency services, who then rush to the tower. She is rescued and reunited with her father.