Viral Film ‘Fall’ Has Finally Landed On Streaming in Ireland – But Is It Any Good?

Short answer: it’s fine. 

If you’re in the market for something new to watch ahead of the weekend, you’re in luck – a little well-known film called Fall recently landed on Netflix, and it’s been resting safely at the top spot for the past few days.

The almost one-location film follows two friends, Becky and Hunter, who decide to climb a 2,000 foot disused TV tower in the desert. Becky is mourning the death of her husband who fell to his death one year previous (or rather, 51 weeks ago, as the movie insists) while climbing a mountain, and is wary of the excursion. But Hunter convinces her.

The pair successfully climb the tower, but to their horror, the rusted ladder they scaled falls away leaving them trapped atop the structure, with no phone signal and no way to get down. Naturally, terror ensues.

But why, you may ask, is a relatively low budget survival thriller produced by Buzzfeed Studios (among others) the most watched film on Netflix? Because it went viral, of course.

If you’ve been in any way present on TikTok for the past year or so, you’ve probably seen a good third of Fall on your fyp. It was all over the app in 2022, as users shared pivotal scenes, shocking moments, and pretty much the entire plot to their pages, encouraging viewers to seek it out elsewhere and watch it in its entirety.

Fall was released in cinemas in the States last year, but it’s only now that Irish viewers are getting the chance to see it (legally) in full.

So, is it any good? In short, it’s fine. 

If you can look past some shaky performances, questionable logic, and its bloated 107 minute running time, Fall is good.

It’s entertaining, it’s tense, it’s anxiety inducing if you’re in any way afraid of heights, and it does have a somewhat satisfying ending. It was also shot entirely on location. Well, not 2,000 feet in the air, but the actors did shoot on a specially built platform a couple of hundred feet in the air on a mountain. Which is impressive, to be fair.

At the time of writing, the film currently boasts a favourable 79% on Rotten Tomatoes with many critics lauding its originality and tight script writing.

Fall may not be winning any awards this season, but if you’re in the mood for something a bit different that’s bound to stress you out at least a little bit, give it a watch. You might as well – everyone else is talking about it.

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