Fall 2: Deadpoint (2026) Review!!

Synopsis – Grieving her sister Shiloh’s death, Jax Hunter bonds with Shiloh’s bold friend Luce. They tackle Mount Kwan’s dangerous plank walk in Thailand. When a rockslide traps them on a narrow plank 3000 feet up, Jax must face her fears to survive.

My Take – Even if I never quite understood why anyone would willingly step into such a ludicrous predicament, I kind of enjoyed the Scott Mann directed don’t-look-down thriller when it hit in 2022. Despite its modest cast and increasingly hokey script, the kind of elements that usually signal disposable streamer fare, it delivered genuine thrills and taut suspense, a rarity in this era of quantity over quality genre output.

But while it ended like a nice one-and-done story, with a $21.8 million haul on a $3 million budget, a sequel was of course inevitable.

Now in the hands of directing duo Michael and Peter Spierig (Daybreakers, Jigsaw), the follow-up sends a new cast of young daredevils on a perilous mountainside challenge in Thailand, that successfully replicates the vertiginous tension of the first film without feeling like a carbon copy, but also struggles to reach heights of the original.

Penned again by Mann and co‑writer Jonathan Frank, the script’s insistence on mirroring the first film’s personal conflicts and revelations slightly weighs down what is otherwise an effective thrill ride, especially in a theater, where its most nauseating sequences land with full force. The formula works, even if the melodrama bubbles away whenever the film strays from pure suspense.

For those unmoved by the original, this won’t change minds. But fans should find plenty to enjoy: over‑the‑top melodrama, bursts of exciting action, and nerve‑shredding tension. The problem is its eagerness to tease a third entry, leaving this installment feeling less like a natural continuation and more like a studio’s calculated stretch to manufacture IP from a rare hit.

Even with its shocking third‑act twist, it plays more like a corporate gamble than a creative necessity.

Set after the events of Fall, the sequel follows Jax Hunter (Harriet Slater), still grieving the loss of her sister Shiloh (Virginia Gardner) and unsettled by the posthumous fame surrounding her. While sorting through Shiloh’s belongings, Jax meets Luce (Arsema Thomas), a close friend who proposes honoring Shiloh’s legacy by attempting the Devil’s Elbow — a treacherous plank walk carved into a mountainside in Thailand.

Haunted by the harsh final words she spoke to her sister, Jax reluctantly agrees, especially after learning of the mythical “Death Dragon” said to devour the fears of those who reach the summit. In Thailand, the women enlist a guide, John (Tom Brittney), who agrees to lead them across the Devil’s Elbow despite worsening weather.

Midway through the climb, disaster strikes: an earthquake triggers an avalanche that obliterates their path, separates them from John, and leaves them stranded 4,000 feet above ground. Forced to retrace their steps, Jax and Luce battle unforgiving terrain, violent storms, and mounting tension between themselves. As survival collides with guilt and fear, their journey becomes as much about confronting inner demons as escaping the mountain alive.

Here, Frank and Scott Mann’s script admittedly takes its time to ignite, but once the trio begins their ascent, the tension clicks into place. Unlike the first film, however, the sequel struggles to sustain momentum. Where the predecessor put Grace Caroline Currey’s Becky through relentless trials with multiple avenues for survival, here the options are limited, one of them literally involves pointing a laser.

Also the film’s opening act fails to spark much interest in Jax or Luce. Jax’s resistance makes the journey feel like a bad idea from the outset, echoing Becky’s arc but without the same emotional pull. Luce often feels like a Shiloh stand‑in, and while the script eventually differentiates them, the déjà vu is hard to shake.

However, directors Michael and Peter Spierig do a respectable job blending real locations with constructed sets, grounding the danger in palpable reality even when the hazards verge on absurd. Loose steps, fraying cables, and POV shots keep the audience in the climbers’ shoes, though the threat sometimes feels more like tetanus than vertigo. Still, the stunts are believably harrowing, and the brothers’ VFX background helps stretch the budget — even if the seams between fiberglass, CGI, and reality occasionally show. ADR work, unfortunately, is glaringly rough.

Narratively, the film leans too heavily on duplicating Fall’s interpersonal revelations. Flashbacks and confrontations arrive at precisely the wrong moments, turning survival drama into soap opera bullet points. A third‑act clash derails urgency, and the harebrained twist that follows is conceptually fun but collapses under scrutiny.

The finale tips the balance from suspense into silliness, capped by a daft Avengers‑style sequel tease. There are improvements: hallucinations, a weak point in the first film, are woven more effectively here, serving story rather than cheap jump scares. The characters also have more to do on the mountainside than Becky did atop her tower, which helps vary the tension.

Performance‑wise, Harriet Slater proves a worthy successor to Currey, embodying Jax’s grief and gradual courage with conviction. Arsema Thomas brings daring energy to Luce, her contrast with Jax almost comic at first but ultimately compelling. Both leads feel natural, believably terrified, and occasionally transcendent despite the script’s contrivances.

Tom Brittney makes the most of limited screen time, while Virginia Gardners return in flashbacks, Currey is disappointingly reduced to set dressing. On the whole, ‘Fall 2: Deadpoint‘ is a decent sequel that delivers the vertiginous thrills but struggles with its recycled melodrama and overcooked twists.