![]() It's too bad this effort to help keep the theater industry aloft will only let viewers down. ![]() Much has been written about getting ticket buyers back into theaters with event movies that demand the theatrical experience. Ultimately, “Fall” has been designed to be seen on as a big a screen as possible, which is why Lionsgate is going wide with it this weekend instead of shuffling it off to VOD. “Fall” only works if we believe the predicament in which Becky and Hunter are trapped, but the thin dialogue, showy cinematography, and overzealous edits betray the potential of this nightmare. Currey and Gardner give committed performances in physical terms-it looks like an exhausting production-but they’re saddled with juvenile dialogue that doesn’t capture the terror people would really feel in this situation. The best “trapped” films usually rely on realism, making viewers feel like they’re actually trapped in the rocky waves of a film like “Open Water,” and “Fall” crumbles under that analysis. Hunter is given a secret that's more like melodrama than realism, vultures and drones get involved, and the movie gets increasingly silly through its final act. When Becky and Hunter begin their actual ascent, Mann has his firmest grip on the movie, building tension in a way that can be pretty effective.Īnd then “Fall” stalls again. In fact, there’s a better version of the film that starts right with the climb, allowing the characters’ trauma to arise through their conversations on the way up instead of with a horrendous set-up act that’s filled with clichés and poor filmmaking (it also would have helped reduce the runtime on a 107-minute movie that should be closer to 87). Of course, it goes very wrong, leaving Becky and Hunter stranded on top of the tower with no way down and no way to communicate with anyone who might be able to save them.įilmed in the Mojave Desert, the vast majority of “Fall” takes place on the tower, and the film admittedly gets some nice adrenaline from the initial climb and disastrous ladder collapse that follows. One day, Insta-star Hunter comes to Becky with a proposal: They’re going to climb an abandoned 2,000-foot TV tower that’s basically in the middle of nowhere, from which they will find closure and spread Dan’s ashes. A year later, Becky is drowning her grief in a bottle, avoiding Hunter and her worried father James ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan, taking a part so small that it's like a favor to a friend). ![]() NOTE: Disney is apparently in the process of making another feature-length adaptation of the Tower of Terror ride, this one for the big screen.Becky ( Grace Caroline Currey), husband Dan ( Mason Gooding), and Becky’s BFF Hunter ( Virginia Gardner) are climbing a sheer mountain face in the opening scene when tragedy strikes and Dan plummets to the ground below. Obviously, this is not going to be the film for someone looking for a hardcore frightfest, but for a lighthearted time with or without the kids, I'd highly suggest this one. A down-on-his-luck journalist and his niece investigate a spooky story about the mysterious disappearance of five people at the abandoned Hollywood Tower Hotel. It does stick around the typical standard of Disney TV movies as far as writing & directing go, but it manages to work in a way that looks and feels better than even a big-screen adaptation like The Haunted Mansion. To this day, the little-girl-in-the-rain scene gives me the chills just thinking about it. It's very cheesy, fun, & entertaining, and has quite a few creep-out moments (especially for a kids' TV movie). While the film is certainly nothing Emmy-award winning, it delivers on all it promises. Said to be haunted, Buzzy wants to find out the truth and his niece Anna (Dunst) wants to join along with him to help make the story. In an attempt to become a serious writer again (and win back the affection of his old flame Jill (Nia Peebles)), Buzzy heads to the old Hollywood Tower Hotel, where he is told five people mysteriously disappeared in an elevator after the hotel was struck by lightning nearly 60 years prior. Unlike The Haunted Mansion, however, this film is actually good! The story focuses on Buzzy Crocker (Guttenberg), a journalist for a National Enquirer-esquire tabloid. Basically, like the botched Eddie Murphy film The Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror is a vehicle to show off a Disney World attraction through a 90-minute narrative commercial. ![]() This is unfortunate because it's one of the rare family horrors that actually manages to be simultaneously fun, acceptable, and scary for everyone. The elevator collapses eleven floors and the five people roam. Among great family "horrors" like Hocus Pocus, The Witches, Monster Squad, and others, Tower of Terror (1997), starring Steve Guttenberg and a young Kirsten Dunst, is often forgotten. The film starts out when five people walk into an elevator, but something goes very wrong.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |