Vértigo

The basic plot of Vertige is pretty lame and worn off considering that we are talking about a group of five mountain climbers who take an adventurous hike on a mountain path that goes overboard and turns into a fight for survival.

Its like Wrong Turn if you replace the woods with mountains. At first you think it could go a different direction because the first half works pretty well as a kind of adventure movie with mountain climbers. You get some pretty impressive climbing sequences with lines snapping and nice action mixed with beautiful landscape shots and some nice camera-work... as well as a pretty hot female lead actress (although she chose a pretty strange dress for that trip that gives the viewer some pretty nice views of her mountains too). As soon as the movie turns to be a survival horror with some mountain hillbilly maniac who hunts climbers it goes overboard. There is no resolution of the obscure guy hunting the climbers and the flashback sequences about some mishappenings in the life of the female lead who seems to be a doctor are pretty meaningless and cheap.

Vertige is a typical style over substance movie with a giant letdown in the end and a plot that is as paper thin as the clichéd character development. Anyone who has high hopes for another great french horror movie should stay away from this. The action sequences are really good but i doubt thats enough for a feature movie. first turns out closed and on further investigation becomes quite stressful when bridges break and cables burst.

I stay wondering why so many directors and screenplay writers of wannabe-horror movies ruin the good ideas they have in the beginning. This movie starts really good, it seems to deal with hobby mountain-climbing and interpersonal tensions. Indeed, mountain-climbing can turn out to be real horror if you are not particularly good at it and if you take a closed (certainly not without a reason) path. In the first 1/2 hour of the movie, nice camera shots and great landscapes convey a feeling of vertigo and a vague sense of danger - which is very, very credible in the given situation. Things can go wrong, ropes can tear, vertigo can drive you to madness, you can get lost in the mountains, there can be a tempest - all that is horror, because it is likely to happen in real life. So WHY the hell is there any need for "boosting" a life-like situation with some maniac moron hunting the characters? WHY do they always turn a real horror situation into a stereotyped, paper-thin, seen-over-a-thousand-of-times slasher? It is the same with "The Descent" which had excellent premises to get really scary (in the end, there are not many things as gruesome as being trapped in some huge subterranean labyrinth of holes without any map) but instead, decided to put in some stupid monsters which ruined the whole suspense and the sense of horror. Horrific are only things which seem realistic or in some way convey the sense of the possibility to get realistic. There is no need for additional "boost"! Folks, show me a horror movie based on completely natural premises and the appropriate development of characters in the given situation - and I will sing you a love song. But it seems easier to get some mad hunter or monsters in than to develop real tensions and real situations.

What is it with France lately. Really, they are making flicks I really like. I remember a time when they only made blah blah movies. If you have seen The Descent then this one is one you are going to like, only they don't descent but they climb. A bunch of friends are out for a hike and by doing that they would like to climb some mountains. But they are unlucky. The pass to the mountains is closed but hey, it's a horror so they ignore it and start climbing. The shots made while climbing are fabulous. If you have fear of heights than you will have it in some shots. But of course something goes wrong. They are making too many risks and happen to become isolated on a rock. And from there on the f lick really starts. I can only tell you that it's going to rock (what's in a name) hard and typical for a french movie there is no happy ending. The blood flows frequently and sometimes even gory. The movie also is here and there really brutal. I just can understand why nobody is talking about this flick. It's just great, the only thing I don't get is the flashes our main actress gets from a hospital. But after all, this one is straight in your face...another gem from France

I m a newbie to Via Ferrata (a sport involves trekking n climbing all along a steel cable etc) and by coincidence I recalled myself earlier today about this movie, and so I watched it again. And I can confirm now that it's my newbie sport.

I've never been to Croatia. How beautiful is the scene! And their climbing gears are realistic. In real lives, not every climber has Olympic gears and handsome like Keanu Reeves.

And the rest of the story is pretty cool n normal. I don't need to say anything about the plot and u can readily figure it out. Yeah typical slasher type. I still don't understand why climbers are not armed with knives. Not even Gerber or Victotinox??? How can u go for a climbing n trekking without a knife? And why everyone in slasher movies don't use a baton?

Anyway, I think this movie can give u one and a half hour of fun. Not really a thriller, but still fun to watch.

Enjoy!

Vertige - High Land - CATCH IT (B) French movie about six friends trapped on the Zip line is frightening & thrilling. Towards the end it may start to feel like a part of Wrong Turn but still it's worth a shot. Last year's Melisa George's British movie "A Lonely Place to Die" seems took some inspiration from here though nonetheless her movie was great as it covered the horrific subject matter of rich children's kidnapping & captivity for ransom. Anyways, the performances by young cast Nicolas Giraud, Fanny Valette, Johan Libéreau, Maud Wyler and Raphaël Lenglet are admirable, as the tension between the characters keeps you on edge. I had fun time watching it.