Vertige

"Vertige" is a very entertaining movie with a lot of intense suspense in the first half that is comparable to "Cliffhanger". Apart of some generic character plays, the first half especially convinces with an interesting camera work that perfectly captures the vertigo and the fears of of one of the characters. By watching these scenes you really can identify with the character and you won't feel at ease as well. You feel as if you were climbing up the mountains of Croatia and suffering from vertigo for real. The first half also shows us many great landscapes captured by a very good camera work once again.

The second part of the movie turns from a suspenseful action drama into a solid horror movie that can be compared to the legendary "The Hills Have Eyes". The transition is well developed enough to not feel like a sudden rupture but it might still mislead some people. Those who expected an intense mountaineer feature may be mixed up and feel disappointed by the second half. Those who awaited a rather generic adult horror movie might already get confused by the first half of the movie. The mixture of both genres is very particular and I personally equally adored both halves but this experimental idea is rather courageous and might not sell well. It can be considered as a mistake from a commercial point of view. From an artistic point of view, the idea is worth it and turns out to be rather intriguing.

In this second part of the movie, there are some gore and splatter scenes but fortunately the movie rather focuses on the atmosphere and the fate of the characters than on a generic slaughter fest. The negative thing is that the fate of the main villain is not explained and the screenwriters could have created a few better ideas and a more profound character. On the other side, even though the movie has a radical change of style and genre, the flick is very dynamical and will keep you on the edge of your seat until the end even though there are no big twists or surprises in the movie that might push this flick above average. The ending is a little bit too generic and has some very weak and random explanations for what we have seen in about ninety minutes.

There is a lot of potential in this feature and it's surely entertaining but it could have been better with an additional running time of maybe ten minutes and an improved ending. If you see this movie for a cheap price or if it is shown on television, don't hesitate to buy or watch this but don't spend more money on it and don't expect anything outstanding.

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!

The teenagers Fred (Nicolas Giraud), his girlfriend Karine (Maud Wyler) and their friends Chloe (Fanny Valette), William (Raphaël Lenglet) e Luke (Johan Libéreau) travel to Croatia to climb and hike along the day. They find the starting point closed with rocks but the experienced climber Fred convinces the others, including the coward Luke that has a crush on Chloe and wants to be close to her, to cross the tract climbing the mountain. Along their journey, they realize that the trail is more dangerous than they thought: the rope bridge collapses after their crossing and the handle in the mountain is busted. Fred climbs with Karine to help their friends but he is wounded in a bear trap. Karine uses a rope to bring their friends to the top, but they do not find Fred that has disappeared. When Chloe falls in a hole with a trap, they question what do people hunt in that isolated spot. When they discover the truth, their entertainment turns into a fight to survive.

"Vertige" has a breathless beginning with the adventure of the group of five friends in the Balkans. In the first half of this movie, the plot is very tense and I do not know how far the actors and actresses have climbed or crossed the rope bridge in times of CGI, but the result is effective with excellent scenes and camera work and I was nervous with the situation of the poor guys. Unfortunately the second part of the story is a violent collection of clichés "à la The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and many other sub-products of the slash genre. Luke is an annoying character and the final decision of Chloe with the fate of Anton is simply ridiculous. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Vertigem" ("Vertigo")

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.

A Group of friends decide to do some weekend rock climbing, to bond together through one of the friends having a traumatic experience, as her work as a nurse. What starts off as a lot of fun, turns into a nightmare when they encounter some problems, leaving them stranded on the mountain with nowhere to go. To add insult to injury, they are being stalked by a Mountain man, who doesn't like the fact that they are in his territory. Let the hunt begin!

First off, the first half of this film is absolutely incredible! The cinematography is absolutely astounding and will draw you into it from the start. The rock climbing scenes left my hands sweating, which is something that happens to me, as I have a fear of heights. So for a film to do this to me, shows how sensational the camera angles were in this very memorable experience. There were some genuinely spine tingling moments of suspense, which I can liken to the movie "Cliffhanger". You really are on the edge of your seat for a good 40 to 50 minutes. Unfortunately, when the slasher element kicks in, the movie becomes a major disappointment. The villain was not very memorable and the kills lacked creativity. The annoying characters didn't add any added incentive to feel sorry for their situation, so when the emotional scenes take place, there is just no sense of loss. As the movie ends, you will be left scratching your head, wondering how the director made a meal of what should have been a classic. Thankfully the first half of the film makes it worth the effort to have at least one viewing.