Enjoyable!
Author: Siamois from Canada
30 November 2009
Another reviewer compared Vertige to Deliverance but nothing could be further from the truth. Deliverance is a dark drama reflecting on civilization and nature.
Vertige is a more conventional action horror movie that has more in common with The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn and The Descent. Like the latter, Vertige is divided roughly in two parts. In the first part, we are introduced to a group of young, outdoor-loving people following a challenging mountain trail. This is where we as the viewers are introduced to this group's different character dynamics and relationships. Many scenes in the first half are rather interesting, sometimes thrilling and even downright spectacular. It's no stretch to say the film truly earned its title (Vertige, vertigo) here. All the tension is created by the various passive obstacles our group face, much like the Descent.
In the second half, things turn for the worse. As the threat takes the form of an intelligent, active villain hunting down the group, trying to pick them apart. Unfortunately, this villain is rather weakly sketched and poorly played. It also seems like the producers ran out of budget. Where the climbing scenes were breathtaking in the first part, the fight scenes and chasing in the last part are uninspired and bland.
I kept expecting all the challenging background in the first hour to resurface one way or another in the latter stage of the movie but it never happened. You're just left with an almost standard slasher movie. A poor take on Chainsaw Massacre and so on...
I'm giving this movie a 5 because it has an interesting premise and some great early scenes but the rest really disappoints. If you're a big fan of the movies I mentioned above, this might be worth a rental. If you hate that kind of stuff, you might be better off passing on this.
PS: In the genres listed, horror should definitely be added as it has all the tropes found in stuff like Wrong Turn, Chainsaw Masssacre, etc...
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.
An excellent first half of suspense/drama before turning into a cruddy horror film
Author: quinnox-1 from United States
15 May 2011
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
For the first half of the movie it was an interesting and good suspense story, about a group of carefree youthful friends who go on a mountain climbing adventure, and the obstacles they encounter on their more perilous than anticipated day trip. Disregarding that the route they want to climb is closed, they boldly and perhaps foolishly, go on and start their climb.
This is where the movie is well done, with breathtaking and scary camera shots of the ground far below as they make their way across thin precarious ledges on the mountainside and the sense of danger is prominent and sustained, until finally they end up at a rickety and dangerous looking rope bridge they must cross. All this is interesting to watch, especially for those who like outdoors adventures, added to this is a character who is more timid than the others in the group and is scared of heights, who has troubles navigating these perils which adds more tension to these scenes.
However, after they cross the rope bridge, which ends up being a thrilling and tense scene, the movie turns into a stupid generic horror film of a backwoods crazed maniac who lives on the mountain and he begins to hunt them down. The killer is not scary at all, and played by a guy who looks like some goof ball lumberjack and its quite disappointing when he is revealed. The characters also start to make really dumb decisions as is typical in horror movies, and basically the entire second half of the movie is a total dud, and can be skipped without missing anything good.
So I think this movie is actually worth seeing for the first half alone, which was surprisingly gripping when it involved the human drama of navigating a difficult mountain climb.
Author: bmritter21 September 2011
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This movie started off excellent. The shots of the mountains and the beauty of nature shown through that first half of the film was just amazing and breath taking !! This movie has one of my favorite French actors Johan Libereau (Loic- or Luke)and the movie started out exciting, fresh, full of adventure, and was thrilling keeping me wanting more. When the leader (Fred) got caught in a bear trap I was tense with excitement, and wondered what they would do next. Then it went down hill right after that, and it just plummeted. I quite caring about the movie about 2 minutes after Fred got dragged away. It went from a great cinematic French experience (despite the terrible English dubbing) to a terrible wannabe-American-terrible C rate horror film. Loic became really annoying and whinny, ruining the talents of Johan (Les Temoins,Douches Froides,Q,and Un Coeur Simple). The flashbacks of Chloe and Im assuming her brother or former patient didn't match with the storyline in my opinion. Did I mention that the version I watched had terrible English dubbing ? The killer wasn't scary or intimidating, and the deaths the cast experience are ridiculous, especially Loic's and Karines. This movie goes from epic to worthless in a 3 minute span, I would suggest only watching the first half and not disappointing yourself with the rest.
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.
