You know that feeling when your stomach drops on a roller coaster? Now imagine that sensation stretched out for a full 100 minutes. That’s the visceral experience of watching Fall, the 2022 survival thriller that became the definitive movie where two girls climb a tower. It’s a simple premise. Two best friends, Becky and Hunter, decide to scale a 2,000-foot decommissioned TV tower in the middle of the California desert.
Things go wrong. Horribly wrong.
Honestly, I’ve seen plenty of survival movies—127 Hours, The Shallows, Frozen (not the Disney one, the chairlift one)—but there’s something uniquely primal about the height in this film. It taps into an evolutionary fear. Most of us wouldn’t even stand on a sturdy balcony at that height, let alone a rusted, swaying metal pole that’s literally twice the height of the Eiffel Tower.
The B67 TV Tower: Is It Actually Real?
Whenever people talk about the movie where two girls climb a tower, the first question is always: "Does that thing actually exist?"
Yes and no.
The tower in the film is called the KXTV/KOVR tower, also known as the B67 TV tower. In the world of the movie, it's located in the desert, a rusting relic of a bygone era of analog broadcasting. In real life, there is a very real tower that inspired this nightmare. The KXTV/KOVR tower in Walnut Grove, California, stands at 2,049 feet. For context, the Burj Khalifa—the tallest building in the world—is about 2,717 feet.
Director Scott Mann and his team didn't just use green screens. They actually built a 100-foot section of the tower on top of a mountain in the Mojave Desert. This allowed them to capture real wind, real sun-glare, and real vertigo. When you see Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner shivering or looking down at the clouds, they aren't looking at a tennis ball on a stick. They were actually several hundred feet in the air on a cliffside.
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It makes a difference. You can feel the grit.
Why the Psychology of Fall Works
Becky, played by Grace Caroline Currey, is grieving. Her husband Dan died in a climbing accident a year prior. Her friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner) is a high-energy "do it for the 'gram" influencer who thinks the best way to heal is to face the fear head-on.
It’s a classic setup. But the movie where two girls climb a tower works because it understands the "high place phenomenon." Have you ever stood near a ledge and felt a weird, intrusive urge to jump? Not because you're suicidal, but because your brain is misinterpreting a safety signal?
Fall plays with that. It forces you to look down.
The pacing is surprisingly tight. Once they get up there, the ladder breaks. They are stuck on a platform no bigger than a pizza box. No water. No shade. No way down. The sheer isolation is what gets you. They are surrounded by miles of nothingness, yet they are trapped in the most cramped space imaginable. It’s a paradox of scale.
The Viral Success and the "Deepfake" Controversy
One of the weirdest facts about this movie is how it handled its R-rating. Originally, the film was packed with "F-bombs." I mean, if you were 2,000 feet in the air and the ladder just fell off, you’d probably be swearing too.
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However, Lionsgate wanted a PG-13 rating to reach a wider audience. Usually, this means expensive reshoots or awkward dubbing where actors say things like "Oh, fudge!"
Instead, the production used Flawless AI technology. They basically used deepfake tech to change the actors' mouth movements and replace 30+ swear words with PG-13 alternatives in post-production. It was one of the first major films to use "vfx-dubbing" to change a rating. If you watch closely, you can occasionally spot a slight digital shimmer around the lips, but mostly, it’s seamless.
It paid off. The movie became a massive hit on Netflix and sparked a wave of "vertigo-core" cinema.
Fact-Checking the Survival Tactics
Is it actually possible to survive what they went through?
- The Drone: Using a drone to fly a message to a nearby motel is actually a smart move, though the battery life and signal range at that altitude would be a nightmare.
- The Light Socket: In one scene, they try to charge the drone by tapping into the aviation warning light at the top. This is technically plausible but incredibly dangerous. You're dealing with high-voltage circuitry while sweating and shaking.
- The Vultures: People often think the vultures are an exaggeration. They aren't. Vultures are opportunistic. They don't always wait for you to die; they just wait for you to be weak enough that you can't fight back.
What Other Movies Fit This Vibe?
If you’ve already finished the movie where two girls climb a tower and you want more of that specific brand of "please-make-it-stop" tension, there are a few others worth checking out.
The Ledge (2022) is often confused with Fall. It features a woman trapped on a mountain face while being hunted by four men. It’s more of a cat-and-mouse game than a pure survival piece. Then there’s 47 Meters Down, which is basically Fall but underwater. Same producers, same "trapped in a small space" energy.
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Actually, the producers of Fall recently announced not one, but two sequels. Apparently, people really like watching people get stuck in high places. Whether they can replicate the simple terror of the first one remains to be seen.
Actionable Takeaways for Thriller Fans
If you're planning to watch or re-watch Fall, or if you're just fascinated by the genre, here is how to get the most out of the experience.
Watch it on the biggest screen possible. This isn't a "phone movie." The sense of scale is entirely lost on a small screen. If you have a VR headset, some platforms offer 2D cinema modes that simulate a massive screen—this is arguably the best way to trigger that genuine sense of vertigo.
Pay attention to the foreshadowing. The movie is actually quite clever with its early cues. The rusted bolts, the vultures at the beginning, the way Hunter reacts to certain mentions of Dan—all of it builds toward the "big twist" in the third act. Speaking of that twist, it’s polarizing. Some people find it a bit of a cliché, while others think it adds a necessary layer of psychological horror to the physical struggle.
Check your gear. If this movie makes you want to try climbing—great! But let it be a lesson in maintenance. The B67 tower was a death trap because it was unmaintained. Real-world climbing is about redundancy. Always have a backup. Always tell someone where you are going. And for the love of everything, don't climb a 2,000-foot tower for a selfie.
The legacy of this film isn't just about the heights. It’s about how it managed to take a tiny budget and a two-person cast and turn it into a global talking point. It proved that you don't need a massive CGI city being destroyed to scare people. You just need a tall pole, a loose bolt, and a long way down.
For your next watch, look into The Walk (2015), which tells the true story of Philippe Petit’s high-wire walk between the Twin Towers. It’s a great companion piece that focuses more on the artistry and obsession of heights rather than the pure survival horror of Fall.