‘Fall 2: Deadpoint' First Look Will Scare You More Than Any Horror or Slasher [Exclusive]

Image via Lionsgate Published Aug 31, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT Sign in to your Collider account The best movies designed to thrill and horrify you tap into the most primal of fears, even if they're fears you didn't know you had. Fall accomplished exactly that in 2022, making us suffer as it stranded two climbers 2,000 feet above the ground on an abandoned television tower and then spent the rest of its runtime finding increasingly horrible ways to show us that if you thought the fall would be bad, staying up there might be worse. Now, the franchise is going considerably bigger — and, as part of Collider's Fall Exclusive Preview, we can reveal a brand-new look at the sequel. Fall 2: Deadpoint is directed by Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, the creative minds behind the likes of Jigsaw, Daybreakers and Predestination, and this time, we're moving from a giant tower in the desert to one big-ass mountain in Thailand. The sequel follows two climbers who become trapped thousands of feet above the ground during a dangerous climb, where sheer exposure and impossible odds transform their journey into a fight for survival. Fall 2: Deadpoint stars Harriet Slater (Outlander: Blood of My Blood) as Jax Hunter, Arsema Thomas (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story) as Luce and Tom Brittney (Grantchester) as Jon Platt. Speaking exclusively with Collider about taking over the franchise, the Spierig Brothers explained that making the sequel bigger was never about making its central premise more complicated: "For us, the key was to keep the survival story very simple at its core. You have characters who are trapped in an incredibly dangerous environment, and the audience immediately understands what they are trying to do and what is standing in their way. We wanted to make the world around them bigger, but without making the story itself unnecessarily complicated. The height, the isolation and the physical danger are still the heart of the movie. The challenge was finding a new situation that had that same simple, instantly understandable danger as the first film, but felt completely different." The different situation of which they speak was taking part on a plank walk high around the ground, which was inspired by the immensely dangerous Huashan Plank Walk in China. Our exclusive images, which have made us feel a bit weak at the knees and wobbly in the belly, glimpse at the precarious wooden pathway and the sheer rock face surrounding it, with seemingly very little separating the climbers from the enormous drop beneath them. Great stuff. Moving the action to Thailand also meant the directors were able to change the visual identity that was first established in Fall, because rather than simply transplanting the same concept into another location, they were able to make it altogether more dramatic. They explained, "Thailand gave us an incredible opportunity to completely change the visual language of the film. We didn’t want to simply recreate the first movie in a different location. We wanted the environment to feel like a character in its own right." "It had to be different and not feel like a repeat of the first film. The plank walk was something we all immediately gravitated towards after Michael and I pitched a number of different ideas to the producers. It felt like it was in the spirit of the first film, but brought something completely different at the same time." The pair also revealed that they were already fans of Fall before becoming involved in the sequel. After pitching several potential directions for the follow-up, it was the plank walk that ultimately became the foundation of the movie. "Firstly, we were big fans of the first film, so we were excited to be part of the next chapter. We pitched a number of different ideas, but the one we all landed on was a plank walk inspired by the Huashan Plank Walk in China. It’s considered one of the most dangerous hikes in the world, and once we saw it, we knew we had the foundation for a really intense and cinematic story." How Did the Spierig Brothers Make ‘Fall 2’ Look So Terrifying? For the original Fall, director Scott Mann used practical filmmaking and clever visual effects to create the illusion that its stars were genuinely stranded thousands of feet in the air. The Spierig Brothers wanted to retain that feeling of physical danger, and the sequel was filmed in a Thai rock quarry to provide real rock faces and textures while keeping the production at a manageable height. "The goal was to shoot as much as we could practically. However, for logistical reasons, there was no way we could film at 4,000 feet, so we shot in a rock quarry in Thailand instead. That gave us the natural rock walls and textures we needed to make the film feel tactile and grounded. We also shot with almost no blue screen, which was really important to us. We wanted the actors out in the sun, exposed to the heat and harsh environment; that authenticity really helps sell the danger and realism of the film." That meant putting the actors into some genuinely uncomfortable situations. Although they weren’t actually suspended thousands of feet above the ground, the cast spent extensive periods harnessed roughly 40 feet in the air. "The shoot was tough, but for all the right reasons," they explained. "The actors had to be harnessed for almost every scene on the plank walk, and they were elevated around 40 feet in the air for long periods of time, which often made communication difficult. But everyone worked incredibly hard and pushed through some very demanding days, and we think that commitment really comes across on screen." The directors also encouraged the cast to perform their own stunts where possible, something they believe gave the finished sequences considerably more material to work with. "Any time the actors did their own stunts, it brought so much to the sequences and gave us a huge amount to work with in the editing room, so those days were always especially exciting." There is also a fundamental difference between creating fear through heights and the more conventional horror filmmaking the brothers employed on movies such as Jigsaw. Rather than concealing a monster or threat, Fall 2: Deadpoint can simply show audiences the drop. "I think the big difference is that with traditional horror, you can often hide the threat and then reveal it," said Spierig. "With heights, the audience can see the danger very clearly. There’s something very primal about looking down and imagining what would happen if you fell. For us, it was really important to put the audience into the characters’ perspective. We used a lot of point-of-view shots and cameras attached to the actors, so you get that almost GoPro-like feeling of actually being there with them. We also tried to shoot as much as possible for real. We were actually shooting on the side of a rock wall and avoided green screen completely wherever we could. Having the actors physically exposed to the height, the heat, the rain and the wind gives the performances a reality that you can hopefully feel as an audience member." Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would BeYour Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn't work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back. 🎖️Rambo 🍸James Bond 🏺Indiana Jones 🔧John McClane 🎭Ethan Hunt FIND YOUR PARTNER → 01 You're dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you. ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them. BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to use it against the enemy. CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart. DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we're walking into. ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged. NEXT QUESTION → 02 You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission. AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can't follow. BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too hard about it. CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire. DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won't explain until it's needed. EBy whatever means are available — I've driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method. NEXT QUESTION → 03 You're pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of. ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I've reloaded. BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works. CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision. DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive. ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead. NEXT QUESTION → 04 The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are. AA bar with terrible lighting, cold beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings. BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something expensive, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting. CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation. DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway. EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you've had all week. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability. APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost. BDeadpan and dry — keeping it light keeps me sharp, even when everything is on fire. CEnthusiastic and slightly chaotic — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise. DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven't thought of yet. EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership. AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we're there. BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past. CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them. DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows. EFind the one thing they haven't accounted for — there's always one thing — and make sure we're holding it. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Things go badly wrong and you're captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters. ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there. BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running. CCome in loud, come in fast, and worry about the collateral damage later — I'd do the same for them. DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I'm out — they don't leave people behind. ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the hard part, and still manage to look good doing it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn't replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn't know you had. ATechnology that shouldn't exist yet and the training to use it under any conditions. BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it's been tested. CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless. DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it. EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up. NEXT QUESTION → 09 Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together. AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner. BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet. CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through. DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down. EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked. NEXT QUESTION → 10 It's the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one. AOne line. Absolutely dry. Delivered like the world isn't ending. Then we move. BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen. CA plan I don't fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat. DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next. ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that's who they've always been. REVEAL MY PARTNER → Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse. RamboYour partner doesn't talk much, doesn't need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you've finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You'll never need to ask if he has your back. You'll just know. James BondYour partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it'll take you a moment to remember what's actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You'll never be bored. You'll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing. Indiana JonesYour partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar's eye and a brawler's instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn't matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you'll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them. John McClaneYour partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren't so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay. Ethan HuntYour partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you've finished reading the briefing, and the plan he's settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn't exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ The Spierig Brothers Wanted ‘Fall 2’ to Be Their Own Movie Lionsgate Mann remains heavily involved in the franchise as a writer and producer, with Jonathan Frank co-writing the screenplay. For the Spierig Brothers, taking over as directors meant finding a balance between retaining the brutally effective simplicity of Mann’s original and putting their own stamp on the sequel. The film is produced by James Harris, Mark Lane, Mann, David Haring and Christian Mercuri. They explained: "We had a huge amount of respect for what Scott achieved with the first film. The simplicity of the concept and the way he created tension from the environment were things we absolutely wanted to preserve. At the same time, we didn’t want to simply copy the first movie. We wanted Fall 2 to feel like its own film and bring our own sensibility to it. We’ve always loved genre filmmaking, and we’re interested in taking a simple premise and pushing it as far as we can visually and physically. So we wanted to increase the scale and spectacle while still keeping the story very simple and character-driven." The pair ultimately want audiences to experience the same physical reaction that made the original such an effective exercise in anxiety, and believe the sequel has been designed specifically to benefit from being seen on the biggest screen possible: "Hopefully audiences feel the same vertigo and fear they experienced watching the first film. We know a lot of movies say you need to see them in a theater but FALL 2: DEADPOINT really is designed as an immersive, vertigo-inducing ride that is heightened by the theatrical experience. So we hope audiences have a great time — and maybe decide not to climb a mountain anytime soon." ‘Fall 3’ Is Already Part of the Plan The filmmakers are also looking beyond Deadpoint. A third Fall movie has already been planned, although the Spierig Brothers stressed that they didn’t want the sequel to exist merely as connective tissue between franchise installments. Fall 2: Deadpoint has instead been designed to tell a complete story while leaving the concept open to further exploration. "It was very important to us that Fall 2 work as its own complete movie," said the Spierigs. "We didn’t want the audience to feel like they were watching a two-hour setup for another film. At the same time, because the world and the concept have the potential to continue, there are certainly opportunities to take things further," they continued. "We were conscious of that, but we wanted to make sure the story we were telling in Fall 2 had its own beginning, middle and end. Hopefully, if audiences respond to the movie and want to see more, there’s a very interesting world to explore in a third film. But our priority was always to make Fall 2 satisfying on its own." Fall 2: Deadpoint opens exclusively in theaters on September 2, 2026. Release Date September 2, 2026 Runtime 97 Minutes Director Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig Cast Juju Journey Brener Young Jax Writers Jonathan Frank, Scott Mann Producers Christian Mercuri, David Haring, Mark Lane, James Harris, Scott Mann Prequel(s) Fall