Altitude (2010)

Altitude really caught my eye when I saw the previews for it. Looked like it would be a cool movie to watch and probably pretty creepy too! I’m a little claustrophobic, and have a crippling fear of heights so being stuck in a small plane high above the earth couldn’t get any worse for me. Oh, and then you throw some supernatural into the mix and I’d be as useless as it gets in this movie. I think that’s why this may be the scariest movie of all time for me!

Altitude has a pretty cut and dry premise. At first anyway. Five kids in a small engine plane on their way to a concert experience a malfunction and the plane starts ascending out of control. Besides climbing to dangerous heights, they have even more problems. Something is up there with them.

Fairly new to feature length movies, Kaare Andrews directs his first horror / thriller. He has another movie in the works that sounds pretty interesting too, The Hunted. Paul Birkett who has been pretty versatile in movie genres was behind the writing. I was a little excited to see Jessica Lowndes (Sara) in here too. She was in The Haunting of Molly Hartley and Autopsy. Good to see her sticking in the horror scene. I was a big fan of Autopsy.

Five mins into this movie I already know who isn’t going to make it through to the end. At least I sure hope he doesn’t, Sal. He is the loud mouthed pain in the ass who is already half crocked at take off. On top of that, he isn’t a big fan of Bruce. Sara’s boyfriend who is obviously scared to death of flying. He just isn’t having a good time at all. I think there is a little more to him than he puts on though. Mel, who is Sal‘s girlfriend, is a film student. She brought her trusty camera along to annoy everyone. It’s not a teen thriller without one of them bringing a camera along to film the whole thing. Sara’s brother, Corey, is a little more calm and cool. He is our every guy.

Yeah, watch this movie. I loved it. I can understand the mixed reviews I read prior to watching it. The movie tends to focus on the characters and their survival while 1,000’s of feet in the air. We see very little of the thing that’s stalking them so high up. This is one of those movies that do VERY well inducing fear with what we don’t see, and a different kind of fear with what we do see. Each one of them handles their situation differently, and its believable. I feel for these kids up there! Its very much like an episode of Twilight Zone. There is a lot of little hints to a bigger story. We don’t get to see it all come together till the near end. When we do though, it’s tied together perfectly.

OVERALL SUMMARY
Quality writing, great characters, and an awesome story. Altitude brings a few phobias to the table that can really hit home for people watching. I think that will greatly increase the viewing pleasure. I’m sure that’s why I found this movie so good. Scared me to death thinking of myself in their spot! If you’re a gore hound, and like to see blood splattered on everything. Or some creature jumping out at you every few mins. This won’t have it. What you will get is a great supernatural story that takes us back to the days of Twilight Zone. Hasn't gotten the best of reviews here and there. But, I loved it. 5 Stars.