High Lane

Free Climbing makes its debut in horror with Abel Ferry’s High Lane, originally titled Vertige, a French horror film that combines our fascination with extreme sports and the cult of slasher films to make a film that seems just a little too familiar.

Set in present day Croatia, High Lane follows Chloe (Fanny Valette) and a group of her friends as they go for a day of climbing along a closed route. But soon they discover that they’re not alone as they find themselves being hunted by a lone killer, who doesn’t want them to leave the mountain alive.

Ferry’s new ‘survivalist’ horror combines old-fashioned slasher tactics with the almost universal fear of heights and the terror of complete isolation to create a simple but effective horror film that will appeal to many. Already being compared to such films as The Descent and Deliverance, High Lane’s familiar premise of a group of young people being stalked by an unknown and equally unhinged killer, is made refreshing by having it set in the wilderness of the Croatian mountains. But while the film is no doubt aided by several dizzying and beautiful shots of the rocky landscape, High Lane’s weakness lies in its simple plot and storyline, which fails to bring anything new to the genre.