Altitude Review

• 3rd Mar 2011

Although technically a direct to video cheapy, Altitude comes bearing many gifts – for one it is shot on film, that in a way, makes it look less like a cheapy and more like a film. There is the clever use of filters and a certain amount of grain in the action scenes to help disguise the fact you are watching something out of what could be a twilight zone episode.

A huge hand must be given to its director, Kaare Andrews, who gives the film a strong visual sense (being an award winning comic book writer, a sense of the visual is something that has come in handy). You can see the comic book origins in some of the shots, but there are some wonderful moving camera shots outside and within the plane that show a breadth of knowledge about setting the tone of a film instead of looking to seek choppy editing.

The five main players have varied talent – some are screen actors, others have come from television acting and it is sometimes all too evident. But despite the clichés you can forgive the film for this misgiving as well as it is essentially a teen horror suspense.

The film play for its first half almost like Adam Green’s chairlift nail-biter Frozen with a small group stuck in a situation that they have to think and eventually practically motivate themselves to get out of. The second half of the film turn into sci-fi fantasy horror as something looming in the sky threatens to taken their very lives.

The twists and turns the film takes open up opportunities for some drama between the young cast, whilst the ultimate revelation is pure pulp, but enjoyably so. A decent effort then and proving that not every film straight to disc here is a pile of old rubbish. Altitude does take home entertainment to grand heights.

Steven Hurst