When I sat down to watch this, I didn't know too much about it; what I knew was that Wes Craven was one of the producers, and that it was a made-for-TV movie. When it started, I quickly discovered that two things; one, it was one of those mystery thrillers, where you're supposed to guess who the killer is, and two, it's mainly made to scare those who suffer from acrophobia, fear of heights(hence the title). For a TV movie, the production is surprisingly good, and the film does contain a few intense scenes. Since I suffer from a mild case of acrophobia myself, I found plenty of scenes to be scary and intense(not to say that people who couldn't care less about heights won't find them so too, though). The plot is surprisingly good, and does hold water to some extent; I wouldn't call it great, but it's not really that far-fetched. The acting is decent, no going around that. All of the actors are unknowns, which could be(and probably is) why, but it could also be the direction, which, admittedly isn't great(but hey, this guy's only done series and half-bad movies before, so what do you expect?). The characters are well-written, and mostly avoid being overly cliché-like; apart from the lead, none of them seemed like stereotypes. The special effects were OK, not better nor worse than the standard for TV movies. Considering the production values, I was surprised by how much the film actually did manage to shock and frighten me. The mystery was very good; it kept me guessing throughout the film, and when the answer was revealed, I was very surprised. I thought I had considered every possible outcome, but the film still managed to surprise me with the twist. I'm not sure what to draw as a conclusion from that; maybe the films plot is actually good, but just surrounded by mediocrity in the acting, writing and to a certain extent, theme, which drags the film down to just being decent overall... or maybe I'm just easily manipulated. Who knows. All in all, a decent mystery thriller. I recommend it exclusively to big fans of mystery films and people who suffer from acrophobia; since both apply to me, I really enjoyed it. Pretty much everyone else should just skip this one. 5/10
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TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews11 September 2004
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mario_c4 October 2007It's a low cost production film where a woman sees her beloved sister fall from the top of a hill and die. Since then, she's afraid of the high (she feels like an acrophobic) and starts having "visions" of her sister and starts hearing a ghostly voice whispering her name (Carla).
The plot is a bit straight and unoriginal and the twist near the end is quite predictable, what makes this film completely average; though, as it's a low cost production, made for TV, I won't be very rough and I will score it with a "pushed up" 5/10
Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Wes Craven's name is, obviously, just to call attention to this low cost movie! -
Stevieboy6666 January 2019A professional woman (played well by Megan Ward) is haunted by shocking visions when her younger sister is tragically killed by falling from a cliff. For people like me who suffer from acrophobia (a fear of heights) the tense opening scene (and others during the movie) will induce sweaty palms, I found it genuinely scary. Hitchcock's far superior Vertigo sprang to mind a few times. Released as Wes Craven Presents Don't Look Down, this really is NOT a Craven movie. My VHS copy comes with the ridiculous quote "This is the best Wes Craven movie that I have ever seen" on the cover. Sure, there are some Craven touches here and there, but he served as one of several producers. This is a horror/thriller that has some good qualities but has made for TV written all over it. BBFC rated 12 here in the UK, low on adult themes but still manages to pack a scare or two. Worth seeing.
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msquared124 June 2002This wasn't exactly what I had expected from a Wes Craven movie, it wasn't entirely bad, but it certainly won't be a movie I'll remember in a month, possibly not even next week - it has a predictable villain and a paper thin story. The worst aspect of the movie was probably the way the antagonist revealed his 'dastardly' plan at the end, no surprises here. My rating: 2/10
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boo_4ever29 March 2005Don't Look Down starts off with two sisters being photographed on the edge of a huge drop. You know what will happen next, and the same can be said for the rest of the film.
Some parts were eerie when you felt if might have a supernatural cause to it but the big finale was a complete cop out. A Saturday evening "thriller" in the vein of Murder She Wrote disguised as a Wes Craven horror film. Don't be fooled. I was bored throughout most of it and even a little bit angry at the end.
The guy from Beverly Hills 90210 is in this for crying out loud.
This is a terrible film which makes you wish the entire production team had fallen off that cliff. -
TensersFloatingDisk6 February 2006Like most people who viewed this movie I suspect, I picked up this movie because Wes Craven's name was listed prominently on the cover, in the credits on the back, etc. Lo and behold, this is not directed, written, nor overseen by Mr. Craven, but only produced by him. A sad case of marketing over matter. Well, who cares, right? I do, because what lay inside the DVD case was a fairly mediocre movie that doesn't seem to know if it's a psycho-thriller or a character study or a murder mystery. Kinney's take as the psychologist is the only really good acting here (the heroine is particularly dull in her delivery) and the cinematography, which should make us vertiginous, just feels static. There was a bit here to work with, script and plot wise, but it's been done (Diabolique, Vertigo, Mousetrap) before, and done better. C-.
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purban6 February 2005*NO SPOILERS IN THIS SECTION*
This movie was like something you'd see on the Lifetime TV network. Not really a horror movie at all as advertised on the rental box. I'm all for a good Lifetime TV movie every once in a while (woman in jeopardy and afflicted with psychological trauma trying to set things right while being stalked by some sort of unknown evil that you know is closing in on her...). It contains nothing to merit an R or even PG-13 rating and, actually, I'd be surprised if it didn't air on Lifetime at some point. Just know what you are getting.
MAJOR SPOILER IN NEXT SECTION *BE WARNED*
From the beginning I thought it had a Lifetime feel to it, and that suspicion was only confirmed at the end of the movie when you found out who the villain really was. Those evil husbands... -
Captain_Couth2 November 2004Don't Look Down (1998) is a terrible made-for-t.v. "cherry" movie disguised as a horror film. Wes Craven is even credited as a producer of this analog tripe. Dude, don't be fooled by Wes Craven's name or by the bloody cover. If you do then you're stupider than you look.
A "young" lady is nearly killed in a freak accident. Her "sister" takes the "fall". For the next few days, the girls spirit comes back to play tricks on her (or does it). She decides to seek professional help after a mental breakdown. Whilst in a therapy group she meets a "doctor" who has very strange methods of curing people of acrophobia. But something or someone is out there targeting the poor girl. Can she solve the problem of her dilemma before it's too late?
This movie is not as interesting as the brief synopsis. A bad attempt to make a cliché ridden horror film (I use the term horror very loosely in this movie). Please for the love of Pete don't watch this movie. Life is too short to waste one's time and effort on crap like this. Go for a walk, read a book or find a new hobby instead of watching this garbage. movies that make me angry or mad get an automatic failing grade.
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taralynhuber8 February 2021This is one of the movies I remember them playing on LMN back in the 90s .. I actually fell in love with it. If you enjoy the classic Monday and Sunday night movies you will enjoy this one.
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claudio_carvalho24 May 2004Carla Engel (Megan Ward) is married with the photographer Mark (Billy Burke) and they are in love with each other. One day, while shooting pictures of Carla and her sister Rachel (Tara Spencer-Nairn) in a cliff, the parapet fails and Rachel falls down in the precipice, immediately dying. Carla becomes acrophobiac and tries to get over her trauma joining a group having acrophobia and treated by Dr. Paul Sadowski (Terry Kinney). The members of the group start to get mysteriously killed one by one, apparently by the ghost of Rachel. Carla begins to doubt of her sanity. The killer is revealed only in the last scene. This movie is another bureaucratic, predictable and full of clichés thriller. The name of Wes Craven and beauty of Megan Ward are the greatest attractions of this low budget TV movie. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): `Não Olhe Para Baixo' (`Don´t Look Down') -
nogodnomasters24 August 2017Mark (Billy Burke) takes his wife Carla (Megan Ward ) to a remote look out to photograph her. Carla's sister Rachel (Tara Spencer-Nairn) tags along and ends up at the bottom of the cliff....watch that first step. Carla develops severe acrophobia and joins a special group that forces people to face their fears. Members in the group start to die and it appears Rachel's ghost may be responsible.
This was a made for TV film with the thrill and suspense of a Lifetime adventure. It was certainly more drama than horror and even with the Hitchcock twist, I was still board. Too long for too little. We see little of the action. -
Movie Nuttball20 June 2004This movie that Wes Craven Presents called Don't Look Down is actually a very good movie! Its not predictable or at least I didn't think it was. It always keeps you going and makes you wonder what is going to happen next! All of the cast members that are in the film act solidly. The music is very good especially the end credits by J. Peter Robinson. Like I said above its a good mystery and keeps you on the edge of your seat! Its not gory so die hard Wes Craven fans will be disappointed about but like the other movie Wes Craven presented They (which I might add that in My opinion is one of the best horror movies ever) which it didn't have gore either so a horror movie doesn't always need to be gory to be scary. I that Don't Look Down is good film and I recommend it to all horror, thriller, and mystery fans!
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blanche-223 November 2005Let me start off by saying I am not a Wes Craven fan nor a fan of the horror genre, so I can't judge this in terms of Wes Craven. I do know it's atypical of him, having sat through half of one of his films which is now banned.
Spectacular scenery highlights "Don't Look Down," about a young woman who witnesses the horror fall which results in the death of her beloved sister. She joins a group to get over her resulting fear of heights. Unfortunately the members of the group start ending up dead.
The denouement of this film was guessable from the first frame. The performances are decent and the setting is truly gorgeous. It's certainly entertaining. I caught this on Lifetime where I've seen much worse. I think with films like this, it makes a difference whether you see it in a theater, rent it, or catch it for free. I say wait and catch it for free. -
Manna-26 September 1999Wes Craven's Don't Look Down (1998) on VHS? Okay. We found this rare nugget for sale on the internet for a mere four dollars and despite our previous review, decided to waste the money. This film is still as crappy as it was when it premiered on Halloween 1998. Scaled down to 89 minutes (aren't all television movies 93 minutes after they've been edited?) and boasting the traditional (what else?) unrated logo, this piece of garbage is destined to go down in the annuals of Shock Video Magazines as an even more embarrassing to Wes as his most current movie offerings. The traditional who-done-it with terrible acting, and an even worse storyline. This leaves us wondering, why would Wes put his name on this awful movie? The logical answer would have to be the obvious: money. Run from this mega-professional LP Speed video now!
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Megan Ward is a fantastic actress and is underutilized in Hollywood in general. Wes Craven is a great writer, although he is instead credited as executive producer here. Maybe this movie helped those with acrophobia I don't know. I figured out the entire plot in the first 5 minutes of the movie. Watching the rest of it to see the pieces fall into place was, unfortunately, boring. There was a cute reference to Megan's 1st movie "Crash and Burn". And the character of Dr. Paul Sadowski appears to be named after the associate producer Peter Sadowski? Most of the scenes competently conveyed the overall sense of fear and paranoia, they just were not all that scary. Anyway not too bad for a TV thriller I guess, just way to predictable.
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adstevens10 April 2004What a waste of time!!!
There are few movies around that are so bad that you feel disappointed for those who had to work on it. I rented this movie because the words "Wes Craven" were plastered all over the cover. I foolishly thought that this would be a genuine thriller but I was oh so wrong. What I saw was a dreadfully boring and completely un-needed piece of cinematic embarrasment.
The movie is about a person with an extreme fear of heights due to the loss of her sister over a cliff... This "plot" plods through until about 10 minutes before the end when we get one of the worst and most innappropriate "twists" that makes one want to jump off a cliff also.
I think the best word for this film is innappropriate, or even better, not-needed. My head explodes thinking of so many better ways that this money could have been spent. I put myself in the position of someone who was editing the film, I think I would have turned to the rest of the film makers and said "umm, guys, this really is umm ORDINARY, perhaps we should cut our losses and move on..."
Seriously, I think it is time we had movie police, we should not have to waste our time and money on this crap. I am furious that I now have to go and pay for this movie and I now have a chronic fear of selecting movies. -
bls19878 June 2006Has anybody seen the DVD menu? whats up with that rock n roll music in it? i mean.. isn't it a drama or horror movie? and whats up with the trailers LOL IT MADE ME LAUGH MY ASS OFF and the angry girl showing her bloody teeth, i never saw any blood in the movie The script is somewhat fine. But this kind of movies make me laugh just to think its supposed to be serious.. Actually you should see the DVD, you'll have some fun for sure. just don't expect it to be a serious movie, because it ain't, if you're sarcastic and realistic. And it didn't surprised me that her husband was the bad one, whatever.......................................................
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tlharrison-595461 August 2022I like Wes Craven films and I appreciate that this one is a bit different from his others, but unfortunately it is painfully predictable and frustrating to see that no one applies any logic to any of the circumstances.
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sol-kay19 September 2005***SPOILERS*** Hitchcock-like thriller with a strong "Vertigo" flavor to it. Unable to save her younger sister Rachel, Tara Spencer, from falling to her death Carla, Megan Ward, had developed a deep sense of guilt in Rachel's death and at the same time a terrifying fear of heights.
Unable to get back to work as a TV news reporter and needing help for her acute acrophobia,fear of heights, Carla gets in touch with a Dr. Sadowski, Terry Kinney. Dr.Sadowski has a class of like wise agoraphobics and is doing work on curing them with his own brand of "Shock Treartment". It's during this time that Carla starts to hear and have visions of Rachel accusing her of letting her die. Even Carla's husband Mark, Billy Burke, starts to realize that his wife is on the brink of insanity when, among other weird things that she does, he finds her spilling Rachel's ashes looking for a titanium screw that she had in her leg to make sure that it, the ash remains, are really her.
It's during the time that Carla is undergoing treatment that a number of her fellow patients have mysterious accidental falls that end up killing them. One of those patients Hallie, Kate Robbins,writes Clara's name out in her blood as she lay dying in the street which make the police, and even her husband Mark, suspect that she may have had something to do with Hallie's death or murder.
The class that Dr. Sadowski is conducting is beginning to take it's toll on his patients with those still alive quiting with only Carla left to be treated by the good doctor. It also comes out that Dr.Sadowski is not exactly what he says he is when Mark finds out, in an old newspaper story, that he had a previous class of agoraphobics take a hike on Mount. Rainier which left everyone, but Dr. Sadowski,crushed to death in an avalanche!
Clara is by now on the verge of being committed with the voice of Rachel instructing her to kill herself and at the same time being the top suspect in the murder of two of her patience friends Zack, Aaron Smolinski, and Hallie. The only one that Clara can turn to is Dr. Sadowski who she feels, despite what was uncovered about his past by Mark, has the key to what's been happening to her but at the same time she's taking a big chance; he may very well be the one who's been killing off all his patience's and may do the same to her.
Breathtaking photography of British Colombia and Vancouver as well as a terrifically tense and and cliff-hanging ending makes "Don't Look Down" one of the better made for TV movies released during the 1990's. The surprise at the end of the film isn't as predictable as you would have thought and as good as in any other well made Hitchcock-type thriller or even in the many classics that Alfred Hitchcock himself directed. -
gridoon19 December 2004Right from its thrilling opening sequence,"Don't Look Down" managed to keep me engrossed all the way. The story, when everything is revealed at the end, is rather old stuff (many have called it predictable, though the ending is just one of several possible outcomes that cross a viewer's mind), but the movie is very well-shot, especially considering its made-for-TV "credentials", with a really committed performance by Megan Ward. Just try to forget that Wes Craven's name was in any way associated with it (which is what most viewers have failed to do, thus their disappointment); it is vastly different from his usual output. (***)
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gurl_amy18 October 2003When I first started watching this film, I thought "oh no, not another low budget, waste of time", but actually I changed my mind after about ten minutes. It was a good story (although very predictable), but one that you have to watch right till the end, just to confirm what you have already figured out. However, I do have to say that although I predicted everything about this film, much to my dad and sisters' annoyance, I thought the ending was good.
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Spoiler Alert.
I've watched several of Wes Craven's films and considering that most of his films are all horror with a side of grotesque, they may be disappointed in the film. I on the other hand would rather watch thrillers and try to guess who is trying to gaslight the heck out of whom, loved this film. It kept me on the edge of my seat and even though I was correct from the get go that it was the husband (because in these types of films it's always either the husband or the wife) who was doing this I was not disappointed in trying to figure out how he was doing what he was doing. With one of his comments I am wondering if he had been dipping his hand so to say into little sis. All I can say is I was surprised to see it was Billy Burke whom I have seen in a lot of hero type roles or the loving father of Bella Swan. I never would have guessed it was him with him being clean shaven and a LOT younger.
Carla loves her sister, and was her guardian since their parents deaths.
When her sister dies in what she thinks is an accident she feels as though she failed her sister and begins to have panic attacks when she is in high open places.
When she is at work one day she is unable to perform her duties as a news journalist so her husband goes looking for unconventional therapy.
It takes a lot of convincing but the group's leader lets her into the group unbeknown that Carla's husband has other plans for the group. As the members start to dwindle one by one, they have to find out who is picking them off.
The creepiest part of the movie is hearing Rachel whisper Carla's name after Carla's husband has died just after admitting how he had tried to kill her and in order to make it seem as though Carla's crazy he drugged her with hallucinogenics and then watched her freak out. -
Merely15 January 2004Seeing the name Wes Craven here, I was expecting far more in the way of horror if not suspense. Disappointed on both accounts. In a word, silly. The acting was extremely bad with second rate, basically unknown, actors. I'm undecided as if it was the story that was lacking and Meryl Streep could have made it quite interesting, or if it was just a terrible plot and an uninspired director. Either way, don't say you haven't been warned. Better to spend those 2 hours of your life rewatching one of your favorite movies. Try Alfred Hitchcock.
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andreas_bruderer7 May 2001This picture isn't what you are likely to expect from horror master Wes Craven, even though he only produced it. It isn't gory or really "horror" at all, it is kind of very thrilling psycho thriller with a surprising twist in the end. It is surprisingly good for a TV movie and you will not spend one single minute bored. I can't believe the bad rating it actually has. The acting is quite good and the "mountain sequences" are stunning. My personal rating is 9 out of 10.
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TheDeaderman19 July 2003I recorded this way back then on ABC and all i have to say is:WHY WES? Why make this cliched piece of drivel? Makes you glad he did the Nightmare movies. And especially the villian of this movie. WAY over the top.