A piece of vertical ordeal horror, if you will, The Ledge certainly hops around between ordeal and a couple of other genres too – though it remains resolutely two-dimensional. That being said, there is enough here – enough tension, enough clout – to just about hold it together, and it does enough overall to keep things entertaining. Funnily, the main plot driver here is the film’s greatest sticking point, and whilst this is not an issue which ever really goes away, you have to look past it to enjoy the more successful aspects.
We begin with two young women at the start of an expedition in the Dolemites: Sophie (Anaïs Parello) and Kelly (Brittany Ashworth) are experienced climbers, checking their packs and getting ready to head off the following morning. They’re there so late in the season to mark a special occasion. The arrival of another group of Americans – as misfortune would have it, some guys who want to ‘party’ – creates a short diversion, and the girls join them for a drink, despite the fact that Josh (Ben Lamb) wears his misogyny on his sleeve so clearly that even his friends baulk at his company. Sophie makes the onerous decision to stick around; Kelly heads back to their digs early. For Sophie, this turns seemingly inevitably into some sexualised bluster which gives way rapidly to sexual assault (yes, by Josh) from which the terrified girl flees into the night. She therefore doesn’t realise that the other guys initially have good intentions and seem to want to help her. In the pursuit, she falls. Things get even worse.
This, and ensuing events wake Kelly, who quickly begins to gather evidence of what is happening using her camera – but she’s spotted. To escape, she makes off with as much of her climbing gear as she can grab. The only way is up, at least when in a panicked situation like this, and so begins a chase up the mountain which is soon taking place at a dizzying height from the ground. Oh, and it probably goes without saying, but if – like this reviewer – you get vertigo at the top of a household ladder, approach this film with caution. Long shots are economically used, but they do the job. Otherwise, the film can feel surprisingly claustrophobic, which is an interesting thing.
The initial set up in The Ledge – the process of meeting our characters and finding out their motivations – is the weakest element in the film, from which it struggles to recover for a lot of its run time afterwards. Crude sexual politics and comments are written through and through it from the very top of the script, like Blackpool rock. In particular, in its high-speed race to represent Josh as a very, very bad guy, the dialogue and characterisation feel very jagged and the almost casual later hints at past misdemeanours amongst the group raises many more questions about the guys’ relationships. These questions are never really answered, but are used as a springboard to drop in some equally unexplored racism. All in all, the script doesn’t always serve the film well; the male characters in particular are somewhere between foul and fodder.
However, after the film gets underway – all of this being a justification for a sadistic pursuit up a rock face, after all – the main act sustains itself well enough, even though the way in which things veer from realistic (effort levels, physical injuries) to cartoonish (think Race with the Devil levels of exposition) can feel like an odd fit at times. Still, because the film retains some more realistic horror elements and a real time feel, it can add in some shifting pace and some more gruelling scenes; her rose-tinted flashbacks aside, you do find yourself rooting for Kelly by the end, which shows that one of The Ledge‘s central planks works just fine. The action largely fits the run time, too, meaning just the right amount of content and a decent momentum which doesn’t stick around long enough to become dull. Some deft touches at the end also bring things together satisfactorily, and although it was a surprise to find out that this was directed by Howard. J. Ford, his eye for filling the screen with rugged, dangerous landscapes is certainly still intact since his work on The Dead well over a decade ago.
Signature Entertainment presents The Ledge on Digital Platforms 14th March and DVD 21st March.