Frightfest Glasgow: The Ledge (2022)

Director: Howard J. Ford

Running Time: 96 Minutes

Certification: 15

Starring: Brittany Ashworth, Ben Lamb, Nathan Welsh, Louis Boyer, Anaïs Parello, David Wayman

Ready for a mountain climbing adventure, Kelly (Brittany Ashworth) finds herself thrust into a nightmare when four men throw her friend Sophie's body from a ledge. Having captured the event on camera, Kelly tries escaping the murderers by free-climbing up a freezing mountain. Combining a cat-and-mouse game with a threatening landscape, the pieces are in place for a thrilling tale yet the material cannot reach such promise.

Director Howard J. Ford and screenwriter Tom Boyle combine the destructive force of nature with the horror of toxic masculinity, although the result is too laughable to take seriously. An early scene depicts Kelly and Sophie's friendship through a bizarre tickle fight, while the over-the-top antagonist appears genetically engineered for cartoonish misogyny.

Adding to the ridiculousness are an abundance of flashbacks depicting Kelly's grief for her fiancé, shown through a soft-focus which resembles perfume adverts. What's intended as a saddening backstory instead highlights a baffling idea, as Kelly returns to have fun at the site where her deceased partner perished just one-year earlier. While budgetary limitations are noticeable, what's more attention-grabbing is how unintentionally hilarious the final product is, being absurd in ways best watched with friends and alcohol.

The Ledge played at Frightfest Glasgow. Available on Digital Platforms and DVD now.