<iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" style="width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=oklahgazet-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B003WJ6VDQ&fc1=000000&IS2=1 Among other frightening fare, the fall season recently brought “Devil” to theaters, which took place almost entirely in an elevator with five people. Skipping theaters is the new-to-DVD “Altitude,” which takes place almost entirely in a small plane. How small? Think Buddy Holly.
En route to a weekend of fun, five young people experience anything but when their aircraft —? piloted by newbie pilot Sara (Jessica Lowndes) —? essentially stops working, enters one mother of a storm, and prompts all hell to break loose in the cramped cabin. As the cover and trailer both reveal, the imperiled passengers come across a supernatural force in the form of a tentacled creature in the clouds. While that may not be a surprise, it’s the step between the “how it happens”? that is.
The fresh-scrubbed quintet of not-so-frequent flyers does fine, with the exception of Jake Weary as Sal. He’s supposed to the resident dick of the group — and is — but plays the character far too over-the-top for the material, almost as if he were participating in a “Saturday Night Live” skit poking fun at the movie.
The modestly budgeted film works well enough, delivering that old “The Twilight Zone“-style of storytelling, even if its twist ending is lame. That runs counter to its nightmarish prologue, which certainly will pull more than a few casual viewers in.
Extras include a 10-minute featurette on what it’s like to shoot nearly an entire movie in front of a green screen, and a 45-minute documentary covering the full-blown affair from pre- to post-production. If you’re going to see one stranded suspenser from Anchor Bay Entertainment this Halloween, pick “Frozen.” But for a double feature … —?Rod Lott
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2010.