Line #16 Film/Altitude


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/altitude_poster_101.jpg]]
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3	->This article is about the film. For the video game, [[VideoGame/{{Altitude}} go here]].
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5	'''''Altitude''''' is a Canadian {{horror}} {{film}} directed by comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews. It stars Creator/JessicaLowndes, Creator/JuliannaGuill, Creator/RyanDonowho, and Landon Liboiron.
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7	Years after Sara’s mother died in a midair collision involving her light aircraft, Sara herself has recently earned her own pilot’s license, and plans to fly herself and some friends in a small plane to see a concert. While one of her friends, Bruce, is at the controls, a brief bout of turbulence causes him to lose control, taking the plane into a steep climb into the clouds.
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9	Now out of radio contact, disoriented by the clouds, and starting to run low on fuel, the four friends must figure out how to get down safely before the giant tentacle monster kills them all.
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11	[[FromBadToWorse That’s right, the tentacle monster.]]
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14	!!This film contains the following tropes:
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16	* ActorAllusion: Mel (played by Creator/JuliannaGuill) is in a relationship with a {{Jerkass}} and carries around a handheld camcorder, much like her previous character in ''Film/FridayThe13th2009.''
17	* ChekhovsSkill: Corey is introduced talking about a climbing trip he went on, and uses his skills and equipment to try to venture outside of the plane and fix the damage.
18	* DarknessEqualsDeath: Hello, impenetrable wall of storm clouds...
19	* DarkWorld: In the clouds, and there are unpleasant things living in it.
20	* DeadlyRoadTrip: A variation, in that the "road" trip is by plane.
21	* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: And what an illustrative selection of jerks they are!
22	* EldritchAbomination: The giant tentacle monster that lives in the clouds is a terrifying creature from another dimension and periodically shows up to eat one of the helpless main characters.
23	* EldritchLocation: After hours of flying around and descending with no ground or any other landmark features in sight and no radio contact with anyone, it becomes clear that the characters have entered some alternate dimension filled with endless sky and housing giant alien terrors flying around looking for prey. [[spoiler:It turns out to be because its Bruce's fantasy world.]]
24	* {{Expy}}: Sara channels her inner Ellen Ripley when she takes control of her flight and asks her arguing passengers: "Is that acceptable to you?", a line very similar to what Ripley asks her arguing crew in ''Film/{{Alien}}'' after all hell has broken loose.
25	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
26	** [[spoiler:The boy in the open is into horror comics, just like Bruce.]]
27	** [[spoiler:The overt supernatural stuff doesn't happen until Sal upsets Bruce, namely vandalizing his comicbook, and had a scare involving the plane. Bruce is the one causing it, and attention is drawn to him several times right before something supernatural happens.]]
28	** [[spoiler:Looking closely, the plane that hits Bruce and Sara's plane is the same one as the one the heroes are in. Later in the film, Sara and Bruce also discuss the crash and it's mentioned the plane didn't seem to exist before the crash. This is because it didn't: Bruce reality warped their plane back in time.]]
29	* GiantFlyer: The tentacle monster is building-sized.
30	* HellIsThatNoise: After the characters have been flying through the storm for a while, and it doesn't seem to end, and their altimeter says they should be in the stratosphere... all they can hear on the radio is ''this horrible screaming sound''.
31	* HeroicSacrifice: Corey dies after successfully unjamming the tail rudders and saving everyone. At the conclusion, [[spoiler:Sara and Bruce sacrifice themselves to save their parents, thus allowing their past selves to have happier lives.]]
32	* JerkJock: Sal wears a wrestling letterman's jacket and is abrasive, insensitive (even mocking the death of Sarah's mom), boorish and cowardly in nearly all his scenes.
33	* JerkassHasAPoint: As Sal pointed out, where exactly was the ground?
34	* LegFocus: Mel wears shorts which don't cover an inch of her pantyhose-clad legs, which is emphasized a few times.
35	* RealityWarpingIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:It turns out that Bruce is inadvertently causing all this, unconsciously summoning the tentacle monster from his comic book into reality. With Sara's help he eventually learns to control his fear and summon them back to their own reality. He also sends them back in time, making them the plane that killed their parents, but manages to change it at the last minute.]]
36	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: [[spoiler:Bruce realizes his powers have made them the plane that killed his and Sara's parents, and averts the crash at the last minute.]]
37	* ShownTheirWork:
38	** The tentacle monster is based on a mythological creature called an atmospheric beast, currently lumped in the same cryptozoology category as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.
39	** Much of what Sara does is what an actual pilot would do. The only time she breaks from it is once the crazy supernatural stuff starts.
40	* StableTimeLoop: Subverted. [[spoiler:In the opening a mysterious plane that appears out of nowhere crashes into Sara and Bruce's plane when they are kids and kills both their parents. In the present day it's revealed that the plane was in fact the one Sara and Bruce are currently piloting. In the conclusion of the film they enter a temporal vortex but manage to avert another crash while killing themselves, allowing their child selves to live with their parents alive.]]

Context Film / Altitude