ABC THURSDAY NIGHT MOVIE: WES CRAVEN PRESENTS: DON'T LOOK DOWN (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television dramatic thriller film tells the story of a young woman's battle with agoraphobia and paranoia in the wake of her sister's shocking death. The story begins as Carla Engel drives to a secluded mountain cabin with her photographer husband Mark and her sister Rachel. As Mark takes pictures on the cliff's edge, Rachel playfully leans against a barrier, which gives way. Despite Carla and Mark's desperate attempts to pull her to safety, Rachel plummets to her death in the ravine below. At her funeral, Carla experiences bizarre visions of Rachel and finds herself unable to scatter her sister's ashes, preferring to keep the urn at home. Mark tries to assure her that she is not to blame for the accident, but Carla admits that she caused Rachel to have a near-fatal fall in their childhood and feels as though she has again betrayed her trust. Later, Carla heads to a hotel to interview a local senator, but she is overcome by fear in the elevator and on the balcony, again having disturbing visions of Rachel's demise. She then finds the scarf that Rachel was wearing when she died in her sister's bedroom, but Mark brushes off her concern and urges her to visit Dr. Paul Sadowski, an agoraphobia expert, for help in overcoming her fear.
Sadowski tells Carla that her phobia has been triggered by the trauma of Rachel's death, but explains that he cannot treat her personally, as he is a researcher rather than a psychiatrist. Carla then hears strange voices telling her to "join us" and nearly jumps from the top of the parking garage, and when Mark finds her at the hospital, he vows that he will convince Sadowski to take her on as a patient. Sadowski protests that his experimental therapy group is only for the most serious of cases, however, and that he pushes them to unlock their "core terrors." Carla admits that her mother suffered from schizophrenia and Sadowski warns her that his treatment methods may prove too overwhelming, but she remains determined. The doctor takes Carla and the other group members out into the forest, and Carla learns that one young man, Zach, has become "counter-phobic" through Sadowski's treatment and now actively seeks out dangerously high places in a quest to prove his fearlessness, even taking a job as a window-washer. Sadowski convinces Carla to walk blindfolded onto a rickety bridge over a deep valley, and she happily tells Mark that his treatment seems to be working already.
Later, however, the group is stunned to learn that Zach has died after falling from a high platform at work -- while wearing a blindfold. Sadowski is questioned by Detective Yerxa and states that he was out of town at the time, and he sternly reminds his other patients that Zach "knew the risks" and orders them to be "warriors" rather than give in to their fears. In another exercise, he takes them to the roof of a tall building and urges them to walk to the edge, though group member Hallie, consumed with thoughts of Zach, is overcome by fear. Sadowski chastises them for their lack of trust in him and in the treatment program, and Carla forces herself to walk to the roof's edge alone, inspiring the other patients to follow suit. They celebrate their victory at a bar, and Hallie explains that she has become estranged from her children following her mental breakdown and is determined to conquer her fears in order to reunite with them. Though pleased with her accomplishment, Carla experiences more visions of Rachel and begins to fear that she is losing her mind, but Mark comforts her and tries to help her find closure with her sister's death.
Detective Yerxa then arrives at their home and informs Carla that Hallie has also died, having apparently jumped from her roof, though she wrote Carla's name beside her in blood before dying. He reveals that she too was blindfolded with the same material worn by Zach, and Carla faints when she recognizes it as the two halves of Rachel's scarf. She frantically tells Mark that Rachel is exacting revenge upon her, killing off her friends as retaliation for "letting" her die on the cliff, but Mark argues that one of the group members is clearly to blame. Carla then learns that Ben, another patient, is leaving the group as well, and she finds him in a state of panic as he explains that he received a phone call apparently from his late Army buddy, whose death via malfunctioning parachute caused his own phobia, informing him that a vengeful "fellow faller" masked by a scarf is to blame for Zach and Hallie's deaths. Desperate, Carla appeals to the final member, Jocelyn, and to Sadowski, begging them to carry on with the therapy with "no half-measures" despite their friends' deaths. Sadowski wonders if someone is trying to sabotage his work, but at Carla's urging he arranges a bungee-jumping expedition on a bridge. Carla again hears ghostly voices and tries to stop Jocelyn from jumping, sure that she too will be killed, but the bungee works perfectly and Jocelyn is thrilled with her accomplishment.
As Mark researches Sadowski, Jocelyn stops at home and is shocked to find her severely agoraphobic mother dead, having fallen while left alone. Carla learns that a white rose, Rachel's favorite flower, was left near the body, and she rushes home to comb through Rachel's ashes, now convinced that her sister is not really dead after all. Mark, however, distracts her with the revelation that Sadowski was formerly a mountaineering expert and was the sole survivor of a disastrous expedition on Mount Rainier, suggesting that he is the true killer. Carla continues having visions of Rachel and finally drives to the spot where she fell, and when Sadowski finds her there, she demands answers about his past. He explains that he failed to save his team – and his fiancée – because of his own terror of heights, and now finds solace in helping other to overcome their fears. Mark arrives and angrily confronts Sadowski, seemingly because of his harmful effect on Carla, but he then reveals that he intentionally rigged the barrier to collapse and intended Carla, not Rachel, to be the one who fell. He admits that he has long coveted her family's money and has been dosing her with hallucinogens, knowing of her fear of sharing her mother's mental illness, adding that he staged the roses and the scarf and killed Zach, Hallie and Jocelyn's mother to further convince Carla of her own insanity. He attempts to toss her over the cliff, but he ends up falling to his own death in the struggle, and Sadowski rappels down the mountainside to rescue her. Sometime later, Carla finally scatters Rachel's ashes, now able to find peace with her death. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: 1998 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:16
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:55195
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Falls (Accidents); Psychology
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1998
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Wes Craven … Executive Producer
- Marianne Maddalena … Executive Producer
- Robert M. Sertner … Executive Producer
- Frank von Zerneck … Executive Producer
- Richard Fischoff … Producer
- Randy Sutter … Producer
- Ron McGee … Co-Producer
- Erik Storey … Co-Producer
- Ted Babcock … Co-Producer
- Peter Sadowski … Associate Producer
- Larry Shaw … Director
- Gregory Goodell … Writer
- J. Peter Robinson … Music by
- Megan Ward … Cast, Carla Engel
- Billy Burke … Cast, Mark Engel
- Angela Moore … Cast, Jocelyn
- William MacDonald … Cast, Ben
- Kate Robbins … Cast, Hallie
- Aaron Smolinski … Cast, Zachary Carter
- Terry Kinney … Cast, Dr. Paul Sadowski
- Tara Spencer-Nairn … Cast, Rachel
- Bob Morrisey … Cast, Detective Yerxa
- Benz Antoine … Cast, Luther
- Britt McKillip … Cast, Young Rachel
- Carly McKillip … Cast, Young Carla
- Maria Herrera … Cast, Dr. Hagerty
- John Treleaven … Cast, Senator Billings
- Klodyne Rodney … Cast, Librarian
- John Innes … Cast, Minister
- Brent Sheppard … Cast, Man in Elevator
- Dean Wray … Cast, Shag
- Harris Allan … Cast, Kid