The basic plot of Vertige is pretty lame and worn off considering that we are talking about a group of five mountain climbers who take an adventurous hike on a mountain path that goes overboard and turns into a fight for survival.
Its like Wrong Turn if you replace the woods with mountains. At first you think it could go a different direction because the first half works pretty well as a kind of adventure movie with mountain climbers. You get some pretty impressive climbing sequences with lines snapping and nice action mixed with beautiful landscape shots and some nice camera-work... as well as a pretty hot female lead actress (although she chose a pretty strange dress for that trip that gives the viewer some pretty nice views of her mountains too). As soon as the movie turns to be a survival horror with some mountain hillbilly maniac who hunts climbers it goes overboard. There is no resolution of the obscure guy hunting the climbers and the flashback sequences about some mishappenings in the life of the female lead who seems to be a doctor are pretty meaningless and cheap.
Vertige is a typical style over substance movie with a giant letdown in the end and a plot that is as paper thin as the clichéd character development. Anyone who has high hopes for another great french horror movie should stay away from this. The action sequences are really good but i doubt thats enough for a feature movie. first turns out closed and on further investigation becomes quite stressful when bridges break and cables burst.