747-airliner crashes just outside a little town but of the 400 people aboard, one man (the pilot) miraculously walks out of the disaster alive
Even more so, he walks out completely unharmed! Does this basic premise sound familiar to anyone? No, it's not M. Night Shyamalan's overrated blockbuster "Unbreakable"! This is a shamefully underrated Australian thriller, directed by David Hemmings and based on a novel by shlock-expert James Herbert. The story continues being supernatural when the confused survivor (a very convincing Robert Powell) is approached by a female eyewitness (the cherubic Jenny Agutter) who serves as some sort of medium for the unfortunate passengers that want to get in contact with their pilot. David Hemmings is mostly known for some terrific acting roles ("Blow-Up", "Profondo Rosso") but he handles directing very well, too, and builds up a chilling tension using only a limited amount of set pieces. The actual plane crash, for example, is filmed at night and in flashes, but still it comes across as quite realistic since Hemmings splendidly focuses on the panicky reactions of the people on the ground. The film also contains a couple efficient shock-moments, notably the sequence in which a noisy journalist is lured into death by the appearance of a young girl that died in the air disaster. "The Survivor" suffers from more and bigger plot holes near the end, but the eventual climax will surely satisfy fans of paranormal and freaky horror films. The atmospheric music by Brian May makes the wholesome even spookier and the remote Australian location guarantees some really beautiful images. Horror veteran Joseph Cotton ("Baron Blood", "The Abominable Dr. Phibes", "Lady Frankenstein") has a small but intriguing role as the town's priest. "The Survivor" is much scarier and involving than "Harlequin", which was another supernatural horror film, made by pretty much the same cast & crew one year earlier. Recommended!
Review of The Survivor
