Survivor

This little known movie should be seen by anyone who thinks Aussie films are all mindless travelogues with idiotic characters.

After a catastrophic plane crash, rescuers are surprised to see the pilot walking unhurt from the twisted, burning wreckage. The pilot (Robert Powell) can offer no explanation as to how he survived the explosion that killed every other person on the plane. The tension mounts when the investigation proves that the crash was so severe that the pilot could not have POSSIBLY survived no matter where he was on the plane, and yet there he is.

This is a well-crafted paranormal drama, with each new revelation concerning the crash leading you deeper into intrigue.

Also, it was made 19 years before Unbreakable, which has some very similar plot elements.

Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter star in this Australian production of a pilot and a medium who have need of each other after an air crash.

Powell was the pilot of an airliner which crashed on coming in for a landing at an airport. Mysteriously he was the only survivor and he survived with barely a scratch, but with retrograde amnesia, he cannot remember any of the details of the crash.

Agutter is a psychic who is having a bad time seeing visions of what happened and apparently communicating with those who died. What they discover about the crash the story for the rest of the film.

This film marks the farewell appearance of Joseph Cotten who has a small role as a priest. Soon afterwards this most classy of leading men from the golden days of Hollywood suffered a stroke and was forcibly retired from the cinema.

It's not a bad film, Survivor, but it plays like a blown up version of an episode of the TV series One Step Beyond. It might be worth a look if that's how your tastes run.

THE SURVIVOR is one of those cases where the trailer is a lot creepier and more entertaining than the film itself. The setup is quite intriguing: Robert Powell plays the pilot and sole survivor of a 747 crash in Adelaide, Australia. Jenny Agutter is a psychic medium who contacts him to inform him that the victims of the crash are angry lost souls and need him to set everything straight.

This film promises a lot but quickly degenerates into a very slowly paced thriller which gives us neither shocks nor gore in a misguided effort to try to play to both the audiences of high-brow scares and exploitation. It's no wonder it never hit American theaters as the film feels very, very foreign and doesn't have much in the way of action or entertainment value beyond its opening cataclysmic plane crash (which is handled surprisingly well). There's a little bit of creepiness to go around but much, much too little too late. Also the film obviously spent the lion's share of its budget on production design for its wrecked plane in field location, so unfortunately it feels pretty repetitive after the umpteenth time the characters come back to it.

I do have to give a special mention to the film's musical score however. Brian May is almost criminally marginalized as the composer for the Mad Max films as well as all-too-often confused with the guitarist from Queen. In my opinion he provided all of the best film music to come out of Australia during the 70's and 80's and this film has to be near the pinnacle of his work, up there with ROAD GAMES and TURKEY SHOOT.

Oddly for a film set in Australia the film doesn't have much home base representation among the principal cast. American acting legend Joseph Cotten is on-hand as a Catholic priest. This was his last major film role though sadly a waste as his character is completely superfluous.

Just after taking off, a Jetliner goes into a emergency landing, but the pilots can't control the situation and the plane crashes and presumably everybody is dead because of the state of the disaster. That's until out of the wreckage and flames, out comes walking the only survivor the pilot. When asked what happened, the pilot has temporary memory loss and because of that he's tortured by the guilt of being the only survivor. A woman who believes to be part of this accident joins the pilot on trying to figure out this baffling mystery, which somehow involves the restless spirits of the plane crash pushing the two to seek out the truth.

I remember when I came across the trailer for this flick on some rental video, and boy did it freak me out when I was kid, but that's going back and I just saw it for the first time now. And from what I saw, I got nothing but high praise for this Australian paranormal thriller. It isn't flawless, but there's something enthralling about the mystery of it all and it's a technically impressive production. 'The Survivor' which was adapted from James Herbert's novel was shot in Adelaide, Australia with some of the same crew of the previous film 'Harlequin' involved, but they managed to pull some international actors other then Robert Powell, but Jenny Agutter and Joseph Cotton too. And also some local faces Angela Punch-McGregor and Peter Summer who have small roles pop up.

David Hemming takes the pivotal role of director here and paints a very moody picture that has a vastly quiet stillness and baffling nature to all of it. The supernatural factor of the plot exploits the fear of this startling subject by having short pockets of intense shocks and taut suspense along way to its breathtaking climax. The supernatural element is one that haunts the mind and evokes such terror in the face. To get this feel it's depressingly downbeat. The advantage of that is that it doesn't cross away from that central idea and it's hard to know what's coming around each corner. Hemming also stages some unsettling moments with such vision. First off would be when the jetliner is going down and we see it from a street bystander's viewpoint and that of the crash site and wreckage is so damn eerie. The climax also packs a massive punch, but if you've seen some recent films in the last couple of years it might not come as a bigger surprise, but I for one didn't see it coming. The plot works rather well with it ambiguous and slowly paced structure, where we are still left with some more questions at the end, but saying that 'mostly' everything starts to fit into the puzzle with precision, where you learn there's a whole lot more to it then what we began with. Just after watching a couple of the X-files seasons over the last week or two, this is something that wouldn't feel out of placed in an x-files episode. The mystery thrives here in the plot and only for those who enjoy a good and highly creepy mystery with supernatural overtones.

Make sure you watch the film in wide screen to get John Seale's wide scope cinematography that was shot with such elegance and subtleness with a lot distinctive elements. It had a nice polished touch to it by working in every little detail with flashes of creativity and unsteadiness to proceedings. The choice of setting added even more to the unsettling nature with such beautiful backdrops that go hand-to-hand to mood of the characters and story. The score by Brian May succeeded too by really touching a nerve with its echoing emphasis on a air of creepiness, but to a soothing and innocent spell of suggestiveness. Also the highly effective sound effects creaked alertness. Exemplary performances are given from a top cast of talented internationals. Robert Powell is impressive as the stone-cold pilot Keller, Jenny Agutter is beautifully engaging as Hobbs who can get in touch with other-side and then there's Joseph Cotton putting in solid performance as The Priest. These believable characters you actually care for, especially because you join the two in their journey of discovery and torment to what really happened. Where you learn its fate between the connection of Keller and Hobbs. What keeps you gripped other than that of the great imagery, focused tension and fantastic performances is that of the heavy laced dialog, which drives the film into weird but compelling territory.

After two decades the film still holds up rather well and left me with a cold shudder after being thrown right into it. Startlingly good entertainment!

One of only a few James Herbert adaptations to reach the screen (the others being "Deadly Eyes" a.k.a. "The Rats", "Fluke", and "The Haunted"), this is a pretty effective movie overall. Directed by actor David Hemmings ("Blowup", "Deep Red"), it's handled with a large degree of sensitivity and subtlety, and is quite slowly paced as well, focusing on building its atmosphere rather than centering around shocks - all reasons why some horror fans might not care for it too much. But if you're patient with this one, you will be rewarded with a film that succeeds at creating a vague sense of unease and maintaining a level of unpredictability.

It certainly begins with a bang: a 747 plane crash lands in the Australian countryside, and its pilot Keller (Robert Powell) walks away without a scratch. Burdened with the guilt of being the only survivor, he's also suffering from amnesia and is determined to discover the cause of the crash. He's eventually assisted by a young woman with psychic abilities, played by an especially beautiful Jenny Agutter.

Also in the cast are Australian actress Angela Punch McGregor, whom you may remember as Michael Caine's leading lady in the film version of Peter Benchley's "The Island", and Hollywood legend Joseph Cotten, although Cotten truthfully never gets a whole lot to do as a local priest. Thankfully, Powell and Agutter are so good that they carry the movie quite well.

The paranormal is introduced into this moody story a bit at a time, with Hemmings never going for the cheap thrill; whatever violence is in the movie is mostly done off screen. Audiences may well appreciate the incredible work that the production does in creating a crash site, and enjoy the way that things wrap up with a creepy reveal / confrontation and a nifty (if not all that original) final twist.

As was said, this may not be to every taste, but genre fans looking for more obscure efforts from decades past are advised to look into it.

Seven out of 10.