L'unique survivante

Some friends of mine had been raving about this one and it had just been released on Blu-Ray, so I figured I'd give it a try and I'm really glad that I did. Sole Survivor packs a wallop.

The story centers around Denise, the sole survivor of a freak plane crash, who starts seeing strange, dead-eyed people stalking her every move. In many ways, one could say this is a zombie movie, but that'd be too simple. Yes, these "zombies" are corpses being used by "death" to settle the score and kill Denise once and for all since someone made a mistake and left her alive.

There are elements of Carnival of Souls, Final Destination, and the recent It Follows, but Sole Survivor is very much its own beast and it's all the better for it. Some might not like the very dreary, downbeat storytelling Sole Survivor dabbles in, but there's so much suspense, atmosphere, and scares that I have a hard time believing that any serious horror fan couldn't find something to like in this movie.

It must also be mentioned that leading actress, Anita Skinner, is a dead ringer for Chloe Sevingy.

As with other movies that deal with the blurry line between life and death, "Sole Survivor" often lacks cohesion in plot and logic. But the weight of its atmospheric shocks and well-paced suspense is effective–it's a movie that places its concentration on waking-nightmare horror rather than gore. A woman is the lone survivor of an airplane crash, predicted by a washed-up TV actress with psychic tendencies; complications arise when the recently-dead start popping up in the woman's everyday life. Eerie chiller with strong atmosphere and a moody pace draws favorable comparisons to "Carnival of Souls" and "Dead & Buried." Recommended for adventurous viewers with a taste for the offbeat.

"Sole Survivor" is a horror movie which opens with a palpable sense of dread and some effective moments but squanders them all in a final act which reveals it has no idea what to do with the points it's earnt.

The plot is about a plain looking woman who is the titular "sole survivor" of an airplane crash. She appears to suffer hallucinations of those who died in the crash following her around.

But are they hallucinations or are they... REAL?! You probably won't care. I know I didn't.

The spectres of the deceased, who look like extras wandered over from whatever zombie movie George Romero was shooting that year, are at first spooky but soon become boring since they mostly just stand there. The movie doesn't really develop the idea it starts with, until a rushed conclusion at the end which is entirely unsatisfying.

This film was very nicely done despite it's budget. The director thoroughly developed each scene so that you knew exactly what was going on.

I use to watch this film along side of the classic "Carnival Of Souls" with Candice Hillagoss. The difference between the two was that in carnival the lead character was half dead, but in this film the dead were hell bent making the lead character very dead.

Cudos to Leon in his prelude role to Madonna's "Like A Prayer" video. You really don't know who he is until he opens his mouth. This is where you hear him sounding like his "5 Heartbeats" character JT.

This is a must see for all true horror fans, and those who still enjoy the late Saturday night "fright night" features.

8 out of 10 hands down.

It was an independent endeavor lead by Don Barkemeyer, Caren L. Larkey among others producers that have a good reputation on rental VHS on domestic marketplace and overseas as well, sadly the newbies producers sold it almost by the real cost around 300 thousand dollars plus profits raised later, sad mistake such alleged profits were spent in a creative accountancy misleading the own filmmakers for good, on DVD's release they didn't win a dime for it, an absolute crying shame.

The story is rather compelling if the viewers be aware on low budge production and the unknown casting for instance, in other hand it has a kind of uniqueness on the narrative aside some usual and trivial mismatches over this thematic horror offering also many free-of-charge nude sequences as usually in this genre addressed for teenager audience, let it see easily!!

Thanks for reading.

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First watch: 2025 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.5.