THE SURVIVOR (1981 - HORROR / GHOST FLICK ) ***1/2 out of ***** OR 7 out of 10
(So much for those frequent flyer miles...)
CAST: Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Joseph Cotten, Peter Sumner, Angela Punch-McGregor, Ralph Cotterill, Lorna Lesley, Adrian Wright, Kirk Alexander.
DIRECTOR: David Hemmings
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and very good reasons to doubt something that is too good to be true - straight ahead...)
IT'S LIKE THIS: There are people who have very good luck. Then there's David Keller. David is an airline pilot who is the hero of our next "31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN REVIEW". And let's just say that this man has the most excellent fortune you can possibly get. Our review is the 1981 Australian horror flick adaptation of British horror writer James Herbert's bestselling novel from the mid-1970s. It's called... THE SURVIVOR.
You see, our very, very, very lucky David is the sole survivor of the horrific airline crash that opens our film. Essentially, a 747 loaded with 300-plus passengers and crew explodes mysteriously not too long after take-off, and plunges into a field just outside a Sydney suburb. Because the plane had just left the airport, the fuel tanks are still full - and when they ignite, the whole wreck goes up like a gigantic bonfire.
The townspeople try to help, but the flames are so intense there's really not much they can do. You'd think that a plane crash as terrible as this wouldn't leave any survivors.
You'd be wrong. Sure enough, our hero David, the co-pilot, emerges from the wreckage, with just a few scratches. But no one else follows - which I guess makes him.... the survivor. Oh, okay, now I know why this flick is titled the way it is! Golly, I'm dense!
Anyhow, the reason I mentioned that David is one lucky son of a bitch is because according to the ensuing airline investigation, headed by his pal Tewson (Peter Sumner), there is absolutely no way in hell anyone could have survived the crash the way it happened. Which leads to the very perplexing questions of... why the fuck did co-pilot David Keller survive? How could he have survived?
Don't ask David, because he has absolutely no memory of the flight or the events leading up to the crash. This is ascribed to post-traumatic stress, and he's told that his memory will gradually return. Tewson and the airline rep, Goodwin (Adrian Wright), are very eager for David to recover his memories so that he can shed some light on why the plane crashed. And so are all relatives and friends of the 300-plus dead passengers. And let's not forget the rabid media covering the story. Yeah, Dave! Hurry up and remember already!
Meanwhile, back at the crash site, some odd things are beginning to happen to the folks who live nearby. Like, really strange stuff: (1) the sleazy, opportunistic photographer, Slater (Ralph Coterril), and his girlfriend, Susan (Lorna Lesley), who both callously took pictures of the crash wreck and corpses, and even more callously made money off them, are both terrorized by sinister sounds and sightings; (2) a local fisherman (Jon Nicholls) is pulled under the surface of the lake and drowned by... something; (3) the local priest (Joseph Cotten) begins to get some serious heebie-jeebies around the crash site; and (4) a seriously-hot local schoolteacher only known as Hobbs (Jenny Agutter), begins to receive visions and messages from beyond the grave. And, apparently, what the voices are telling Hobbs is... "Bitch, contact David Keller! Now! We want to talk to him!"
Eventually, Hobbs gets ahold of David back in Sydney and she essentially tells him that the spirits of all the dead passengers want to speak to him. I don't have to tell you that David pretty much looks at her like she just told him that... well, like she just told him that 300-plus dead people want to fucking talk to him. Which is to say, he looks at her like she's fucking nuts. Hobbs goes on to say that she thinks the reason all the scary things that have been happening to the people who live near the crash site is because the "ghosts" are getting angry and more and more desperate to communicate with David.
David eventually agrees to cooperate with Hobbs, mainly because he's been having nightmares of his own. Of people screaming and burning alive. And it also appears that his memory is starting to come back - and what it is gradually revealing to him is not pretty: it appears that someone may have planted a bomb on the plane, which caused it to crash. And that someone could still be alive. But what can David do about it? And what the hell do all those angry spirits from the plane crash want?
Well, I guess I must have spoken too soon: David may not be such a lucky bastard, after all...
Are the spirits furious at David because he alone survived and they all perished? Do they want to claim him to join them in the afterlife? Or do they have a more complex motive? And what role does the mysterious "bomber" have in their agenda? Can David track him down with the help of Hobbs and the local priest? Who is it? And will he (or she) just stand by and let David unravel the mystery? Will David remain the sole survivor - or will he end up getting killed and following the others into the beyond, anyway?
Hard to say. All I know is that Hobbs is sssssssssmokin' hot, yo...
BUT SERIOUSLY: My favorite horror novelist growing up was James Herbert, whom many have labeled as "The British Stephen King". Both Herbert and King tend towards the verbose in their prose, but the approach and style of the former is very markedly British while the latter's is unmistakably American. Novel for novel, I tend to enjoy Herbert's novels more than King's because despite Herbert's tendency to weave a multitude of subplots, he never lost sight of his central narrative spine - which the subplots actually enhance. With many of King's novels, he seems to meander just for the sake of meandering. In my opinion, King's best novels are his first ones, such as "Carrie", "Salem's Lot" and "The Shining" (even though the last one recycles many of Robert Marasco's "Burnt Offerings") which felt more streamlined.
THE SURVIVOR is an Australian adaptation of James Herbert's 1976 novel of the same name (his third one at the time, I believe). Other cinematic adaptations of Herbert's novels include DEADLY EYES (1982), FLUKE (1995), and THE SECRET OF CRICKLEY HALL (2012). Of all of them, THE SURVIVOR is probably the best. The other "ghost movie" this film reminds me very much of, ironically, is THE SHINING. Just like Stanley Kubrick's classic, THE SURVIVOR is stark, low-key, and almost clinical in its approach to the horror at its center. And it's very fitting, too, because Herbert's book had the same "icy" feel to it made the fear more effective.
Interestingly, during the pre-production phase of this film, director David Hemmings (who acted in films like Michelangelo Antonioni's BLOW UP and Dario Argento's PROFONDO ROSSO) and the producers discussed whether to go for an "over-the-top horror" approach or a more "distant and cerebral" one. They chose the latter - which results in a solid ghost story along the lines of THE SHINING that keeps the horror ambiguous and elusive. And therefore more tantalizing.
I should also carefully add that THE SURVIVOR is the first to use that famous twist ending that a certain supernatural thriller from 1999 used - which caused it to became a huge hit. If I mention the title of that 1999 film, then I will have spoiled THE SURVIVOR's twist ending. Make no mistake, though: Herbert's novel from 1976 and this cinematic adaptation of it were the first narratives to use this now-famous (some would say, infamous) final revelation.
Robert Powell brings a detachment and aloofness to the role that may seem like a stiff performance at first, but given the true nature of his character, and viewed in retrospect, it makes a lot of sense. Jenny Agutter is, as usual, stunningly lovely as she was in the same year's AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. Here, she is playing the female lead again, but without a romantic connection to her leading man. Hobbs is strictly there to help David Keller unravel the mystery of what all the dead passengers want from him. Agutter has a very expressive face that director Hemmings clearly loves to shoot in close-up - and this comes in handy to register Hobbs' growing alarm over what is happening in her town in the wake of the catastrophic plane crash.
The original producers mentioned this year that they will remake THE SURVIVOR for modern audiences very soon. That is both good and not-so-good news. It's good in the sense that this rather obscure film will be discovered by audiences worldwide when its remake is released. The not-so-good news is that the remake will very likely feature "over-the-top" horror, in keeping with what modern horror audiences are looking for these days.
Oh, well... those of us who love this film for it's cerebral, almost chilly detachment that is very similar to THE SHINING's atmosphere, will always have it to wash away the memory of any bad remakes they may foist on us.
And, in closing, I'd like to dedicate this review to my favorite horror writer, Sir James Herbert, who passed away in England in 2013. You may be gone, sir, but you are not forgotten...
