A diverse group of characters - including a behavioural scientist (Bradford Dillman), an Olympic athlete (Lincoln Kilpatrick), a novelist (Alex Cord), a doctor (Barbara Babcock), and a corporate honcho (Jackie Cooper) are whisked away by the government. Armageddon is at hand, and these people are taken to a specially designed shelter buried almost two miles below the Earth. They're all stressed out as it is, but the main problem is yet to come. It seems that the government, which modified existing caves, just couldn't create a shelter that was vampire bat proof.
"Chosen Survivors" has the feel of a TV movie, and in fact the director, Sutton Roley, worked mostly in that medium. Nothing about it is particularly stylish, although it does have decent atmosphere, especially in scenes where the lights go out. Shock and squirm moments are variable: when real bats are used, things are fine, but the special effects are simply *terrible* when it comes to creating mass bat attacks. (The movie *is* gorier than the typical TV movie, to be sure.) The screenplay by Harry Spalding and Joe Reb Moffly has some rather thin characters and silly dialogue, making it all the more impressive that some of the actors would come off as well as they do. The music score by Fred Karlin is pretty good.
Of course, this does fall into the clichés of the genre, particularly when it comes to characters. One of our "chosen survivors" is a loudmouth Jerk (the Jackie Cooper role) who does a lot of complaining. Also, we get one poor woman, Kristina Lerner (Cristina Moreno) who's obliged to do most of the screaming and panicking. The cast does the best it can with the material; the quietly effective Kilpatrick and the excellent Richard Jaeckel come off the best.
At the very least, "Chosen Survivors" can boast one very well executed set piece, when one person tries to step to the heroic challenge and scale the massive elevator shaft to send a signal to potential rescuers. It's here that Roley is able to generate the most genuine tension.
This is very much of its time, but still offers a reasonable amount of entertainment for undemanding B movie lovers.
Six out of 10.
"Chosen Survivors" has the feel of a TV movie, and in fact the director, Sutton Roley, worked mostly in that medium. Nothing about it is particularly stylish, although it does have decent atmosphere, especially in scenes where the lights go out. Shock and squirm moments are variable: when real bats are used, things are fine, but the special effects are simply *terrible* when it comes to creating mass bat attacks. (The movie *is* gorier than the typical TV movie, to be sure.) The screenplay by Harry Spalding and Joe Reb Moffly has some rather thin characters and silly dialogue, making it all the more impressive that some of the actors would come off as well as they do. The music score by Fred Karlin is pretty good.
Of course, this does fall into the clichés of the genre, particularly when it comes to characters. One of our "chosen survivors" is a loudmouth Jerk (the Jackie Cooper role) who does a lot of complaining. Also, we get one poor woman, Kristina Lerner (Cristina Moreno) who's obliged to do most of the screaming and panicking. The cast does the best it can with the material; the quietly effective Kilpatrick and the excellent Richard Jaeckel come off the best.
At the very least, "Chosen Survivors" can boast one very well executed set piece, when one person tries to step to the heroic challenge and scale the massive elevator shaft to send a signal to potential rescuers. It's here that Roley is able to generate the most genuine tension.
This is very much of its time, but still offers a reasonable amount of entertainment for undemanding B movie lovers.
Six out of 10.