Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of The Survivor; here's the breakdown of my ratings:
Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.00 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.75 out of 10
James Herbert's novels always suffered at the movies. The Survivor is no exception. And for me, there were two letdowns - the crash and the reveal.
The tale itself isn't too terrible. After a plane crash, the sole survivor, pilot Keller, takes it upon himself to deduce what went wrong on the flight - not only to help the authorities piece together the truth, as they are piecing together the jigsaw of the plane, but to rid himself of the amnesia of the tragedy. Enter psychic Hobbs, who has the spirits of the crash screaming at her. There are some decent moments in the story, such as the mysterious deaths of a few locals. Lamentably, it's the way the narrative reveals the truth in the climax. It all feels hurried. We are slowly unravelling the facts of the night's events when suddenly we're at the end scene where everything is exposed. It's awkward and a little confusing. The suddenness spoiled the ending.
But worse comes in the movie's opening sequence - The Crash. The Survivor enjoys the poorest plane wreck in film history. We see Keller in the cockpit telling his navigator to drain the tanks as they're going down. Next comes stock footage of a plane descending, for our purposes, let's say, for an emergency landing. The next thing we witness is the aircraft's tail section as it supposedly zooms past trees in the park. It's only one tree, and it ain't in any park. These scenes look so fake they're laughable. While guffawing at this special effects travesty, I forgot about the horrid incorporated scenes of shoppers in a fake (studio built) shopping centre pretending to be scared of the nonexistent plane overhead (you can hear the engines). I came close to hitting the off button. I'm glad I didn't because the crash site is something to behold. The way the crew lit the wreckage was eerie and unnerving and left a chill in my bones. From this moment forward, the directing became more engaging. David Hemmings isn't the best director, but he certainly isn't the worst. What pained me was you could distinguish when he was trying to do something: Like with the ending in the dark warehouse. Keller walks towards the perpetrator and turns on the overhead lights one at a time with each couple of steps. It works brilliantly to build the tension, but I couldn't help but also feel it was too contrived. The feeling grew when the lights started going out. No scene should feel engineered. Everything should appear and feel realistic; it only adds strength to the picture.
Thank God they had Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotton on board. Otherwise, the film could have been as doomed as the flight. I don't think that's entirely true, but it didn't hurt having a few A-listers. In truth, the whole cast is first-rate, and they put in good performances all around.
The Survivor is worthy of one watch - should there be nothing of interest in your back catalogue of movies worth your attention. If you're flicking through your streaming service and spot it listed, give it a try, it's an enjoyable way to waste an hour and a half.
Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chillers lists to see where I ranked The Survivor.
Take Care & Stay Well.
Story: 1.25 Direction: 1.25 Pace: 1.00 Acting: 1.25 Enjoyment: 1.00
TOTAL: 5.75 out of 10
James Herbert's novels always suffered at the movies. The Survivor is no exception. And for me, there were two letdowns - the crash and the reveal.
The tale itself isn't too terrible. After a plane crash, the sole survivor, pilot Keller, takes it upon himself to deduce what went wrong on the flight - not only to help the authorities piece together the truth, as they are piecing together the jigsaw of the plane, but to rid himself of the amnesia of the tragedy. Enter psychic Hobbs, who has the spirits of the crash screaming at her. There are some decent moments in the story, such as the mysterious deaths of a few locals. Lamentably, it's the way the narrative reveals the truth in the climax. It all feels hurried. We are slowly unravelling the facts of the night's events when suddenly we're at the end scene where everything is exposed. It's awkward and a little confusing. The suddenness spoiled the ending.
But worse comes in the movie's opening sequence - The Crash. The Survivor enjoys the poorest plane wreck in film history. We see Keller in the cockpit telling his navigator to drain the tanks as they're going down. Next comes stock footage of a plane descending, for our purposes, let's say, for an emergency landing. The next thing we witness is the aircraft's tail section as it supposedly zooms past trees in the park. It's only one tree, and it ain't in any park. These scenes look so fake they're laughable. While guffawing at this special effects travesty, I forgot about the horrid incorporated scenes of shoppers in a fake (studio built) shopping centre pretending to be scared of the nonexistent plane overhead (you can hear the engines). I came close to hitting the off button. I'm glad I didn't because the crash site is something to behold. The way the crew lit the wreckage was eerie and unnerving and left a chill in my bones. From this moment forward, the directing became more engaging. David Hemmings isn't the best director, but he certainly isn't the worst. What pained me was you could distinguish when he was trying to do something: Like with the ending in the dark warehouse. Keller walks towards the perpetrator and turns on the overhead lights one at a time with each couple of steps. It works brilliantly to build the tension, but I couldn't help but also feel it was too contrived. The feeling grew when the lights started going out. No scene should feel engineered. Everything should appear and feel realistic; it only adds strength to the picture.
Thank God they had Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotton on board. Otherwise, the film could have been as doomed as the flight. I don't think that's entirely true, but it didn't hurt having a few A-listers. In truth, the whole cast is first-rate, and they put in good performances all around.
The Survivor is worthy of one watch - should there be nothing of interest in your back catalogue of movies worth your attention. If you're flicking through your streaming service and spot it listed, give it a try, it's an enjoyable way to waste an hour and a half.
Please feel free to visit my Absolute Horror and Killer Thriller Chillers lists to see where I ranked The Survivor.
Take Care & Stay Well.