The Survivor (1981 film)
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''The Survivor'' is a 1981 Australian
supernatural horror film Supernatural horror film is a film genre that combines aspects of horror film and supernatural film. Supernatural occurrences in such films often include ghosts and demons, and many supernatural horror films have elements of religion. Common them ...
directed by
David Hemmings David Edward Leslie Hemmings (18 November 1941 – 3 December 2003) was an English actor and director. He is best remembered for his roles in British films and television programmes of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the 1966 mystery film ' ...
and starring
Robert Powell Robert Powell (; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in ''Mahler'' (1974) and '' Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) and its ...
,
Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in ''East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of ''The Railway Children''—the BBC's 1968 television serial ...
, and
Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and ''Sabr ...
. The film follows an airline pilot who, after surviving a mysterious crash that killed all of his passengers, is contacted by a
clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
who claims to be in contact with the victims. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by
James Herbert James John Herbert, OBE (8 April 1943 – 20 March 2013) was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 l ...
. The film marked Cotten's final feature film appearance.


Plot

In
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Australia, airline pilot David Keller survives the crash of his
Boeing 747-200 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to ...
, unhurt despite all of its 300 passengers dying in the accident. With no memories of the accident, he starts to suffer strange supernatural visions, guiding him to suspect that something happened in the crash and that the accident was not an accident. Back at home, Keller attempts to return to his normal life, but is troubled by photographers attempting to photograph him and sell the images to newspapers. One photographer, whom Keller assaults, returns home where his girlfriend begins to develop the photographs. The man witnesses a young girl in his yard, and follows her as she beckons to a nearby cemetery; he is perplexed as she seems to appear and disappear right before him. The apparition of the child—a victim of the plane crash—reveals herself to have burn scars on her face, terrifying the photographer. He attempts to flee, but is cornered by the apparition on a set of train tracks, where he is killed by a passing train. A vigil is held at the crash site, where a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priest gives a sermon for the victims' families and others. After the vigil, Keller is approached by Hobbs, a
clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...
who witnessed the plane crash from the ground, and who claims to have been contacted by the spirits of the victims. Keller visits Hobbs at her home and rebuffs her, after which she attacks him and the two have a scuffle in which both seem to lose control of their bodies, experiencing the untethered emotions of the victims. Later, Hobbs is impelled to visit the home of the photographer who was killed by the train. As Hobbs observes the house from outside, the photographer's girlfriend begins developing photographs in their
dark room A darkroom is used to process photographic film, to make prints and to carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of the light-sensitive photographic materials, including film and pho ...
, only to find the photographs develop into disturbing portraits of the burned crash victims. The woman, attacked by supernatural forces, is chopped to death by a large
paper cutter A paper cutter, also known as a paper guillotine or simply a guillotine, is a tool often found in offices and classrooms, designed to administer straight cuts to single sheets or large stacks of paper at once. History Paper cutters were dev ...
. Hobbs brings Keller to visit with the Catholic priest before the two decide to return to the crash site. Hobbs brings Keller inside the plane wreckage, where she seats him in the intact cockpit. Keller begins to experience regressive memories of the events leading up to the crash, which entail a passenger finding a
bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
on board the plane which subsequently detonated, causing the plane to lose control. Keller awakens from the vision and he and Hobbs flee the crash site. Tewson, one of Keller's peers investigating the crash, arrives shortly after and is stabbed to death by an unseen figure. Utilizing Hobbs's psychic impressions, Keller drives around the city as she directs him. The two arrive at an airplane hangar where Keller finds Slater, one of his peers from the airline, armed with a shotgun. Slater admits to having planted the bomb on the aircraft, hoping to kill Keller so that he could wrangle further control of the airline. Slater shows no remorse for the crime, deeming the 300 passengers as "nobodies". Moments later, the screams of the victims fill the hangar, and a large airplane propelling suddenly bursts into flames, triggering an inferno that burns both Keller and Slater to death. Hobbs watches from outside the hangar in horror as Keller stumbles out of it, engulfed in flames. The following day, as the wreckage crew hauls away portions of the crashed plane, they discover Keller's burnt corpse seated in the cockpit.


Cast


Production

$350,000 of the budget was invested by the
South Australian Film Corporation South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed ...
, with a similar amount coming from English investors. The rest came from
Greater Union Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd, trading as Event Cinemas, Greater Union, GU Film House, Moonlight Cinema and Birch Carroll & Coyle (BCC Cinemas), is the largest movie exhibitor in Australia and New Zealand, with over 140 Multiplex (movie the ...
, a TV sale and private investment. Prior to filming David Hemmings and Antony I. Ginnane discussed whether to make the film gory or more cerebral in the vein of '' The Innocents'' (1961). They chose the latter, a decision Ginnane later said was a mistake. Ginnane asked
Brian Trenchard-Smith Brian Medwin Trenchard-Smith (born 1946) is an English-Australian filmmaker and author, known for his idiosyncratic and satirical low-budget genre films. His filmography covers action, science fiction, martial arts, dystopian fiction, comedy, w ...
to cut a ten-minute promotional reel for the film to entice potential buyers at the Milan Film Market before it had been finished. Because
Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in ''East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of ''The Railway Children''—the BBC's 1968 television serial ...
was scheduled to begin work on the film after the cut-off date from which Trenchard-Smith could draw material from the film's
dailies In filmmaking, dailies are the raw, unedited footage shot during the making of a motion picture. The term comes from when movies were all shot on film because usually at the end of each day, the footage was developed, synced to sound, and pri ...
, he shot his own material with her exclusively for the reel. He later cut the trailer for the actual film when it was released.


Reception

James Herbert, who wrote the novel upon which the film was based, described the film as "terrible ... absolute rubbish."


Accolades


See also

*
Cinema of Australia The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received internati ...


References


External links

*
''The Survivor''
at Oz Movies
The Survivor at the National Film and Sound Archive

The New York Times

Australian Film Commission

Cinemafantastique (French)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Survivor, The 1981 films 1980s English-language films 1981 horror films 1980s horror thriller films Australian ghost films Australian horror films Australian horror thriller films Australian supernatural horror films Films about aviators Films about psychic powers Films based on British novels Films scored by Brian May (composer) Films shot in Adelaide Films directed by David Hemmings 1980s Australian films