The
Survivor (1981/Severin Blu-ray)
Picture:
B Sound: B Extras: B Film: B
Author
James Herbert was essentially the British Stephen King, brought the
world the delightfully gory book Rats and also The
Survivor. While Herbert himself wasn't a huge fan of the film,
the 1981 release of The Survivor feature film lands on Blu-ray
looking and sounding better than ever thanks to this fantastic new
release from Severin Films that revives an underseen Australian big
budget Horror release they only produced so many of at the time. No
doubt inspiring M. Night Shymalan's Unbreakable,
producer/director David Hemmings' film The Survivor features a
lone survivor from a horrendous 747 airplane crash, which was the
largest practical explosion seen in Australian cinema at the time,
even besting Mad Max. The film is great looking, creepy, and
delivers the thrills that fans of supernatural horror won't want to
miss.
The
film stars Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, Joseph Cotten, Peter Sumner,
and Lorna Lesley.
Keller
is an experienced pilot whose 747 plane with loads of passengers
crashes in a field near a town. He ends up being the sole survivor,
but he's unable to remember what happened that caused the plane to
crash and is further perplexed at his sole survival. When a local
psychic named Hobbs meets Keller, they are both haunted by strange
visions of survivors and look to a Priest for answers as to what
happened in this bizarre supernatural occurrence.
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, this
new 2K transfer certainly improves upon the original cinematic
elements to provide and fresh and new look at this film. The color
(Kodak 250 ASA 35mm negative film stock of the time processed in
Australia's unique photochemical labs and shot in real anamorphic
Panavision) and saturation pops throughout the presentation and
leaves little to be desired for a film of this sort. The audio track
is an original LPCM 2.0 track that sounds fine for the aging film as
it doesn't really warrant a DTS mix, but has been cleaned up very
well. This is certainly the best the film has ever looked as
compared to previous releases and probably since the first 35mm &
16mm widescreen prints were struck for worldwide release.
Special
Features:
Not
Quite Hollywood Extended Interview clips (from the great
filmmaking documentary also reviewed elsewhere on this site) with
Producer Antony I. Ginnane and the brilliant Cinematographer John
Seale
The
Legacy of James Herbert
Robert
Powell on James Herbert - Archive TV Special On Location
Featuring Interviews with stars Joseph Cotten and Peter Sumner
Archive
TV Interview with David Hemmings
Archive
TV Interview with David Hemmings and Robert Powell
Antony
I. Ginnane Trailer Reel
TV
Spot
The
Survivor is an interesting film that isn't to be missed in this
great Blu-ray edition.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
