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/