dannyrange A young woman who survives a plane crash is hunted by nightmares and dead people, coming to collect her. A decent, typical 80s horror film, to enjoy on a lonely friday/saturday night.

sol- Annoyed by all the attention thrown her way, the sole survivor of a horrific plane crash tries to get on with her life, however, it appears that Death still has a plan to take her in this intriguing horror thriller. The film's best asset is the dialogue with several fascinating notions tossed around as "survivor's syndrome", referring to guilt often experienced by sole survivors, and curious statistics, such as the majority of sole survivors dying within 24 months of their accident, often as a result of carelessness or subconsciously placing themselves in dangerous situations. The protagonist also offers an interesting tale of a dress that she was not charged for, commenting that she experienced similar elation upon surviving the crash, before then remarking "they eventually find" any mistake. 'Sole Survivor' is not, however, the psychological horror film that one might expect from such intelligent dialogue. There is never any doubt that it is not in her mind and that there are really forces out to get her. Also, creepy as the blankly staring zombies are, their lack of urgency in getting her never quite rings true. The plot is further drawn out with an extraneous strip poker game that only seems to exist to meet a nudity quota and most perhaps disappointing of all, both the lead actress and her boyfriend are bland. This is, however, a film to watch for its small delights: an ominous elevator ride, a foreboding bug-eyed clock, a young girl zombie, etc. The premise is also highly original and undeniably thought-provoking depending on how much one believes in chance, fate and coincidence.

Scarecrow-88 Denise Watson(Anita Skinner), an up and coming producer for a television studio, remarkably survives an airplane crash. It seems Denise has even found a new man in her life, the physician who nursed her back to health, Dr. Brian Richardson(Kurt Johnson). Yet, there's this state of unease that exists and Denise notices strange individuals standing from afar. An older actress, Karla Davis(Caren L Larkey), returning from 6 years of obscurity living pretty much as a recluse, is supposed to be starring in a series of coffee commercials for Denise's company. Karla claims that she has psychic premonitions and attempts to warn Denise of potential danger she envisions in her nightmares. Through Karla we discover that Denise was not suppose to survive(..this is presented in a very subtle way)her plane crash, and, in fact, those unusual folks that seem to follow Denise are in fact undead corpses, perhaps used to reclaim the one who got away from the clutches of death. When an unfortunate series of violent circumstances arise as others encounter those undead corpses "assigned" to "retrieve" Denise, she will have to depend on Brian for help, reluctant and unconvinced, at first, until his own personal investigations turn up some really odd information(..certain corpses moved into a coroner's lab show signs of blood collection in their legs as if they had died standing;and a particular corpse, which kills someone close to Denise, shown as to have died of a coronary, actually was muddy and wet and lying in his car seat in a way not associated with the forensic evidence). Can Denise escape from death that is stalking her? Will Brian be able to save her?This was a nice surprise. Pretty spooky little movie, with limited violence(..the zombies of the film attack humans who pose a threat to their mission). Director Thom Eberhardt is more concerned with building that state of unrest and that terror towards the heroine intensifies as the zombies of the film gradually become more of a threat. At first, the undead watch from afar, lifeless and emotionless, as if they had moved from the slab to spy on her. Then with each appearance, they are more and more threatening(..the parking garage scene where Denise narrowly escapes in an elevator as a zombie closes in from behind is an effectively suspenseful sequence), until those who aren't particularly targets fall prey to them for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A quite interesting twist develops regarding those who are killed by the zombies, themselves pose a threat to Denise's life. I really liked how Eberhardt establishes the undead predators, often shooting them from far away..kind of reminds me of Michael Myers, who looks on at a target before setting in for the kill. The eerie shots of the silent city at night with the streets practically empty(..with his camera particularly interested in store window mannequins)are quite effective, and I thought Eberhardt produces a great sense of hopelessness as Denise slowly descends from a confident and calm working woman into a nervous wreck popping pills, downing booze, and smoking because of her supernatural stalkers. I also appreciated the ambiguity behind the whole film, using dialogue and performance to convey the truth at what is transpiring to the tragic character of Denise and those in her inner circle attempting to run from her own mortality, death never ceasing to stop until it can secure her soul. Big thanks to Code Red for releasing this on DVD so that a new audience can appreciate it(..like a lot of cases, those behind the making of the film received no rewards for their labor due to the distributors). Eberhardt would go on to direct the cult hit, NIGHT OF THE COMET. As others have mentioned, SOLE SURVIVOR is quite reminiscent of CARNIVAL OF SOULS, although the films have very different types of female leads being pursued by very different types of ghoulish predators.Robinson Davidson also stars as Denise's reliable teenage neighbor, Kristy. Brinke Stevens has an early role as one of Kristy's school chums, who must remove her bra during a game of strip poker. My favorite sequence would have to be the chilling nightmare where Karla sees the aftermath of the plane crash as bodies lay dead amongst the debris with Denise seated alone in a dazed state.

The_Void Sole Survivor features a plot that begins a lot like James Herbert's classic book 'The Survivor', and turns into something much more like the modern thriller 'Final Destination'. The idea behind the film is always going to be interesting, as death is the ultimate unknown and stories about the other-worldly forces that govern the afterlife are always bound to be intriguing; but due to this film's low budget and generally slow plot, what could have been a great thriller is left only as an interesting attempt at a good thriller. There were a lot of low budget horror films made during the eighties, many of which are now classics - but this film feels more like a seventies movie, and that's not a good thing as the paltry acting and low quality feel don't bode well with the ambitious plot line. The story follows a woman that is the only survivor of a plane crash. She is haunted by a feeling that her doctor describes as 'sole survivor syndrome', but it turns out that she actually should have died in the crash; and the powers that be have sent their minions to get rid of her.The film gets off to a strong start, and writer-director Thom Eberhardt seems keen to explore all the implications of the central idea. However, it soon goes downhill as the film never really gets going, and most of the ideas don't end up being fully explored, which is a shame. The film does benefit from a continually creepy atmosphere, which bodes well with the central plot in that it makes the finished piece more horrifying. It's always obvious that the film has been made on a shoestring, however, and the director never really makes any attempt to mask this, which is disappointing. The acting isn't exactly brilliant, but it's one of the better things about the piece, and Anita Skinner does well at heading a cast of other unknowns. Eberhardt's script is good in that it manages to give credence to its characters as well, which ends up making the film more credible as we are given a reason to care about the plight of the lead character. Overall, Sole Survivor isn't essentially a 'bad' film; but it is extremely disappointing in that it could have been a lot better.