Sole Survivor (1983)

Sole Survivor does more than an adequate job of conveying a sense of loneliness throughout the opening sequence. The montage of empty streets, traffic lights winking red and green, and desolate window displays is quietly unsettling and puts the viewer in the proper mindset for what is essentially a quiet picture, punctuated by moments of terror. Denise Watson (Anita Skinner, who is really good at looking seductively to the side and has a nice Gaylen Ross-like quality about her) finds herself unscathed after her airplane goes down, taking everybody else on board along with it. What seems to be an incredible stroke of luck turns soon into a nightmare. It seems that she has been overlooked on Death’s laundry list, and that he’s sending his minions, in the form of the newly-dead, out to get her. (Comparisons to the much-later-in-arriving Final Destination are inevitable--a similarity that the manufacturers of the DVD are quick to point out on the box art.)

"At least now I won't have to fight for these armrests."

Overall, I must say that I was impressed with the film. The dialogue, especially that coming out of the mouth of Denise, is strong. She is an assertive woman, quick-witted, and--once she has brushed off the dust of the plane crash--doesn’t hesitate to ask out her dreamboat of a doctor (played by Brian Richardson). There is a seeming lack of introspection on her part; she is quick to get back to work, producing coffee commercials reminiscent of the Taster’s Choice variety so prominent in the early 80’s.

"You're going to feel a little prick."
"Doctor, I hardly know you."

"Taster's Choice? You're soaking in it."

Cast in the lead of Denise’s java ads is Carla Davis (Caren L. Larkey). Carla is an aging fading beach movie starlet who no one takes seriously. Complicating matters, Carla has psychic powers--she understands Denise’s predicament perhaps better than anyone else, and is roundly met with resistance. When dead people start showing up and try to shuffle Denise off of the old mortal coil, Denise is at first unwilling to heed Carla’s warning--she is written off as a former prima donna unable to cope with her waning stardom. But the dead keep coming nevertheless, and when the full import of Carla’s warning finally dawns on Denise, it is too late.

Seriously, I should be flogged for even considering using "I see dead people" as a caption.

"Seven days! Oh, sorry, wrong number . . . "

Sole Survivor is not a perfect film. The dialogue that I found so fresh in the beginning deteriorates after a half an hour or so--as if the screenwriter ran out of steam and lost some control over his craft. There are some 80s movie cliches as well: A round of strip poker (this would be an interesting study, Strip Poker in Horror Movies and Sex Comedies of the 1980s. The 70s were all about streaking, but the 80s belong to strip poker) and Denise’s over-sexed party-girl neighbor and her new-age valley girl sidekick (who probably thinks Denise’s problems have something to do with bad vibes) detract from the tone of quiet menace that pervades Sole Survivor. It’s obvious these secondary characters are included to up the body count (and perhaps to tack on some minutes to the running time,) but part of me wishes it had been handled differently. Denise and her neighbor seem an unlikely pair. Denise is a career woman and Kristy (Robin Davidson) is far younger and preoccupied with teenage things--which, like a guilty daughter, she tries to keep hidden from Denise. I wondered what in their relationship kept them together . . . But perhaps I’ve just answered my own question in that these people are driven together by loneliness, that they are all marking time until death.

"Don't mind Randy. He's always horny."

Valley Girls outshone by a sweet-ass clock.

Who knows what you'll find in McGelligot's Pool!

The scares in the movie are few but nicely handled. My favorite comes early, in the form of a slow, silent tracking shot through the wreckage of the airplane. Bodies are strewn about, Denise sits unscathed in her seat, plane parts and fires punctuate the landscape. The camera lingers on a man torn in half. As the dead man inexplicably opens his eyes and alarm clock rings loudly and we see that we have been in the dreaming mind of psychic Carla Davis. It’s no cheap smash-cut, but a slow atmospheric build, a combination of sound (or lack thereof) and pictures, that builds to the unexpected. And I for one will take that any day.

The Gallery of Creepy-Ass Mannequins

All in all, I’ll chalk this one up as a success. The film was shot for little money with a cast of virtual unknowns--it is quite obviously a labor of love rather than a product of the studio system. I’m no judge of acting, but I found that most of the cast turned in pretty decent performances (with the obvious exception of the morgue man). I was sad to see Denise go. She was a perfect example of death denial, so ready to jump back into her life after the mother of all wake-up calls. Perhaps the best that we can do is form whatever relationships we can and hope to press on. To push away the idea that the end is near is all that we can do if we want to lead a happy, productive life. And if you ever have a near-miss, be sure to watch your back for a while, just to make sure that the bullet you dodged really didn’t have your name on it. Then you can get back to selling that coffee.