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Bok · @bok

38 followers · 224 posts · Server lor.sh

Last night I #watched "The Survivor" (AU 1981), a #movie about a 787 crashing and burning shortly after takeoff, killing all passengers and crew except for the pilot, Keller (Robert Powell). He has to deal with survivor's guilt and his too-understanding fellow pilot, Tewson (Peter Sumner), not to mention the investigation led by Slater (Ralph Cotterill). Also the Press, which has found out that Keller was having an affair with the wife of the small airline's president. The president was on the flight.

A photographer manages to get close enough to Keller to snap some pictures of him offering sympathy to the airline president's wife. We later see that photographer (and after the next paragraph, his girlfriend, who developed the photos) each die gruesomely, apparently at the hands of children who died in the crash.

A clairvoyant who saw the crash, Hobbs (Jenny Agutter), is experiencing the feelings of the passengers, especially the children's. She talks with Keller at a vigil and arranges to meet with him later. They argue when they meet, and Keller attempts to walk out. Seemingly possessed, Hobbs attacks him. Both strongly experience the emotions of the crash victims when they touch. They agree to investigate further.

That night, Hobbs and Keller sneak into the hangar where the plane's fuselage is being stored. Anxious to regain his memories, Keller sits in the pilot seat and Hobbs tries to help him remember. It works, and they both experience Keller's memories. Hobbs briefly passes out, but at least they now know that there was a bomb on board. They leave that hangar, and Hobbs acts as a psychic compass that leads them to the hangar where the rest of the wreckage is.

Keller leaves Hobbs in the car and enters alone: he finds Tewson, murdered. He also finds Slater sitting on the edge of a jet engine, holding a rifle. In his #villain #monologue, Slater admits to planting the bomb; Tewson's side investigation was getting too close to revealing that, so he had to die. Slater had planned to gain control of the airline when its stock crashed. While the pair talk, the sound of the victims gets ever louder in the background; eventually the wreckage bursts into flames. We see Slater die in place, and David stumbles outside engulfed in flames.

Days later – she seems to have just driven away and told no one – Hobbs watches the fuselage being moved. The move is halted when one of the workers notices someone in the pilot's seat. It's Keller's body. He really died in the crash, with the film seemingly saying he'd been manifested by the spirits of those who had died. Let's hope Slater's death was enough for them, because Hobbs wasn't in the hangar to hear his confession, and a second fire likely destroyed any remaining evidence.

A strange piece of #cinema. A moody, cerebral, horror #film that doesn't really work, perhaps because of all the logic and action gaps trying to maintain a mood causes. Like many older #movies I watch, this was suggested by "Terry Talks Movies" on YouTube. He likes it more than I do. ●●○○○ #CineMastodon

#watched #movie #villain #monologue #cinema #film #movies #cinemastodon

Last updated 1 year ago

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