The Survivor

The Survivor (1981)

A tale of death, and of an evil which transcends death

When a 747 crashes shortly after take-off, the sole survivor is the pilot. Virtually unhurt, he and the investigators look for the answers to the disaster. Meanwhile mysterious deaths occur in the community and only a psychic, in touch with the supernatural, can help the pilot unravel the mystery surrounding the doomed plane.

Date of release
1981-07-09
TMDB
5.1 / 10 (43)
Runtime
1h 38m
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Director
David Hemmings

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Box office: $700K
  • Budget: A$1.2M
  • Awards: 1 · Nominations: 7. Including: Sitges Film Festival Best Screenplay award

The Survivor is a 1981 Australian supernatural horror film directed by David Hemmings and starring Robert Powell, Jenny Agutter, and Joseph Cotten. The film follows an airline pilot who, after surviving a mysterious crash that killed all of his passengers, is contacted by a clairvoyant who claims to be in contact with the victims. It is based on the 1976 novel of the same name by James Herbert. This was Cotten's last appearance in a feature film.

Production

$350,000 of the budget was invested by the South Australian Film Corporation, with a similar amount coming from English investors. The rest came from Greater Union, a TV sale and private investment.

Prior to filming David Hemmings and Antony I. Ginnane discussed whether to make the film gory or more cerebral in the vein of The Innocents (1961). They chose the latter, a decision Ginnane later said was a mistake.

Ginnane asked Brian Trenchard-Smith to cut a ten-minute promotional reel for the film to entice potential buyers at the Milan Film Market before it had been finished. Because Jenny Agutter was scheduled to begin work on the film after the cut-off date from which Trenchard-Smith could draw material from the film's dailies, he shot his own material with her exclusively for the reel. He later cut the trailer for the actual film when it was released.

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