Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

meddlecore A woman experiences a premonition about a devastating plane crash in the suburbs. This turns out to be accurate, when a plane crashes next to the home of a photographer- who is one of the first responders on the scene. A pilot is the sole remaining survivor of the wreck. He manages to walk away from the disaster virtually unscathed- suffering only from retrograde amnesia and survivor's guilt. He becomes obsessed with piecing together exactly what happened.A few days after the crash, the photographer becomes haunted by premonitions of a young girl with burns all over her face. Meanwhile, the pilot does his best to follow the investigation...but it's getting him nowhere. His most solid lead is a mysterious woman who claims to have advanced knowledge about the incident.When he tries to get information from her, however, she suffers from a hysterical fit and attacks him. Despite the fact that it was her that approached him to help...while looking for some help herself.Eventually she comes around, and claims that she was present at the crash...but not in a typical way. She seems to be a psychic medium through which victims of the crash (or something) are (is) trying to contact the pilot.Subsequently, when the photographer leaves his photographs to develop, his wife looks at them...only to discover they are filled with ghastly images of some sort of demonic entity. Obviously she dies.The psychic woman then approaches the pilot for a second time, now suggesting he trigger regression by returning to the site, with hopes that it will evoke his lost memories. He agrees to participate.Together, they seek help from a local priest and return to the cockpit, where his memories begin to return...to her.By now, the photographer has stumbled upon the crime scene that used to be his darkroom...and gotten himself killed- slasher style- in the process, just like his wife.It's at this point that the pilot gets a chance to meet the demon responsible for all of this death and destruction face-to-face...and he's coming for his soul! This film is short and sweet. Packed into 1 hour and 15 minutes, it's an Aussie flick that seems like it was made-for-TV. At first I thought it was going to suck hard, because it has what is probably one of the most hilariously bad plane crash sequences in cinematic history (it literally looks like a camera tracking in unison with a plane wing that is moving through a movie studio). But that aside, the ending really redeems this awesome little film.It's quite evident that ---SPOILER--- The Sixth Sense stole it's twist from this screenplay. With this one being a bit more supernatural, overall. I particularly love the way the filmmaker denotes our entrance into and exit from the "Other World". Great little flick that is definitely worth a watch.6 out of 10

lost-in-limbo Just after taking off, a Jetliner goes into a emergency landing, but the pilots can't control the situation and the plane crashes and presumably everybody is dead because of the state of the disaster. That's until out of the wreckage and flames, out comes walking the only survivor the pilot. When asked what happened, the pilot has temporary memory loss and because of that he's tortured by the guilt of being the only survivor. A woman who believes to be part of this accident joins the pilot on trying to figure out this baffling mystery, which somehow involves the restless spirits of the plane crash pushing the two to seek out the truth.I remember when I came across the trailer for this flick on some rental video, and boy did it freak me out when I was kid, but that's going back and I just saw it for the first time now. And from what I saw, I got nothing but high praise for this Australian paranormal thriller. It isn't flawless, but there's something enthralling about the mystery of it all and it's a technically impressive production. 'The Survivor' which was adapted from James Herbert's novel was shot in Adelaide, Australia with some of the same crew of the previous film 'Harlequin' involved, but they managed to pull some international actors other then Robert Powell, but Jenny Agutter and Joseph Cotton too. And also some local faces Angela Punch-McGregor and Peter Summer who have small roles pop up. David Hemming takes the pivotal role of director here and paints a very moody picture that has a vastly quiet stillness and baffling nature to all of it. The supernatural factor of the plot exploits the fear of this startling subject by having short pockets of intense shocks and taut suspense along way to its breathtaking climax. The supernatural element is one that haunts the mind and evokes such terror in the face. To get this feel it's depressingly downbeat. The advantage of that is that it doesn't cross away from that central idea and it's hard to know what's coming around each corner. Hemming also stages some unsettling moments with such vision. First off would be when the jetliner is going down and we see it from a street bystander's viewpoint and that of the crash site and wreckage is so damn eerie. The climax also packs a massive punch, but if you've seen some recent films in the last couple of years it might not come as a bigger surprise, but I for one didn't see it coming. The plot works rather well with it ambiguous and slowly paced structure, where we are still left with some more questions at the end, but saying that 'mostly' everything starts to fit into the puzzle with precision, where you learn there's a whole lot more to it then what we began with. Just after watching a couple of the X-files seasons over the last week or two, this is something that wouldn't feel out of placed in an x-files episode. The mystery thrives here in the plot and only for those who enjoy a good and highly creepy mystery with supernatural overtones.Make sure you watch the film in wide screen to get John Seale's wide scope cinematography that was shot with such elegance and subtleness with a lot distinctive elements. It had a nice polished touch to it by working in every little detail with flashes of creativity and unsteadiness to proceedings. The choice of setting added even more to the unsettling nature with such beautiful backdrops that go hand-to-hand to mood of the characters and story. The score by Brian May succeeded too by really touching a nerve with its echoing emphasis on a air of creepiness, but to a soothing and innocent spell of suggestiveness. Also the highly effective sound effects creaked alertness. Exemplary performances are given from a top cast of talented internationals. Robert Powell is impressive as the stone-cold pilot Keller, Jenny Agutter is beautifully engaging as Hobbs who can get in touch with other-side and then there's Joseph Cotton putting in solid performance as The Priest. These believable characters you actually care for, especially because you join the two in their journey of discovery and torment to what really happened. Where you learn its fate between the connection of Keller and Hobbs. What keeps you gripped other than that of the great imagery, focused tension and fantastic performances is that of the heavy laced dialog, which drives the film into weird but compelling territory.After two decades the film still holds up rather well and left me with a cold shudder after being thrown right into it. Startlingly good entertainment!

tupolev-2 Produced by the South Australian Film Corporation and filmed on location in Adelaide, The Survivor in many ways foretells the Lockerbie disaster many years before that tragic event. The film was a huge commitment at the time - a full scale 747 was made at a local car manufacturing plant and transported to the 'crash site'. I remember visiting the set after the shoot - it was still littered with suitcases, seats, clothes and the engines were windmilling in the breeze. The haunting music makes the film, similar to Picnic At Hanging Rock, the actors believable, the cinematography honest and the storyline compelling if a little slow. Take it for what was cutting edge at the time for a small film studio and you have an enjoyable slightly disturbing thriller. Take time and watch other productions by the SAFC - they're a refreshing change from the big studios mass produced entertainment.

iain_somerville This is a pretty cool film, and I have been surprised at how much it has been ignored over the years. Halliwell's Film Guide doesn't list it at all. It's a chilling, atmospheric horror story that plays on the audience's deepest fears about what lies in the dark. That said, the book is still better and alot more unsettling and disturbing. All the James Herbert novels I've read are very graphic and go into a great detail about sex and death, although I wouldn't say they make good bedtime reading.