Micitype Pretty Good

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

sandreacci Probably one of the best "end of the world as we know it" series. It is sad that it took as long as it did for Survivors to come to DVD in the US. They obviously didn't have a large budget but they really didn't need it. One of the things that stands out and actually makes it even better is they did not use any music to set the mood/tone of the show. The actors had to carry each episode along with the script. All too often music is used for dramatic effect and if it was removed, the scene would fail. Not with this series. There is a theme at the start and it comes back in at the end. So no incidental music is used and it actually makes this even better. In fact, I wish this would happen more often. As with any series, some episodes are not as good as others. The plot sometimes jumps around but for the most part the series holds up on its own and leaves you wanting to know what will happen next. The remake of the show in 2008 does not come close to this original. I highly recommend it!!!

jdwaite59 I'd seen the re-make recently and enjoyed it, but was frustrated by the abrupt ending midway through season 2. I figured, I know the original is going to be a cheesy 70's production, but I like the basic storyline and I'll at least get 3 full seasons out of it. What a mistake. Aside from the horrid filming (unavoidable for 70's era TV) the acting is atrocious. And both of these pale in comparison to the worst writing I think I've ever seen. I don't just mean the script but the entire storyline. The characters make mistakes no sensible person in that situation would make and never learn from them. Nevertheless, I was determined to stick with it until episode 9, "Law & Order", which is inexplicably the favorite of other reviewers I've seen. First, the idea that any group of people would allow an obvious degenerate like Tom Price to join them after he's held 2 of the women hostage at gunpoint and tried to force them to trade sex for food is laughable. They know he's a drunk and a lecher, yet he's welcomed into their society without as much as a discussion. Then, after he's raped and killed one of their members, no one even thinks to mention his name as a suspect, even though he'd been visibly drunk, obnoxious and bothering one of the other women at the "party" the night of the murder. No, instead they "convict" a mildly retarded and good-hearted man, then decide execution is the only way to settle the issue. When the tragic error is discovered (too late), the idiot leader who railroaded the whole scenario along decides they can't tell the truth about the matter or they'll undo all the "good" they've accomplished so far. Got news for you, Greg, if you've just wrongly executed an innocent retarded man based on nothing but your flimsy, meandering logic, while the real and obvious killer is sitting right there, you haven't "built" anything worthwhile and you shouldn't be in charge of anything other than tinkering with fuel pumps and such. And then, they allow the murderer to stay with the group! No worries about the children now, no talk of banishment, why? Because they need him to help them farm! This is absurd on so many levels, my head hurts. Needless to say, out came the disc, and into the mail with it before any more damage could be done. I don't usually take the time to shred bad movies, but in this case I've made an exception to, hopefully, save other viewers of the new series the pain of what I just went through with the original.

screenman I'm afraid I'm out of step with popular opinion on this one.My recollections of the series are largely critical. It featured a capable rather than first-rate cast, who were condemned to struggle with those banes of British television: an inadequate budget and a melodramatic script. Both of which are far more debilitating than any virus.The melodrama is there simply to make up for the shortcomings in the finance department. So, we are treated to needlessly verbose confrontations, and hysterical shouting-matches.Given its budgetary constraints; there was about enough mileage in the idea to run for a 6-part serial. After that it might have perished with honours. Unfortunately, it was allowed to outlast its value and quickly descended into a soap opera. Perhaps I should say soap-less opera, considering how scruffy and squalid everyone and every thing seemed to be. There were tiresome digressions with people going away on obscure adventures, whilst lovelorn individuals would eventually go off in pursuit of them. These crusades and searches became the mainstays of the series in its later incarnations. Even its creator, Terry Nation, walked quietly away from its death-bed before the plug was finally pulled. Nope; I have no fond memories of this turkey. But anybody with a penchant for disease-induced end-of-civilisation-as-we-know-it-situations that bore your socks off, could do no better than to get their hands on 'Virus - The Director's Cut'. That's actually made in Japan, and comes with a standard Nipponese 3-year warranty to 'do your 'ead in', as the Cockneys say. Sometimes it's marketed under the more apt title of 'Fukkatsu No Hi'. I couldn't have put it better myself.

filmbforever When an enigmatic unnamed scientist accidentally infects himself with a lethal engineered virus he unwittingly spreads it world wide via air travel. Focusing on London, England we see the effects of the virus as millions succumb and civilization collapses accordingly. The story hones in on a handful of emotionally scarred survivors who come together and attempt the difficult and painful reconstruction of a new society no longer able to depend on supplied science and technology. In one episode entitled "Law and order" the survivor's group are faced with a rape and murder of one of their number following a raucous celebration. An intellectually disabled member is falsely accused and sentenced to death with the killer himself voting for the man's execution. After one of the group leaders carries out the killing, he learns the identity of the real killer and is forced to allow him to stay in the group and withhold the information as the news of the tragic error would permanently splinter and destroy what they fought, against enormous odds, to create. Survivors is gripping stuff; well acted, cleverly written and creatively directed - if you like character driven Sci - Fi drama then this is for you.