Because today is Halloween, and because I make my own rules, I’m going to take a small break from talking about bad movies today and instead review a really good one. SOLE SURVIVOR is a supernatural horror movie directed by Thom Eberhardt. A name that may be familiar to fans of NIGHT OF THE COMET, another horror movie Eberhardt directed that is the far better known of the two.
After a few shots establishing some of the characters and locations, we open on one of the film’s most striking scenes. The aftermath of a catastrophic plane crash. Amidst the pile of dead bodies and the plane’s wreckage is one lone survivor. A television commercial producer named Denise Watson who is still sitting in her seat completely untouched. Denise is then taken to the hospital where everyone is amazed at how she doesn’t have a scratch on her. Thus far, this isn’t all that different from a drama. There’s even a cute Doctor who flirts with her a little bit. Except that when Denise walks out through the hospital’s back exit to avoid reporters she sees someone creepily staring at her from the shadows. After that, during the next few days, she starts to notice a lot of people creepily staring at her. Soon, those people begin to do more than just stare.
I won’t lie and say that I’m unbiased when it comes to movies like this. Ghost stories are my favorite genre and they always have been. Sole Survivor is often compared to Final Destination, which I feel can be a bit inaccurate. I feel it’s much more similar to J-Horror movies like The Ring or The Grudge, where there is an initial incident that causes the protagonist to face a countdown, which then propels them on a desperate quest to find out what’s going on and if it can be stopped before the timer reaches zero. In this case, Denise finds out that the dead are coming back to life in order to take her back with them because she wasn’t supposed to have survived that crash after all.
I like how Eberhardt effortlessly combines the main story of death stalking Denise in the form of resurrected cadavers, and the “B-story” of Denise trying to come to terms with having been the only survivor of a tragedy, in an organic logical way. Each propels the other one forward. I’ve often mused that a genre movie is only as good as its non-genre elements. Take the original Halloween for example. Had it just been a movie about a couple of babysitters playing pranks on each other and fooling around with their boyfriends on Halloween night, I think it still would have worked. Might not have been as successful, but someone would love it as a cult comedy.
Another thing I like about Eberhardt is that he really knows how to write dialogue. Now, by this I don’t mean that he’s Quentin Tarantino or Kevin Smith. Nobody in Sole Survivor makes long intricate speeches. In fact, the dialogue doesn’t call much attention to itself at all, but that’s what I like about it. It’s natural, direct and focused. Everything that everyone says serves to advance either the story or their character. No wasted words. Also, all the dialogue feels like something that the characters would say in that particular moment. It doesn’t feel forced. There are no long boring exposition dumps or character rambling about something irrelevant. You never appreciate good dialogue until you watch movies with a lot of bad dialogue, and I’ve watched a LOT of movies with bad dialogue. He even gives the crazy psychic lady that tells Denise she’s doomed, which in almost any other movie would have been a character written entirely in clichés, some very decent stuff to say and do. Yeah, this is all low-key stuff, but damn if it isn’t refreshing to see it done WELL.
Alright, here are ten thoughts I had watching this movie:
#1 – Girl, you need to play the lottery now. Maybe you and all the corpses that are coming to life around you can pool your money together or something. Go to the Bahamas together.
#2 – If I was a psychic and could predict the future in dreams and visions, I wouldn’t call people up at 3am to babble incoherently about death and doom. I’d use it to make money. Nobody thinks you’re crazy when you become a millionaire betting on horse racing.
#3 – Um, Denise? It’s a creepy little girl outside late at night. If Japanese horror movies have taught me anything it’s to just run.
#4 – Thom Eberhardt released Sole Survivor and Night of the Comet in 1984 and these movies are so different in style and tone that you’d never know the same guy directed both. One is a dark gritty dead serious thriller, and the other one is a bright action packed horror comedy. He was a very underrated filmmaker.
#5 – This movie so good I’m finding it hard to actually make jokes about it.
#6 – Old man in the park staring creepily? Well, at least he still has his pants on.
#7 – You know Denise, since the dead don’t seem to want to kill you in public, you might want to want to avoid constantly isolating yourself.
#8 – You “kids” don’t know this, but the eighties had some of the most drastic fashion changes of any decade. From about 1980 to 1983 people dressed like in this movie, which was basically “The 1970s Part 2”. Then, from 1984 to 1986, it was all these neon colors and pastels and poofy jackets and the Miami Vice suits. Stuff that we all think of as “The Eighties”. Then, after 1987 or so everyone either dressed like they were starring in Roadhouse or Beetlejuice, and very little in between, until Grunge became a thing.
#9 – The ending is the only place where this movie starts to get a little clumsy. It’s mostly the music that doesn’t quite work with the visuals. It’s very “Six Million Dollar Man” Still, this is some effective stuff.
#10 – I kind of miss when movies had THE END written at the end.
Okay, that’s what I got. Sole Survivor is available on Shudder in Canada, and I think you guys in the United-States also have it too. It’s a nice fun low-key early eighties movie that is totally worth a watch, especially if you’re already a fan of Night of the Comet.
