The Survivor (1981 film)

Plot

A pilot survives the crash of his airplane, unhurt despite all of its 300 passengers dying in the accident. With no memories of the accident, he starts to suffer strange supernatural visions, guiding him to suspect that something happened in the crash and that the accident maybe wasn't an accident.

Cast

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 trailer to promote the film to potential buyers before it had been finished. This meant he had to shoot some shots of Jenny Agutter. He later cut the trailer for the actual film when it was released.

Reception

James Herbert, who wrote the novel upon which the film was based, described the film as "terrible ... absolute rubbish."