Annoyed by all the attention thrown her way, the sole survivor of a horrific plane crash tries to get on with her life, however, it appears that Death still has a plan to take her in this intriguing horror thriller. The film's best asset is the dialogue with several fascinating notions tossed around as "survivor's syndrome", referring to guilt often experienced by sole survivors, and curious statistics, such as the majority of sole survivors dying within 24 months of their accident, often as a result of carelessness or subconsciously placing themselves in dangerous situations. The protagonist also offers an interesting tale of a dress that she was not charged for, commenting that she experienced similar elation upon surviving the crash, before then remarking "they eventually find" any mistake. 'Sole Survivor' is not, however, the psychological horror film that one might expect from such intelligent dialogue. There is never any doubt that it is not in her mind and that there are really forces out to get her. Also, creepy as the blankly staring zombies are, their lack of urgency in getting her never quite rings true. The plot is further drawn out with an extraneous strip poker game that only seems to exist to meet a nudity quota and most perhaps disappointing of all, both the lead actress and her boyfriend are bland. This is, however, a film to watch for its small delights: an ominous elevator ride, a foreboding bug-eyed clock, a young girl zombie, etc. The premise is also highly original and undeniably thought-provoking depending on how much one believes in chance, fate and coincidence.

If there is one thing I can not stand it is when a movie pretends to be something it is not on its movie poster, on the back of the box, or in the case of this movie the trailer itself. I would have possibly given the movie a higher score if not for the blatant lies the trailer showed when this movie first came to the theaters. I still remember the trailers as a kid and one of them showed a demon like hand coming out of a fog, a scene that does not materialize in the movie at all thank you very much. The only demon comes rather early in the movie in the form of a sort of echo on the radar screen. This movie in the end is more of a bad version of the classic low budget horror film "Carnival of Souls", granted this one is a low budget movie as well. The story has the survivor of a plane crash feeling guilty as she was in fact the only survivor. Well it is not to long that she seems to be seeing dead people, and they seem to be wanting her dead. So yes you can see the similarities to "Carnival of Souls" just from that line. However, for the most part you are not going to see much going on the movie just needs more to it, or maybe if they had advertised this movie for what it was instead of trying to make it out to be some cool horror movie I could have enjoyed it better.

~Spoiler~Sole Survivor is one of those 80's films whose box art was a staple of Mom & Pop video stores of days gone by. I've only recently gotten to see this little gem...and I can't believe Final Destination got away with it. It's a complete plagiarism of this film. In Sole Survivor a woman lives through a plane crash while all others die. She is later haunted by strange happenings and Death it seems is trying to rectify his mistake by putting her in harm's way and sending his agents after her. Sound familiar? It's a really good yarn that is quite unlike anything else from that era. There are no stars to speak of and it's very low-budget, but I strongly recommend seeing this should you ever get the chance. It's just different enough to be deemed a solid chiller.

Wouldn't this be the ideal movie to show during a 12 hours flight over the Pacific Ocean? It doesn't show an actual plane crashing, but it would make clear to all the passengers that, in case of a crash, none of them is likely to walk out of there alive. And even if you do come out of a plane crash unharmed, your life is still ruined and you're guaranteed to die only a short while later. "Sole Survivor" is a truly obscure and little seen 80's movie that benefices from a forlorn and genuinely creepy atmosphere, but it eventually lacks the necessary shocking-power to be referred to as a legitimate hidden gem of horror. The basic premise holds a lot of horrific potential and it's definitely ahead of its time, but the elaboration of the script is too slow-paced and there's a severe shortage of action and/or gruesome images. With a slight bit of imagination and skepticism, you could state that M. Night Shyamalan 'borrowed' fundamental key elements from "Sole Survivor" before scripting his TWO hugely successful blockbuster hits "Unbreakable" and "The Sixth Sense". How come? Denise Watson, the female lead character here, mysteriously survived a disastrous plane crash without a single scratch AND it doesn't take too long before she sees dead people. Maybe the creators of the popular franchise "Final Destination" ripped of the storyline of "Sole Survivor" as well and, on the other hand, one could state that this film is simply a low-budgeted imitation of the classic black & white milestone "Carnival of Souls" and the unsettling James Herbert novel "The Survivor". Ah what the heck, cinema is just one giant copying-ideas business anyway. The most important thing is that Thom Eberhardt's "Sole Survivor" is a generally solid chiller and admirers of atmosphere-driven terror tales won't regret watching it. Shortly after the crash, the aforementioned character Denise has visions in which recently deceased people uncannily stare at her. Her boyfriend/doctor thinks she suffers from the feared Survivor's Syndrome (meaning she feels guilty for being alive while all her fellow passengers died) but according to a psychic acquaintance, Death itself is warning Denise that they haven't forgotten about her. Eberhardt builds up a creepy and continuously ominous atmosphere and there are several moments of nail-biting suspense, like when Denise encounters the little girl in the hospital's basement. Unfortunately, the script is too often confusing and many of the dialogs are difficult to understand because the characters talk quietly and with awkward accents. If some distribution company ever decides to release "Sole Survivor" on DVD, I hope they'll provide optional English subtitles. The acting performances are adequate, the direction is moody & stylish and the climax leaves open a lot of room for discussion. Overall recommended, just don't expect to see a dazzling and jaw-dropping masterpiece.