TV commercial producer Denise (Anita Skinner) emerges unscathed as the sole survivor of an airline crash. The crash was seen in a vision by psychic ex-actress Carla (co-producer Caren Larkey) who is supposed to work in a commercial with Denise. On several occasions, Denise finds herself being watched and stalked by an assortment of people - a little girl at the hospital's loading dock, an old man in the park, a junkie in a parking garage. She begins to feel that she is in danger. Her boyfriend and doctor Brian (Kurt Johnson) believes that she is going through "survivor's syndrome" where the sole survivor feels guilty for surviving. He tells her that most sole survivors die within twenty -four months of their accidents (sometimes suicide, sometimes placing themselves in dangerous situations). When her neighbor disappears and she sights a prowler in her home from across the street, she calls the police who are less than helpful. The man she identified as the prowler is a civil servant and has apparently been dead for a few days and was found back in the wreckage of his car crash. Denise receives some dire but vague warnings from Carla who is showing increasing instability. Brian blames Denise's paranoia on an old prescription she is still taking until he starts to question why the prowler was wet and muddy if he had been in his car the entire time he was dead and the coroner informs him that all the blood in the body was in the legs suggesting the man died standing up (one of a few such cases in the last few days).

Produced on a budget of $350,000 in Santa Ana, SOLE SURVIVOR is a satisfyingly chilly little horror film that I saw on video several years ago and barely remembered until Code Red's immaculate DVD. Commentary moderators Jeff McKay and Jeff Burr point out repeatedly that the film eschews the graphic gore of its contemporaries (slasher films) in favor of subtle chills. Skinner is excellent in the lead so its unfortunate that she didn't have more work (she was cast on the strength of her performance in the Golden Globe nominated film GIRLFRIENDS [1978]). The late Kurt Johnson is also good as her skeptical boyfriend. Co-producer/actress Larkey is also good in her first role (her acting teacher was the executive producer Sal Romeo who participates in the commentary with her). Director/writer/editor Thom Eberhardt (NIGHT OF THE COMET) and cinematographer Russell Carpenter (TITANIC) makes the most of the locations (they got a lot of production value out of Santa Ana since at the time the town had not had many movies shot there). A sleeper worth rediscovery.

Code Red's DVD features an excellent transfer. There is grain but its natural given the budget and location work. Larkey and Romeo are featured in the audio commenary and and interview (Larkey also contributes a short introduction). While a red-eyed skull face is viewed in the reflection of a radar screen in the film itself, the trailer features several more views, including a slimy clawed hand that suggest a more overtly supernatural tone. Trailers for THE UNSEEN (looks interesting), SILENT SCREAM, HUMAN EXPERIMENTS, THE FARMER, and THE DEAD PIT are also included.

Thanks, Eric. This one I've never seen, but I'm definitely looking forward to checking it out. More importantly, I'm happy to see Code Red getting more product out on the shelves. I was afraid these discs would never happen.

I think I'm more excited about some of these than SOUL SURVIVOR. THE UNSEEN is a pretty darn creepy thriller that would have been downright laughable if not handled precisely right. I hope the DVD contains extras that explain THE UNSEEN's apparently troubled production that resulted in (co-?)director Danny Steinmann (SAVAGE STREETS) dropping his name from the picture. SILENT SCREAM is not great, but I'd like to experience a nice widescreen print of it. THE FARMER I've been wanting to see since discovering LAND OF THE GIANTS reruns in college. I've never even seen a trailer for it, though I do own an original 1-sheet that draws its fair share of attention in my living room.

. . . SOLE SURVIVOR is certainly an accomplished little movie "handled precisely right" - manages to look back at CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) without seeming to be a remake, as well as ahead to the FINAL DESTINATION movies . . . it does make you wish Mr. Eberhardt had stuck with this genre for a few more films beyond the equally fine in its own way NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984) . . .

True. I used to have a Video Treasures cassette of it (LP with horrible sound). Some extras would be nice.

I was intrigued by HUMAN EXPERIMENTS when I read about it in the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HORROR MOVIES but the trailer doesn't look that interesting.

I'm really looking forward to THE NESTING. Code Red put up some timecoded screencaps for it on their blog (but they didn't cap any of the darker scenes to show how they compare to the Warner clamshell).

I seem to remember a TV movie from the eighties or nineties that seems to have ripped off this film. All I recall is a woman tripping over a cat and falling into a pool. When she is rescued, random people start dying in freak accidents and coming back to try to kill her. Anyone remember what this one was called?

Here's my review at DVDBeaver.