The 1980s brought a sort of a renaissance in film-making. Virtually anyone could grab a camcorder and make a movie, and studios were eager to finance low-budget films and discover the “next big thing” with little economic risk. Sole Survivor is both a product and a victim of these times. With a budget of 350,000, and no name actors, the debut feature of Thom Eberhardt has a pretty inventive atmospheric thriller hidden in it somewhere, but the aesthetic created by its small budget and 80s vibe make it hard to recommend today.

First of all, plot and logic are second to atmosphere here. The story follows a woman whose flight crashes and she alone emerges without a scratch. Soon she starts seeing dead people. That’s really all you need to know. It’s never terribly clear what’s going on anyway, and though it may have been unintentional, the effect it has is striking.

So I’m not faulting the story’s lack of coherence, for the film itself is very watchable and often creepy. The problem lies in the fact that the film is saddled with a garish and cheap look akin to TV-movie quality, which undermines its overall caliber. I’ve seen countless entries from the 80s low-budget canon with a similar aesthetic and sometimes its a positive effect, enhancing the cheesiness of the film. But when the film has an ounce of promise it’s sad to see a good idea mistreated so.

I wish I could say that Sole Survivor is an undiscovered gem, but I don’t think now is the best time for its rediscovery. The world has since seen Unbreakable and Final Destination, and while neither has as effective an atmosphere, they are probably better films. Eberhardt went on to make better films with bigger budgets and I suppose Sole Survivor achieved its purpose for him and the studio who backed him. For those of us used to these low-budget affairs, and an insatiable greed for horror films, it may be worth checking out. For the rest of you, this is definitely B-grade cinema.