Chosen Survivors (1974)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Sutton Roley

Writers:

H.B. Cross (screen story)
H.B. Cross (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 December 1974 (Mexico)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

1,758 Feet Underground, A Perfect World Programmed For Man's Survival, Except For...

Plot:

A group of diverse individuals are suddenly taken from their homes and flown via helicopter to a futuristic bomb shelter in the desert...

Plot Keywords:

Shelter | Nuclear Holocaust | Desert | Underground | Vampire Bat

Cast

Jackie Cooper	...	Raymond Couzins
Alex Cord	...	Steven Mayes
Richard Jaeckel	...	Major Gordon Ellis
Bradford Dillman	...	Peter Macomber
Pedro Armendáriz Jr.	...	Luis Cabral (as Pedro Armendariz Jr.)
Diana Muldaur	...	Alana Fitzgerald
Lincoln Kilpatrick	...	Woody Russo
Gwenn Mitchell	...	Carrie Draper
Barbara Babcock	...	Dr. Lenore Chrisman
Cristina Moreno	...	Kristin Lerner (as Christina Moreno)
Nancy Rodman	...	Claire Farraday
Kelly Lange	...	Mary Louise Borden

Also Known As:

Los sobrevivientes escogidos (Mexico)

Runtime:

130 min | USA:99 min | Spain:93 min

Country:

Mexico | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Company:

Metromedia Producers Corporation (MPC)

Chosen Survivors (1974) **

This is a movie I've wanted to see for over 30 years now; I first read about it in horror magazines when it first came out, but it soon turned into a lost film that went completely out of circulation. It has now been made available by Fox as part of their Midnite Movies Collection, and I'm a little disappointed to say I wasn't missing all that much.

It's not a "bad" genre film and it's got a good premise, but it's still rather ordinary in the way it's executed. A group of people are selected by computer, sedated, and then sent down 1,758 feet into an underground bomb shelter to see if they might sustain life in the event of a nuclear war. It was another of those perfect experiments hatched by the government, except they overlooked the fact that this project was built down within caves, so now swarms of hungry vampire bats manage to find their way into the bunker and chomp on these frantic chosen survivors. There's more talk going on than anything else, but when the bat attacks do occur, they're pretty satisfying, even if sometimes the special optical effects amount to little more than a flurry of dark splotches.

I got a kick out of seeing former Our Gang child actor Jackie Cooper as the main loudmouth of the bunch who at one point goes on a bender and becomes your basic arrogant pain in the ass character. Other '70s regulars among this cast are Richard Jaeckel (GRIZZLY) Bradford Dillman (BUG), and Lincoln Kilpatrick (THE OMEGA MAN). I thought I recognized director Sutton Roley's name from somewhere, and later I found out that's because he directed some LOST IN SPACE episodes and was primarily a TV show director. I'm not sorry I saw this, but it sure was weak tea.