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Was double-billed on a Midnight Madness release with THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING. As far as broadcast television is concerned, the infomercial has killed off late-night movie screenings, to everyone's detriment...
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it had great music by Fred Karlin too...a forgotten movie they could remake today??
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This gp SCIFI film from Columbia starring Jackie Coogan, would seem to be the perfect film for much TV exposure , in Syndication and cable like so many others of its type, but no siree, after coming and going pretty fast in its theatrical release, oftened double billed in America with The Mutations- Donald Pleasence, it missed the indie station[local] Syndication movie packages for decades. It also has not shown up much on cable since the 70's, A type of film that one might think TCM underground or THIS might show someday.Was put on DVD on a double feature a few years back.
I bought the DVD because of the director: Sutton Roley which was the greatest television director of the 60's and 70's. Fabulous style. I am not fond of horror film based on an animal threat—that was trendy from the 50's to the 70's. Anyway, the casting is very good and the art direction is inspired.
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CHOSEN SURVIVORS opened in New York on 22 May 1974. Although the film was distributed by Columbia, it was produced by Metromedia, and eventually ended up with M-G-M when they acquired Metromedia in 1997.
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I bought and watched Sutton Roley's second film "Chosen Survivors" which was directed in 1974 with independant Mexican finances and produced by director Leon Benson and Charles W. Fries: the film is distributed by 20th Century Fox. It stars many television actors: Richard Jaeckle, Bradford Dillman, Alex Cord, Jackie Cooper, Diane Muldaur, Barbara Babcock. The music score is by electronic composer Fred Karlin, known for the films "Westworld", "Futureworld" and the television series "The Man from Atlantis". The special photographic effects are by Van der Veer Photo Effects.
The storyline of this science-fiction political huit-clos is "old" new: a selection of key members of society are drugged and led by force to live together in an underground, sterilized and techno atomic shelter whose interior design is made with fancy aluminium materials. They're told that the ultimate war has occured, the Earth is contaminated by radiations and there're the last chances of the human race. Among them, one scientist analyzes their behaviors. Since there are from different social and working backgrounds, their antagonism and weaknesses are revealed and accentuated by an internal accident: a colony of blood-thirsty bats have invaded the so-called "secure" place.
The main interest of this claustrophobic and catastrophy tale is the inspired film-making of director Sutton Roley which displays his usual "Pop expressionist" signature. On the whole, it is an interesting and enjoyable study despite some limitations and dated productions values.
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