- Directed by Thom Eberhardt
- Written by Thom Eberhardt
- Stars Anita Skinner, Caren L. Larkey, Kurt Johnson
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2mT9c5n20k
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It was surprising how well this one works despite the slow pacing. It’s very suspenseful, and we wonder what’s really happening. Gradually we do find out, things wrap up, and it’s pretty chilling. It’s kind of under the radar and worth checking out for sure.
Synopsis
A woman on a bus looks afraid, but she has a gun. Another woman has a nightmare about a plane crash; there are bodies everywhere. The only survivor is Denise, the woman we saw earlier with the gun. Karla, the woman on the plane, is Denise, and Karla knows that Denise is coming in this morning… on a plane. Karla’s a psychic who has a vision.
We cut to an air traffic controller talking to the pilot of that flight, and suddenly, the plane goes silent.
We cut again to Denise being carried to the hospital. She’s the– sole survivor. The doctor, Brian, looks her over and says she’s fine and releases her eight days later. He warns her about “survivor syndrome,” or “survivor’s guilt.” She compares her being alive to not being billed for a mail-order dress. “They may make a mistake, but they eventually find you.”
Denise leaves the hospital through the back loading dock to avoid the press, and she sees a strange girl down there who distracts Denise just as a truck almost rolls over her.
At home that night, Brian calls her on the phone; he’s single, after all. She tells him that she’s going to be doing a coffee commercial in a few days. She invites him over next Tuesday. Karla calls to warn her to keep her doors locked. That’s not creepy at all! A friend, Kristy, comes over and brings her own flaky friend, Roxie, who wonders why Denise is alive.
The next day, Denise and Karla do their coffee ad. “Nine out of ten doctors prefer Taster’s Blend.” They’re now on take 68, and the producers are not happy; Karla is upset about something, nearly afraid of Denise, and can’t get her part right. Afterward, Denise goes on her date with Brian. As she walks to her car, she sees an old man in a robe standing in the park.
Brian comes over to Denise’s place for sex, and she’s preoccupied thinking about that old man. He mentions that a body disappeared from the morgue yesterday; they assume it is some prank. It’s the little girl that Denise saw on the loading dock. She almost hits another strange man on the road.
The next day, the coffee commercial is still going really badly; they can’t get a good take from Karla, who is continually looking at Denise. Karla explains herself; for a while now, she’s been having premonitions and dreams of bad things, not just the airplane crash, but other things too. No one ever believes her. She says Denise shouldn’t have survived that crash, and anyone who knows about it, or suspects, will be dealt with.
Due to a faulty elevator, Denise winds up in the studio’s parking garage, where she sees yet one more creepy man. This one follows her and she runs away.
On her next date with Brian, she talks about her weird feelings, as if she is “about to be caught for doing something wrong. As if you’re waiting for the ax to fall.”
We cut to some young people playing strip poker at Kristie’s house. Denise stops by, and the party breaks up. Kristie sees a strange man outside who drowns her in the swimming pool. Denise sees the man outside and calls the police for help. She identifies the man with police records, but the man she identified has been dead for several days. The police think Denise is abusing antidepressants.
Brian talks to the coroner about the dead road inspector who attacked Denise last night. The coroner admits that there was some strangeness about how the man died, same as with the old man in the park. “It’s like they were up and walking around after they died.” The blood was all congealed down in their legs.
Karla calls Denise and begs for her job back, but Denise can’t do it. The crazy psychic apologizes for being crazy and then picks up a razor…
Denise takes a cab back home. Afterward, the cabbie sees Kristie standing on the side of the road. She stabs him to death. Brian finds the body on the way to Denise’s house. He takes the cabbie’s gun and rushes to Denise’s. We see the cabbie open his eyes…
Brian rushes inside just in time for Kristie to stab him. Denise sees the whole thing and picks up the gun. She runs outside, where the cabbie almost gets her, but she escapes back to the city.
We’re now at the scene with Denise on the bus from the opening of the movie, which Karla correctly foresaw. She goes to see Karla. “Except for you, there’s nobody else who knows about it but me.” Then Karla picks up the gun and shoots Denise. We see the fatal wrist cuts as Karla gets out of her chair and gets back into the tub, dead from suicide.
The coroner calls Brian and gets his machine, reporting that he’s got half a dozen bodies whose blood all drained into their legs as if they died on their feet. He knows something’s up. As he works on his reports, Kristie and several others sit up behind him. There’s just one last loose end to tie up.
Commentary
This was inspired by “Carnival of Souls” (1962) and went on to later inspire “Final Destination” (2000).
It’s very slow-paced and suspenseful; you know something’s going on, but not much really happens for the first hour. Since there was only one survivor in this film, they had to drag it out more than the multiple survivors of “Final Destination,” but it’s exactly the same concept.
It’s very low budget. The coroner apparently does autopsies in an empty warehouse.
It’s very slow-moving, but it works!