Chosen Survivors, d. Sutton Roley (1974)
Briskly ticking pretty much every box on my mental clipboard, Chosen Survivors
is a 1970s US sci fi drama set in a sealed military bunker which quickly becomes a
horror and disaster movie. The titular survivors arrive drugged and disoriented
by army helicopter, and are herded into the shelter by soldiers just a few
minutes ahead of a worldwide nuclear apocalypse. The race and gender balanced
group are from all walks of life, and are people prominent in their own fields selected
to be preserved for posterity, i.e. it’s going to be their job to repopulate
America (they’re all a bit too old for this, by the way, surely what you’d
really want is a few teenagers?).
The trouble with this deep shelter set in an ancient
cave system, however, is that the hole is already populated – with millions of vampire
bats – who are both pissed off at the intrusion and delighted that their larder
has been filled. What follows is messy, as (poorly) optically imposed bats feed
on middle aged character actors, some of whom fight back and some of whom just
flap and flip around until the bats empty them. It’s good fun. To observe as fictional entertainment, I mean,
I can’t imagine the reality of it would be anything other than nippy and unpleasant.
Here’s a spoiler: the best thing? It’s not even a real
nuclear war, it’s just a drill. Oh, the irony!
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