Survival Quest (1989)

Director:

Don Coscarelli

Writer (WGA):

Don Coscarelli (written by)

Release Date:

10 November 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

In the wilderness you can't dial 911

Plot:

A bunch of city slickers from different backgrounds go into the wild mountains to be one with nature...

Plot Keywords:

Survival | Mountain | California | Wilderness | Rifle

Cast

Lance Henriksen	...	Hank
Mark Rolston	...	Jake
Steve Antin	...	Raider
Michael Allen Ryder	...	Harper
Paul Provenza	...	Joey
Ben Hammer	...	Hal
Dominic Hoffman	...	Jeff
Traci Lind	...	Olivia (as Traci Lin)
Dermot Mulroney	...	Gray
Catherine Keener	...	Cheryl
Ken Daly	...	Checker
Reggie Bannister	...	Pilot
Ken Smolka	...	Olivia's Father
Brooke Bundy	...	Olivia's Mother
Dean Scofield	...	Olivia's Fiancé

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Norway:15 | USA:R (certificate no. 30000) | Iceland:16 | Belgium:16 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Starway International Inc.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Jake: Take a good look around you. Because when you come back from this trip, nothing will look the same to you again.

Formulaic, Corny, yet 'Quest' survives.

Don Coscarelli should be a little embarrassed, I think. Not of the film altogether, because it's a fun timewaster, but of the really textbook formula characterizations he heaps onto his protagonists. I would've expected more from the creator of PHANTASM, but just the same, I enjoyed this movie. Six city slickers sign on to Survival Quest, which will teach them how to survive in the Great Outdoors for four weeks. A paramilitary group is sharing the woods with them and soon it's THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

Lance Henriksen is always cool to watch; he gives any film class. A young Catherine Keener has one of the aforementioned embarrassing roles, going from a pathetic girl to a Ripley-styled woman. Ben Hammer weighs in to let you know geriatrics can do anything you youngsters can do (provided you don't get shot), and Dermot Mulroney makes the most of the bad-boy-from-jail-on-probation shtick. Apparently Mulroney and Keener are married (or so a friend told me-check this fact yourself)so this would explain where they met. Ah, true love. Traci Lin is also in it and let's just say I've always had a thing for Miss CLASS OF 1999. Looks like a gore effect involving a hunting knife was trimmed for the R rating judging by a quick, jarring cut at the right time. As for the direction...truthfully, anybody could've wrote or directed this. It's very pedestrian, but credit Coscarelli for keeping it moving and watchable. I liked it, so sue me.