'The Survivalist' Review – Steve Railsback Is an Arsehole in the Apocalypse

Cover artwork for the Heron UK VHS tape release of The Survivalist.

Steve Railsback has always done okay for work. His peak has of course long gone; he’s more of a TV appearance guy nowadays. Steve starred in such cult flicks like Turkey Shoot and Lifeforce, where his expressions seldom changed.

In fact, aside from the Ed Gein movie where he sneered a lot, Steve is always Steve Railsback. The Survivalist is no different, except he’s working off a script that made his character out to be a complete arsehole.

If you watched my intro video, you’ll be aware of the VHS cover released into the UK by heron back in the day. The facing skull thing could be a radioactive mutant, a zombie, or just a gnarly cadaver. It turns out it’s neither because it’s not actually in the movie! The back cover shows a nuke, a biker gang, plus our hero stood like a Mad Max sort of guy against the post apocalypse desert. If you love the Mad Max movies, Wheels of Fire (see The Road Warrior’s Dollar Store Cousin: ‘Wheels of Fire’ Reviewed), or any of the endless after the bomb action films, this looks like it could be your thing. It isn’t. It isn’t a post apocalypse vision of survival. It’s in the desert though and there’s bikers at least.

The nuclear explosion occurs within the first few minutes in Russia, away from the USA. Who did it? Russia blames Americans, because it was a Cold War tale to rally the good ol boys. Monologue dead tone talking on the news instigates a panic in America. Looting starts; vigilantes rise because the law is falling apart. Sounds great so far, yeah? We also have some really truly cheesy patriotic music as well Oh joy!

Ok, so The Survivalist is downhill from there on unfortunately because Steve Railsback is our main hero and he’s an arsehole! We first meet him as Jack, having a drink with friends at his home. Jack is a Vietnam vet, coiled like a rusty spring ready for action any moment. As they watch the news his motionless face, we think, tries to appear concerned. He basically tells his house party to fuck off because he needs to prepare. He and his wife decide that he must reach their son, Danny, who’s away at camp. Danny has been trained to know if there’s trouble to make his way to a cave they all know about.

Guns and knives come out, because he’s a Vietnam vet remember? Off he pops leaving his wife and daughter with the front door unlocked wherein soon after a marauding gang of three thugs head inside and kill his wife, maim his girl, and such.

Jack gets gas in the desert and meets with his doctor buddy, Vince who’s nervous but on his way to the local hospital to help because this is now a lawless society. Whilst there, a cool looking fella on a motorbike arrives. There are harsh words between him and Jack, which Jack instigates by being an arsehole! It turns out they know one another from ‘nam. We never actually learn what happened between them…

Next, our ‘hero’ takes a digger and breaks into the nearby bank to get his safety deposit box. Once again, Lt. Youngman on his bike (he’s with the National Guard trying to prevent looting and panic) arrives to reason with Jack only to have his wheels run over (Jack is now triple an arsehole and he hasn’t even begun yet!) Youngman, incidentally, is played excellently by Marjoe Gortner of Mausoleum (see Demon Boobs and Cheesy Doom: ‘Mausoleum’ Review) and Starcrash.

Meanwhile bored extras stand around and sometimes loot a bit. Meh.

Jack finally goes home to find wifey dead. He has no expression. This is kind of explained later as he says that they weren’t close anymore. Eh? Fine, but show something human!!! He hauls his dying daughter over to the hospital that is being ransacked by a hoard of junkies. Kim dies. Due to the danger of the mob, Jack punches Vince out ‘cause he refuses to leave, then takes him and his nurse wife, Linda along for the road trip. Waking up, Vince isn’t very pleased as you can imagine. He wants to help people, his skills are needed, he’s desperate to get back as he’s a genuine nice guy. Jack ignores him because he’s an arsehole.

Steve Railsback’s face is paralysed by his comatose acting ability as is his crappy voice. Everyone else is really pulling up trees trying to make his movie work. No matter how much, it’s impossible for it to be a grand success. Meanwhile, Youngman (Marjoe should have been Jack, he might have pumped some life into it and been a believable anti-hero) rallies the military and some mandatory USA fall of society bikers who happen to bully Vince and Linda at one point, to go after Jack. He’s “unpatriotic scum” apparently. Maybe they need to watch Helter Skelter (Ed Gein wasn’t filmed then) they may like him… actually, probably not.

Desert roads, Linda getting close to Jack thus upsetting Vince, vehicle chases, more looting, rogue cops, it’s all in here, and it should be a thrill ride, but there’s something missing — a good script with some unpredictable twists or stuff now and then. Everything is very cliché: explosions, mediocre bloody kills, a helicopter. It all ends very American.

Director Sig Shore didn’t do much. The Return of Superfly is the only thing that stands out. The true star of the movie? The locations which are superb. He’s not to blame for the writing (I do have a feeling John V. Kraft is a dodgy pseudonym as this guy only wrote this film).

The Survivalist is fine for an amusing 91-minute pastime. I dunno, this review is from the ol’ UK VHS ex-rental tape release, perhaps there’s oodles of good juicy scenes cut. That would probably mean more Steve Railsback. Hmm… and as far as the VHS box I speak about in the video, we never see the trio who killed his wife again. So, he doesn’t get payback unlike what is hinted at.

Directed by: Sid Shore
Written by: John V Kraft
Produced by: Steven Shore, David Greene
Cinematography by: Ben Davis
Music by: Tony Camillo
Cast: Steve Railsback, Marjoe Gortner, Cliff De Young, Susan Blakely, David Wayne
Year: 1987
Country: USA
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 91min