The 25 Best Survival Movies to Test Your Mettle
Whether it's shipwrecks, the vast wilderness, plane crashes or other disasters that kick them off, these thriller tales (some based on true stories!) will make you happy to stay home.
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Let's say you were dropped off into the wilderness. Or set adrift on a boat. Or stranded in a plane crash — or even shot out into space. Would you have what it takes to survive? That's likely what goes through everybody's head when they watch the best survival movies: What would I do in that situation? (I would most likely not make it out again. You are welcome to take my hiking boots and whatever other supplies I have on me that you might find useful.)
There's something so primal about the person-vs.-nature conflict that makes these survival stories so compelling. And some are based on true stories, too, which are even more likely to get under your skin. Others are amped up for entertainment value, making them more like action movies with a natural bent. Still others expand the disasters to a grand scale, so they're closer to end-of-the-world movies than survival stories. (And is there a little bit of horror movie thrown in there? Yes, because being on your own is pretty darn scary.) So next time you're in the mood to feel your blood pressure rise, throw on one of these survival movies, and be thankful you're watching from your comfy couch at home.
Moonfall (2022)
Part survival movie, part end-of-the-world film, Moonfall theorizes about what might happen if the moon were to somehow get knocked out of orbit. (Spoiler alert: Lots of disaster.) Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry and John Bradley star as a team of unconventional scientists who try to keep their families safe from rising tides and falling debris as they put the moon to rights.
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Crawl (2019)
Crawl has a simple premise that keeps viewers anxious the entire time. It follows a young woman who tends to her father, who can't leave his house during a storm evacuation order. The two must survive as the flood waters rise in the house — and a giant alligator manages to find its way in.
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Adrift (2018)
Two young people in love agree to sail a 44-inch yacht across the ocean to deliver it to a rich couple — what could go wrong? Well, a hurricane, for one. After the storm hits, the boat gets lost at sea and the movie goes from a romance to a story of survival.
The Shallows (2016)
Blake Lively stars as a med student whose solo surfing trip goes wrong, stranding her on a rock with a shark circling around her. She has to face the sun, dehydration and, of course, the shark in order to make it back to land again.
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The Martian (2015)
Based on a self-published novel by Andy Weir, The Martian follows the story of a botanist (played by Matt Damon) who gets marooned on the Red Planet. He has to figure out how he can be his own one-man crew and survive long enough for a rescue party to return — or possibly forever.
The Revenant (2015)
This movie won Leonardo DiCaprio his first Academy Award for Best Actor, and director Alejandro González Iñárritu his second Oscar after Birdman. It tells the story of a frontiersman who is left for dead, only to survive and have to make his way out of the wilderness on his own, outlasting all sorts of horrors in the process.
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Everest (2015)
This movie tells the true story of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, where people attempting to descended from the summit were met with blizzards, sickness and other fatal or near-fatal complications. It'll make you feel happy you're watching it at a normal altitude.
All Is Lost (2013)
Robert Redford earned tons of acclaim for his solo, nearly silent performance in this movie. He plays a sailor who, after his boat collides with a shipping container, is lost at sea with no communication or GPS equipment. He has to improvise his own technology (like making a sextant!) in order to find help.
Gravity (2013)
In outer space, no one can come to your aid. Sandra Bullock plays an astronaut who's almost entirely on her own and must figure out how to return to Earth safely after her shuttle is destroyed by space debris. This movie was nominated for 10 Academy Awards when it came out, including Best Actress and Best Picture, and it won seven of them, including Best Director.
Kon-Tiki (2013)
This movie has elements of a throwback adventure film: A crew led by a Norwegian explorer in 1947 tries to sail the Pacific on a light, balsa-wood raft in order to prove that ancient people from South America could have done the same. They face sharks, storms and the dangers of the open sea along the way. And while that sounds like a fantastical premise, it's based on a true story, and the raft is still on display in a museum in Oslo.
Life of Pi (2012)
Based on the novel by Yann Martell, Life of Pi follows the story of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, who, after a shipwreck, is stuck on a raft with a few animals being transported to a zoo — including an adult Bengal tiger. In director Ang Lee's hands, it's the survival movie that looks more beautiful than gritty; the film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, and it won Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score and Best Visual Effects.
The Grey (2011)
It's hard enough out there surviving the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash. But Liam Neeson's character in The Grey has something even scarier to contend with — a pack of wolves that are following him.
127 Hours (2010)
This movie, from Trainspotting director Danny Boyle, recounts the harrowing true-life story of outdoor enthusiast Aron Ralston. When hiking alone through Utah's caverns, Ralston was pinned under a boulder, and he has to figure out how to stay alive while unable to move.
I Am Legend (2007)
Will Smith plays a virologist living on his own in New York City; after a virus that was supposed to cure cancer gets out and wipes out most of mankind, he has to endure the isolation and dodge the vampire-like mutants that the disease created. But is he really the only human survivor?
Into the Wild (2007)
Most of the movies on this list are survival stories out of necessity, be it shipwreck, plane crash or other disaster. Into the Wild, based on the book by Jon Krakauer, tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a man who chose to go to the Alaskan wilderness and try to live off the land
Cast Away (2000)
Tom Hanks shucks off his nice-guy persona when he plays a Fed Ex employee whose plane crashes, leaving him deserted on an uninhabited island. He has to brave the elements — and the isolation. Hanks was nominated for an Academy Award for his ability to get audiences to empathize with his volleyball best friend.
Vertical Limit (2000)
This movie is for those who like their survival stories with a lot of adrenaline. When his sister gets trapped on the top of K2, expert climber Peter Garrett (Chris O'Donnell) runs a race-against-the-clock mission to rescue her.
The Edge (1997)
Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins star in a film about two men who survive a plane crash in the Alaskan wildnerness. They have to survive the cold, the wild animals and the suspicion that one of the men slept with the other's wife and deserves a comeuppance.
Alive (1993)
This movie tells the true story of an Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed high in the Andes mountains, and the extraordinary (and sometimes disgusting) lengths they had to endure to survive. It features a stacked cast that includes Ethan Hawke, Josh Hamilton, Josh Lucas and Ileana Douglas.
Rambo: First Blood (1982)
After the direction the rest of the franchise took, it's easy to forget that the first Rambo movie isn't a big, shoot-'em-up action film. Instead, it's the story of John Rambo, a highly trained and troubled veteran who has to survive an unexpected run-in with law enforcement.
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