13 Best Survival Thriller Movies Of All Time

Are you a person who travels or trekks a lot? then these movies will make you stand still in your comfort zone. In these listed movies, you can watch how the characters struggle to survive in some extreme conditions that a human can tolerate. Even though some survival movies are a nightmare for many people, the life and death scenario in those movies teaches us to survive in intense situations. Here I have listed the top 10 survival thriller movies with some special mentions according to their popularity and intense storylines of survival.

List Of Best Survival Movies

10. Everest (2015)

Director: Baltasar Kormákur

Cast: Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin John Hawkes, Robin Wright

Release Date: 02 September 2015

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Plot: It is a real-life story based on the 1996 Mount Everest Disaster. The group of members started their journey to the peak of the Mount Everest. But soon they encounter a snow storms that took several lives in the crew. How the remaining crew survives in the main crux.

9. Buried (2010)

Director: Rodrigo Cortes

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Samatha Mathis

Release Date: 24 September 2010

Running Time: 95 Minutes

Plot: A civilian truck driver, gets attacked by the Iraq rebel groups. When he was awake, he was buried inside the coffin with only a lighter and a cell phone. The story follows the escape of the driver from the coffin without any help from outside.

8. Into the Wild (2007)

Director: Sean Penn

Cast: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Jena Malone

Release Date: 21 September 2007

Running Time: 148 Minutes

Plot: This movie is based on the non-fiction book of the same name. The story revolves around Christopher McCandless who is the son of wealthy parents. However, he does not have an interest in living a luxurious life. So he travels to the Alaskan wild forest for peace. The journey to the forest and his survival in the forest is the story of the movie.

7. Rescue Dawn (2006)

Director: Werner Herzog

Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davis

Release Date: 09 September 2006

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Plot: It is based on the true story of the German pilot who was shot down and imprisoned. And he plans to escape from the prison with other fellow prisoners. At last, they escape and reach the dense forest. The survival of the crew in the forest is the plot of the film.

6. 127 Hours (2010)

Director: Danny Boyle

Cast: James Franco, Aron Ralston, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn

Release Date: 04 September 2010

Running Time: 94 Minutes

Plot: It is the real-life story of the mountain climber trapped under the boulder alone. The struggle to escape from the boulder for 127 hours is the storyline of the movie.

5. The Shallows (2016)

Director: James Collet-Serra

Cast: Blake Lively, Oscar Jaenada, Sedona Legge

Release Date: 21 June 2016

Running Time: 86 Minutes

Plot: It is a survival thriller film about a medical student who was surfing on the beach joyfully. But the great white shark attacks her and forces her to swim to the huge rock. The escape of the young woman from the shark is the story of this movie.

4. The Martian (2015)

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels

Release Date: 11 September 2015

Running Time: 141 Minutes

Plot: A team of astronauts sent to Mars for a research mission. Upon returning home a storm hits their shuttle and separates Mark Vatney from the rest of the crew. The team assumes Mark is dead. But he survived the storm and lived on Mars alone for 564 Earth days. How he returns home is the main crux.

3. The Revenant (2015)

Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Domhnall Gleeson, Will Poulter

Release Date: 16 December 2015

Running Time: 156 Minutes

Plot: It is the story of a frontiersman who fights for survival in a dense forest after being attacked by a wild bear. Then he is also left for dead by a member of his hunting team. The survival of the frontiersman is the main plot.

2. Fall (2022)

Director: Scott Mann

Cast: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Mason Gooding, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Release Date: 12 August 2022

Running Time: 156 Minutes

Plot: The best friends Becky and Hunter climb an old cellphone tower for the thrill. But it leads to danger when they get stuck at the top of the tower. The survival of women to get down the tower is the story of this film.

Special Mention

Exam (2009)

Director: Stuart Hazeldine

Cast: Adar Beck, Gemma Chan, Nathalie Cox, Chuck Iwuji

Release Date: 17 June 2009

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Plot: Eight different candidates are invited to take the exam for a corporate job. Then they are locked in the room and provided the puzzling test that even threatened their life. Finding the right answer for this interview is the main crux.

Togo (2019)

Director: Ericson Core

Cast: William Dafoe, Julianne Nicholson, Nikolai Nikolaeff

Release Date: 20 December 2019

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Plot: The trainer Leonhard Seppala and his dog Togo were on an adventure to the terrain of Alaska to transport the medicine. The struggles and survival during the travel are the story of this movie.

Life Of Pi (2012)

Director: Ang Lee

Cast: Suraj Sharma, Irfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall

Release Date: 28 September 2012

Running Time: 127 Minutes

Plot: The story of the movie follows the two survivors a young boy and the Bengal tiger. The bond between the tiger & the boy during the survival their survival in the Long Ocean is the plot of this film.

All-Time Best Survival Movie

1. Cast Away (2000)

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Cast: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Nick Searcy

Release Date: 22 December 2000

Running Time: 144 Minutes

Plot: The FedEx executive Chuck Noland was assigned work in Malaysia. While traveling by plane, it crashes into the Pacific Ocean during a storm and stuck on an unknown island. After failing the attempt to help, he started surviving on the island for many years. The plot follows his survival on the deserted island.

In this article, I have mentioned the best survival movies according to intense subject and popularity. And most of them are highly rated by the audience and reviewers. If you have your favorite survival movie beyond the list, comment below.