# Survival film

The survival film is a film genre in which one or more characters make an effort at physical survival. The genre focuses on characters' life-or-death struggles, often set against perilous circumstances. Survival films explore the human will to live, individual motivations, and personal desires, prompting audiences to reflect on broader aspects of humanity and personal values. They balance realism and believability with slow-burning suspense to maintain a sense of urgency. While some survival films may have epic scopes and lengthy running times, their effectiveness lies in creating an atmosphere where every moment poses a passive threat to the protagonist's existence.
Survival films are darker than most other adventure films and usually focus their storyline on a single character, usually the protagonist. The films tend to be "located primarily in a contemporary context", so film audiences are familiar with the setting, and the characters' activities are less romanticized.
In a 1988 book, Thomas Sobchack compared the survival film to romance film: "They both emphasize the heroic triumph over obstacles which threaten social order and the reaffirmation of predominant social values such as fair play and respect for merit and cooperation." The author said survival films "identify and isolate a microcosm of society", such as the surviving group from the plane crash in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) or those on the overturned ocean liner in The Poseidon Adventure (1972). Sobchack explained, "Most of the time in a survival film is spent depicting the process whereby the group, cut off from the securities and certainties of the ordinary support networks of civilized life, forms itself into a functioning, effective unit." The group often varies in types of characters, sometimes to the point of caricature. While women have historically been stereotyped in such films, they "often play a decisive role in the success or failure of the group."

## List of films

| Film | Year |
| 12 Years a Slave | 2013 |
| The 33 | 2015 |
| 127 Hours | 2010 |
| 2018 | 2023 |
| Adrift | 2018 |
| Against the Sun | 2014 |
| Alive | 1993 |
| All Is Lost | 2013 |
| Apollo 13 | 1995 |
| Arctic | 2018 |
| Back from Eternity | 1956 |
| Battle Royale | 2000 |
| The Blue Lagoon | 1980 |
| Buried | 2010 |
| Captain Phillips | 2013 |
| Cast Away | 2000 |
| Cliffhanger | 1993 |
| Cold Meat | 2024 |
| Crawl | 2019 |
| A Cry in the Wild | 1990 |
| Cube | 1997 |
| Dances with Wolves | 1990 |
| Dante's Peak | 1997 |
| The Day After Tomorrow | 2004 |
| The Deep | 2012 |
| Deliverance | 1972 |
| The Descent | 2005 |
| Eden | 2024 |
| The Edge | 1997 |
| The End We Start From | 2023 |
| The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition | 2000 |
| Escape from Alcatraz | 1979 |
| Escape Room | 2019 |
| Everest | 2015 |
| Fall | 2022 |
| First Blood | 1982 |
| Five Came Back | 1939 |
| The Flight of the Phoenix | 1965 |
| Frozen | 2010 |
| Gerald's Game | 2017 |
| Gravity | 2013 |
| Green Room | 2015 |
| The Grey | 2011 |
| A Hijacking | 2012 |
| I Am Legend | 2007 |
| The Impossible | 2012 |
| In the Heart of the Sea | 2015 |
| Inferno | 1953 |
| Infinite Storm | 2022 |
| Into the Wild | 2007 |
| Iron Will | 1994 |
| Jaws | 1975 |
| Jeremiah Johnson | 1971 |
| Jungle | 2017 |
| Jurassic Park | 1993 |
| Kon-Tiki | 2012 |
| Last Breath | 2025 |
| Life of Pi | 2012 |
| Lifeboat | 1944 |
| Lone Survivor | 2013 |
| Lord of the Flies | 1963 |
| Marooned | 1969 |
| The Martian | 2015 |
| Man in the Wilderness | 1971 |
| Meek's Cutoff | 2010 |
| Misery | 1990 |
| My Side of the Mountain | 1969 |
| The Naked Prey | 1965 |
| No Blade of Grass | 1970 |
| Nobody Wants the Night | 2015 |
| North Face | 2008 |
| Nowhere | 2023 |
| The Omega Man | 1971 |
| On the Beach | 1959 |
| Open Water | 2003 |
| Oxygen | 2021 |
| Panic in Year Zero! | 1962 |
| Panic Room | 2002 |
| The Perfect Storm | 2000 |
| Planet of the Apes | 1968 |
| The Poseidon Adventure | 1972 |
| Predator | 1987 |
| Quest for Fire | 1981 |
| A Quiet Place | 2018 |
| Rabbit-Proof Fence | 2002 |
| Red Dawn | 1984 |
| Rescue Dawn | 2006 |
| Resident Evil | 2002 |
| The Revenant | 2015 |
| The Road | 2009 |
| Robinson Crusoe | 1954 |
| Robinson Crusoe on Mars | 1965 |
| Room | 2015 |
| Sanctum | 2011 |
| Sands of the Kalahari | 1965 |
| The Savage Is Loose | 1974 |
| The Secret Land | 1948 |
| Seven Waves Away | 1957 |
| The Shallows | 2016 |
| Sisu | 2022 |
| The Snow Walker | 2003 |
| Society of the Snow | 2023 |
| Southern Comfort | 1981 |
| Soylent Green | 1973 |
| Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains | 2007 |
| Sukkwan Island | 2025 |
| Survival Quest | 1989 |
| Swiss Family Robinson | 1960 |
| Teenage Caveman | 1958 |
| Titanic | 1997 |
| Touching the Void | 2003 |
| Tremors | 1990 |
| The Ultimate Warrior | 1975 |
| Underwater | 2020 |
| Vertical Limit | 2000 |
| The War Game | 1965 |
| Walkabout | 1971 |
| The Way Back | 2010 |
| White Water Summer | 1987 |
| Wild | 2014 |
| The World, the Flesh and the Devil | 1959 |
| Z.P.G. | 1972 |