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Survival film

Film genre depicting survival efforts

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	Ref.
12 Years a Slave	2013
**	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
**	1980
Buried	2010
Captain Phillips	2013
Cast Away	2000
Cliffhanger	1993
Cold Meat	2024
Crawl	2019
**	1990
Cube	1997
Dances with Wolves	1990
Dante's Peak	1997
**	2004
**	2012
Deliverance	1972
**	2005
Eden	2024
**	1997
**	2023
**	2000
Escape from Alcatraz	1979
Escape Room	2019
Everest	2015
Fall	2022
First Blood	1982
Five Came Back	1939
**	1965
Frozen	2010
Gerald's Game	2017
Gravity	2013
Green Room	2015
**	2011
**	2012
I Am Legend	2007
**	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
Lost on a Mountain in Maine	2024
Marooned	1969
**	2015
Man in the Wilderness	1971
Meek's Cutoff	2010
Misery	1990
My Side of the Mountain	1969
**	1965
No Blade of Grass	1970
Nobody Wants the Night	2015
North Face	2008
Nowhere	2023
**	1971
On the Beach	1959
Open Water	2003
Oxygen	2021
Panic in Year Zero!	1962
Panic Room	2002
**	2000
Planet of the Apes	1968
**	1972
Predator	1987
Quest for Fire	1981
**	2018
Rabbit-Proof Fence	2002
Red Dawn	1984
Rescue Dawn	2006
Resident Evil	2002
**	2015
**	2009
Robinson Crusoe	1954
Robinson Crusoe on Mars	1965
Room	2015
Sanctum	2011
Sands of the Kalahari	1965
**	1974
**	1948
Seven Waves Away	1957
**	2016
Sisu	2022
**	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
Thirteen Lives	2022
Touching the Void	2003
Tremors	1990
**	1975
Underwater	2020
Vertical Limit	2000
**	1965
Walkabout	1971
**	2010
White Water Summer	1987
Wild	2014
**	1959
Z.P.G.	1972

References

Bibliography

References

{{Harvnb. Sobchack. 1988
Bradshaw, Peter. (December 19, 2023). "Review: 'Society of the Snow' review – cannibalism in the ice in incredible real-life survival tale". [[The Guardian]].
Bradshaw, Peter. (January 26, 2025). "Sukkwan Island review – a survival drama takes an ill-advised left-turn". [[The Guardian]].
Abele, Robert. (October 19, 2017). "Review: Daniel Radcliffe fights terror and reality in problematic survival story 'Jungle'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Adams, Sam. (September 2, 2015). "First Reviews of 'Everest': Stunning Spectacle, So-So Drama". [[Indiewire]].
Barraclough, Leo. (May 22, 2017). "Mads Mikkelsen on Surviving the Polar Wilderness in 'Arctic'".
Baughan, Nikki. (September 10, 2022). "'Sisu': Toronto Review". [[Screen Daily]].
Burr, Ty. (February 4, 2011). "Sanctum". [[The Boston Globe]].
Chang, Justin. (December 2, 2015). "Film Review: 'In the Heart of the Sea'".
Crandol, Michael. (2021). "Ghost in the Well: The Hidden History of Horror Films in Japan". [[Bloomsbury Academic]].
Debruge, Peter. (July 28, 2022). "'Thirteen Lives' Review: Ron Howard Immerses Audiences Alongside Heroes of Thai Cave Rescue".
De La Fuente, Anne Marie. (November 15, 2023). "Spain’s 'Nowhere' Rules as Netflix's Most-Viewed Non-English Title of 2023".
Ferguson, Lee. (November 12, 2010). "127 Hours and five other great survival movies". [[CBC News]].
Ehrlich, David. (March 23, 2022). "'Infinite Storm' Review: Naomi Watts Tries to Save an Unwilling Hiker in Tedious Survival Drama". [[IndieWire]].
Foreman, Alison. (August 24, 2023). "The Best Survival Movies, from 'Cast Away' and 'The Revenant' to 'The Martian' and 'Alive'". [[IndieWire]].
Fristoe, Roger. (December 22, 2017). "Survival Movies: Fridays in January". [[Turner Classic Movies]].
Guzman, Rafer. (January 27, 2012). "Survivor films: Which live, which die – and why?". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
Hoad, Phil. (February 19, 2024). "Cold Meat review – two-handed survival thriller goes deep into the icebound Rockies". [[The Guardian]].
Holden, Ed. (December 19, 2012). "Life of Pi review". [[MSN]].
Holden, Stephen. (January 28, 2010). "'Because It's There' Is the Least of Their Reasons". [[The New York Times]].
Kaufman, Amy. (September 3, 2015). "Fall Movie Guide: Making 'Everest' was a tall order for filmmakers". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Kurland, Daniel. (February 13, 2024). "10 Best Survival Horror Films Of All Time, Ranked". [[Comic Book Resources]].
Lascala, Marisa. (April 20, 2020). "The 20 Best Survival Movies to Show You What Grit Truly Is".
Laskin, Nicholas. (November 18, 2014). "Watch: Trailer For WWII Survival Film 'Against The Sun' Starring Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel". [[Indiewire]].
Lawson, Richard. (January 8, 2020). "''Underwater'' Sinks Fast".
Lenker, Maureen Lee. (September 8, 2024). "''Eden'' is an uneven survival drama with compelling performances from Jude Law and Daniel Brühl".
Leskosky, Richard J.. (February 2, 2014). "A new film genre: Solitary survival". [[The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana).
Leydon, Joe. (October 31, 2024). "'Lost on a Mountain in Maine' Review: A True-Life Survival Story Suitable for Audiences of All Ages".
Long, Tom. (November 13, 2015). "Review: 'The 33,' true story of struggle for survival". [[The Detroit News]].
McGrath, Charles. (November 1, 2013). "Tales of Danger for You to Survive". [[The New York Times]].
Mertes, Micah. (November 1, 2013). "The 10 best survival movies". [[Omaha World-Herald]].
Ntim, Zac. (September 27, 2023). "Oscars: India Selects Survival Thriller '2018' For Best International Film Race". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
Staff. (October 17, 2013). "20 Survival Films That Will Take You Into The Abyss". [[Indiewire]].
(November 22, 2010). "The Best Survival Movies Ever".
Roddy, Michael. (February 5, 2015). "Arctic survival film, from female perspective, kicks off Berlin fest". [[Reuters]].
Staff. (January 23, 2012). "The 10 Best Survival Movies". [[Rotten Tomatoes]].
Shapiro, Jerome F.. (2001). "Atomic Bomb Cinema: The Apocalyptic Imagination on Film". Routledge.
{{Harvnb. Sobchack. 1988
{{Harvnb. Sobchack. 1988
Tartaglione, Nancy. (May 12, 2021). "'Oxygen': Alexandre Aja & Mélanie Laurent On Why Making Netflix's Confined Thriller Was A Breath Of Fresh Air". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
Vanhala, Helena. (2011). "The Depiction of Terrorists in Blockbuster Hollywood Films, 1980–2001: An Analytical Study". McFarland.
Ward, Cassidy. (February 18, 2025). "The True Story of Last Breath: What Really Happened in the 2012 Underwater Rescue?". [[NBC News]].
Wilkinson, Alissa. (January 18, 2024). "'The End We Start From' Review: A Watery Apocalypse and a New Beginning". [[The New York Times]].
Wood, Jennifer M.. (February 9, 2010). "Adam Green Reaches New Heights With Frozen".
Yacowar, Maurice. (2003). "Film Genre Reader III". University of Texas Press.

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