By Maansi V
There鈥檚 something undeniably gripping about watching a lone character fight against impossible odds 鈥 whether it鈥檚 the unforgiving wilderness, outer space, or dark corners of their mind. Survival thrillers put the spotlight on human resilience, pushing protagonists (and viewers) to the edge. With minimal dialogue and maximum tension, these movies are a masterclass in storytelling, where one person鈥檚 will to survive becomes the beating heart of the narrative. Here are some of the must-watch survival thrillers that will leave you breathless, inspired, and possibly a little claustrophobic.
7 intense survival thrillers (movies) that will leave you breathless; on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more
1. The Revenant 鈥 JioHotstar
Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a ferocious, Oscar-winning performance in this gritty tale of endurance and revenge based on the real-life story of frontiersman Hugh Glass. Set in the early 1800s, the movie follows Glass, a fur trapper and explorer left for dead by his team after a bear attack. With a crushed body, freezing temperatures, and no supplies, Glass must fight his way through an unforgiving winter to survive and take revenge on the man who betrayed him. As he faces starvation, hostile terrain, and constant danger, Glass also wrestles with grief and haunting visions of his lost family. The movie is a visceral, immersive survival experience.
2. Cast Away 鈥 Amazon Prime Video
Tom Hanks anchors this unforgettable story of isolation and resilience as Chuck Noland, a FedEx executive whose plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean. Stranded alone on a deserted island, he learns to survive with no tools, no help, and a volleyball who he names Wilson to stave off the crushing loneliness. The story spans four years of solitude, transformation, and heartbreak as Chuck battles the elements and his own inner demons, waiting for a chance to escape. This isn鈥檛 just a survival movie 鈥 it鈥檚 a deeply human story about loss, adaptation, and the will to live.
3. Nowhere 鈥 Netflix
This Spanish survival thriller takes high-stakes isolation to a whole new level. The movie follows a pregnant woman named Mia who flees a dystopian regime. She boards a cargo container with her partner in hopes of finding freedom across the sea. But when a storm separates them, she finds herself alone, adrift in an ocean inside a metal box with limited food, water, and oxygen. As her condition worsens and her baby鈥檚 due date nears, M铆a must fight overwhelming odds to stay alive and keep her child safe. As supplies dwindle and danger looms from every corner 鈥 dehydration, injury, labour 鈥 she shows unimaginable strength to survive. With raw emotion and relentless tension, the movie is a powerful take on human endurance.
4. The Martian 鈥 JioHotstar
During a manned mission to Mars, a fierce storm forces the crew to abort and evacuate the planet. In the chaos, astronaut and botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is struck by debris and presumed dead. The crew leaves without him. But Watney survives 鈥 alone and stranded on a barren planet, with limited supplies and no way to communicate with Earth. Realising that rescue could take years, he sets out to survive using science and sheer grit. He cultivates potatoes using Martian soil, human waste, and water he creates from a chemical reaction 鈥 turning his habitat into a mini-farm. He also manages to establish contact with NASA through a series of ingenious hacks, triggering a global effort to bring him home. Meanwhile, the team that left him behind learns he鈥檚 alive and must choose whether to risk everything in a daring rescue mission.
5. Trapped 鈥 ZEE5
In this nail-biting Indian survival thriller, a shy young man Shaurya (Rajkummar Rao) gets locked inside a newly constructed apartment on the 35th floor of a Mumbai high-rise 鈥 with no food, water, electricity, or mobile network. What was supposed to be a romantic gesture for his girlfriend quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival. As hours turn into days, Shaurya鈥檚 struggle becomes more primal. He tries every possible escape 鈥 from shouting for help to creating makeshift tools 鈥 but with no neighbours and an unfinished building, no one hears him. His physical and mental deterioration is heart-wrenching, and Rao鈥檚 solo performance makes every second of his suffering feel terrifyingly real. It鈥檚 a claustrophobic, intense, and emotionally raw survival story.
6. The Shallows 鈥 SonyLIV
Medical student Nancy Adams (Blake Lively) heads to a secluded beach in Mexico to surf and process her mother鈥檚 recent death. But what begins as a peaceful solo getaway turns into a brutal fight for survival when she鈥檚 attacked by a massive white shark. Injured and stranded on a tiny rock just 200 yards from shore, Nancy must use her wits, medical knowledge, and willpower to outsmart the predator circling her. With the high tide approaching and the rock slowly disappearing underwater, the clock is ticking and escape seems nearly impossible. The movie keeps the stakes tense with tight pacing, stunning cinematography, and a near-constant sense of danger.
7. Solo 鈥 Netflix
脕lvaro Vizca铆no (Alain Hern谩ndez) falls off a cliff while exploring a remote stretch of coastline in the Canary Islands. With a broken hip, serious injuries, and no way to call for help, he is stranded on the rocks with only the sound of crashing waves and the blazing sun as his companions. As the days stretch on, 脕lvaro must endure pain, dehydration, and hallucinations while trying to crawl his way to survival. Through fragmented memories and inner monologues, we see glimpses of the life he鈥檚 fighting for 鈥 making the movie as much an emotional journey as a physical one.