9 Survival Films With Tense Plot

Films with survival genre are usually much-loved because of the tense plot.  Throughout the film, the audience must have wondered what tense things the protagonist will face and whether he will survive.

But, the most tense survival films are those taken from true stories. Although maybe we already know how the ending is, seeing how other people have experienced such horrific events must be emotionally draining.

And here are 9 Survival Films with Tense Plot that I have summarized ...

Tunnel (2016)

Tunnel, a South Korean survival drama film written and directed by Kim Seong-Hun. This South Korean survival film starring by Ha Jung Woo, who plays a car salesman named Lee Jung-soo. One day he was suddenly trapped in a tunnel that suddenly collapsed. He also had to try to survive in the tunnel with advice and direction from the rescue team.

Just imagine it was horrified, when he woke up in the dark and buried by thousands of tons of rubble, maybe that was also felt by Jung Soo, how he had to survive and get out from there, the premise was very interesting.

Meek's Cutoff (2010)

This survival film combines elements of Western which are also lifted from true story. Meek's Cutoff is a film directed by Kelly Reichardt and tells the incident on the Oregon Trail in 1845 when an expedition led by Stephen Meek to the western side of the United States lost its way.

This film is the second collaboration between Reichard and actress Michelle Williams. Beside Williams, this film also starring by Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson, Paul Dano, and Zoe Kazan.

Alive (1993)

Alive is a film directed by Frank Marshall based on the book 'Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivor' which tells the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team who suffered a plane crash in the Andes Mountains in October 1972.

Some passengers who survived were forced to try to maintain food stocks to cause a dispute. To survive, they were forced to eat meat from passengers who died.

The Way Back (2010)

The Way Back is a film by Peter Weir that bring up the true story experienced by Slamowir Rawciz, a prisoner of war who managed to escape from the Soviet Gulag.

He also gathered several other prisoners to walk as far as 6,400 km to India. Various kinds of challenges from nature they have to face from the blizzard, the blazing desert to the rugged mountains.

Taking place in World War II, the film starring by Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Saoirse Ronan, Mark Strong and several other actors and actresses.

Touching The Void (2003)

Again, a survival film based on a true story. Touching the Void is a docudrama which tells about the climbing of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, which was almost fatal.

In 1985, the two of them were struggling to become the first climbers who managed to climb the western side of Siula Grande in the Andes Mountain. They did manage to reach the top of Siula Grande, but disaster happened when they started going down the mountain.

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Buried (2010)

In this film, Ryan Reynolds play a truck driver in Iraq named Paul Conroy. He suddenly woke up and found his body inside a chest, and slowly he remembered that his group had been attacked.

With his cellphone and a match, Conroy was trying to find out who was the one who buried him, contacting his family and the government while trapped in a buried wooden coffin.

Buried is not a film with a big budget that uses advanced CGI or 3D technology, but this is one of the tense survival films! Director Rodrigo Cortes and actor Ryan Reynolds managed to present a very thrilling viewing experience. With a simple storyline, with only one actor and one location, in my opinion Buried really has an amazing script. Just imagine a film that focuses on an actor where he is buried alive in a chest for about 90 minutes, equipped with a cellphone and a fountain. What a brilliant script! Our hearts are forced to race faster to see the actor's efforts come out of the chest buried deep underground. On the screen there is only the actor. In the chest. Buried.

The Shallows (2016)

This survival film starring by Blake Lively and is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. Lively plays a surfer trapped 200 m from the beach. She also must use mind and determination to escape the attack of the white shark and return to the coast.

Many films with the theme of survival experience in the sea, whether it's stranded on a desert island, or survive against a storm on a ship, or also fight against the attack of wild sea animals. And all of these ideas have arguably been combined into one in the film The Shallows.

Cast Away (2000)

Who doesn't know this one survival film? Cast Away directed by Robert Zemeckis tells the story of a FedEx employee named Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) who was stranded on an uninhabited island after his plane crashed in the South Pacific. He also had to try to survive using aircraft wreckage. To dispel loneliness, he also made a friend of volleyball named Wilson.

This film is really very simple, but it has a very deep meaning. The existence of volleyball (Wilson) show the human need for an interlocutor, humans cannot live alone. Life is a choice with each of its consequences.

127 Hours (2010)

This film by Danny Boyle tells the story of the adventurer Aron Ralston. James Franco plays Ralston who must find a way to survive and escape after he was trapped by a large rock in a canyon.

127 Hours is one of the most successful survival films. The film received 6 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Franco.