7 Best Survival Thrillers on Netflix Right Now

The magical thing about Survival Thrillers is that they capture your attention as almost no other genre of entertainment will. From high tension to high stakes and gripping performances by the cast, these projects are what make them so captivating.

And with the weekend coming soon, let’s look at the Netflix catalog and see which are some of the best Survival Thriller films they have to offer, ranging from creature horror survival to escape thrillers. The films on this list are chosen based on their high-octane plotlines and depth.

1 Society of the Snow: Survival Meets Existential Dread

Considered to be one of the best survival thriller films in recent times, Society of the Snow retells the real-life story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972. This leads to them surviving in freezing, harsh conditions until help arrives, if it does at all.

The film manages to blend the horror of surviving by any means necessary while also highlighting the philosophical implications and dilemmas of the survivors’ experiences, which is perfectly relayed to the audience through the direction and performances.

2 Nowhere: The Terror of Isolation

Nowhere is the perfect encapsulation of the true terror of being alone, surrounded by nothing but sure death for hundreds of miles all around. The film follows the story of Mia, a pregnant woman who attempts to flee from a tyrannical regime in a shipping container, only for a storm to send her container into the ocean.

The performance by lead star Anna Castillo was perfect to showcase the destruction of the human psyche during isolation, and how, despite it, human perseverance will find a way to endure the harshest of situations. While it may feel lacking at times, you would have to try your hardest to peel yourself away from it.

3 Apex: When Humans Are the Monsters

Featuring Charlize Theron and Taron Egerton, Apex follows the tale of a grieving woman who ventures into the wilderness only to be hunted by a psychopath, leading to it becoming a brutal cat-and-mouse survival game.

It’s a fresh new take on the Survival Thriller genre, where the wilderness acts as an atmosphere creator for the narrative, which focuses on the darkness that humanity carries within. This film boasts of insane action sequences and a thoroughly intense story that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

4 Thrash: Disaster Meets Creature Horror

While films like San Andreas gave us a high-stakes disaster survival film, Thrash blends that with creature horror in an extremely unique fashion. The story is about a pregnant woman who has to survive the chaos caused by a hurricane that floods her coastal town, bringing sharks into her home.

The film is immensely stressful and highly gripping to watch, which is the backbone of every good survival thriller. At the same time, the performances and the direction style gives it another level of intensity that will glue you to your chairs.

5 Beast: Man vs. The Wild

Another film by director Baltasar Kormákur on the list, Beast, is a film that follows the tale of a man who has to survive and protect his daughters from an enraged and bloodthirsty lion in the African wilderness.

The performance of Idris Elba as the main star of the film is extremely commendable, as his body language perfectly encapsulates his character’s development throughout the film, where he turns from the hunter to the hunted. This gives the survival film a shot of action, which is executed perfectly by Kormákur’s directorial style.

6 Don’t Move: Survival at Any Cost

Don’t Move is also a unique blend of survival thriller and psychological horror that has been brought masterfully to the screen. The film follows a woman who is desperately trying to escape a serial killer who has injected her with a paralysing toxin.

As you can imagine, the tensions run extremely high here. As her body starts to shut down, she gets closer and closer to death’s door. Moreover, the psychological narrative is blended into the adrenaline-pumping scenes with finesse, which always keeps you guessing about what comes next.

7 Everest: Man vs. Mother Nature

Arguably, the film that brought filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur all the recognition in the film industry was his 2015 movie, Everest. It follows the classic tale of ‘Man Vs. Nature,’ and is based on real-life events where, in 1996, a storm strikes Mt. Everest, and the climbers from two expedition groups must now battle the storm to survive.

Every scene in the film is extremely nerve-wracking as it does a tremendous job of creating a tense and harsh atmosphere in all aspects, while the performances by the cast also do a tremendous job of conveying the threat of nature’s wrath and humanity’s fragility to it.

Here’s an overview of the aforementioned films.

Which of these movies will you be watching? Tell us in the comments below.