Highest-Rated Movies about 'Survival Horror'

Alien (1979), The Thing (1982), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Misery (1990), Predator (1987), Evil Dead II (1987), Deliverance (1972) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Survival Horror movies.

#1. Alien (1979)

Storyline: In the distant future, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo are on their way home when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon. The crew are under obligation to investigate and the spaceship descends on the moon afterwards. After a rough landing, three crew members leave the spaceship to explore the area on the moon. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship's computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a distress call. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship and they must deal with the consequences.

Plot Keywords: alien, female protagonist, spaceship, outer space, creature, survival horror, future ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. The Thing (1982)

Storyline: A US research station, Antarctica, early-winter 1982. The base is suddenly buzzed by a helicopter from the nearby Norwegian research station. They are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base. After the destruction of the Norwegian chopper the members of the US team fly to the Norwegian base, only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by The Thing, and tensions escalate.

Plot Keywords: antarctica, body horror, paranoia, isolation, alien life form, alien creature, shapeshifting ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Storyline: Following the events of Night of the Living Dead (1968), we follow the exploits of four survivors of the expanding zombie apocalypse as they take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall following a horrific SWAT evacuation of an apartment complex. Taking stock of their surroundings, they arm themselves, lock down the mall, and destroy the zombies inside so they can eke out a living--at least for a while. Tensions begin to build as months go on, and they come to realize that they've fallen prey to consumerism. Soon afterward, they have even heavier problems to worry about, as a large gang of bikers discovers the mall and invades it, ruining the survivors' best-laid plans and forcing them to fight off both lethal bandits and flesh-eating zombies.

Plot Keywords: zombie apocalypse, cult film, american horror, motorcycle gang, motorcycle, ghetto, grindhouse film ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Storyline: Barbra and Johnny visit their father's grave in a remote cemetery when they are suddenly set upon by zombies. Barbra manages to get away and takes refuge in what seems to be an abandoned farm house. She is soon joined by Ben who stopped at the house in need of gas. Beset by the walking dead all around them Ben does his best to secure the doors and windows. The news reports are grim however with creatures returning to life everywhere. Barbra and Ben are surprised when they realize there are 5 people hiding out in the basement: Harry, Helen and Karen Cooper; and a young couple, Tom and Judy. Dissensions sets in almost immediately with Harry Cooper wanting to be in charge. As their situation deteriorates, their chances of surviving the night lessen minute by minute.

Plot Keywords: zombie, radiation, running out of gas, cemetery, basement, year 1968, surprise ending ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Misery (1990)

Storyline: Best-selling novelist Paul Sheldon is on his way home from his Colorado hideaway after completing his latest book, when he crashes his car in a freak blizzard. Paul is critically injured, but is rescued by former nurse Annie Wilkes, Paul's "number one fan", who takes Paul back to her remote house in the mountains (without bothering to tell anybody). Unfortunately for Paul, Annie is also a headcase. When she discovers that Paul has killed off the heroine in her favorite novels, her reaction leaves Paul shattered (literally)...

Plot Keywords: female psychopath, obsessed fan, broken leg, based on the works of stephen king, typewriter, sledgehammer, novel ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. Predator (1987)

Storyline: A team of special force ops, led by a tough but fair soldier, Major "Dutch" Schaefer, are ordered to assist CIA man, Colonel Al Dillon, on a rescue mission for potential survivors of a Helicopter downed over remote South American jungle. Not long after they land, Dutch and his team discover that they have been sent in under false pretenses. This deception turns out to be the least of their worries though, when they find themselves being methodically hunted by something not of this world.

Plot Keywords: jungle, scorpion, latin america, severed arm, booby trap, shaving, survival ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. Evil Dead II (1987)

Storyline: Ashley Williams travels to a secluded cabin in the woods with his girlfriend Linda where they find a tape recording of a professor and a book of evil. This unleashes a bunch of evil spirits that constantly terrorize Ash. Meanwhile a journalist comes to the area to study the book of evil. Ash and her end up having to survive this swarm of evil until morning comes.

Plot Keywords: grindhouse film, sex, backwoods, cult film, 1980s, panties, knocked unconscious ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Deliverance (1972)

Storyline: The Cahulawassee River valley in Northern Georgia is one of the last natural pristine areas of the state, which will soon change with the imminent building of a dam on the river, which in turn will flood much of the surrounding land. As such, four Atlanta city dwellers, alpha male Lewis Medlock, Ed Gentry, Bobby Trippe, and Drew Ballinger, decide to take a multi-day canoe trip on the river, with only Lewis and Ed having experience in outdoor life. They know going in that the area is isolated. Their relatively peaceful trip takes a turn for the worse halfway through with river rapids and unwelcoming locals. The four battle need to their way out of the valley and are asked to do things they never thought possible within themselves.

Plot Keywords: beating, abuse, bare butt, anal rape, male rape, male bonding, rape ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Zombieland (2009)

Storyline: Searching for family. In the early twenty-first century, zombies have taken over America. A shy and inexperienced college student in Texas has survived by following his 30 rules: such as "look in the back seat," "double-tap," "avoid public restrooms." He decides to travel to Ohio to see if his parents are alive. He gets a ride with a boisterous zombie-hating good-old boy headed for Florida, and soon they confront a young woman whose sister has been bitten by a zombie and wants to be put out of her misery. The sisters were headed to an LA amusement park they've heard is zombie free. Can the kid from Ohio get to his family? And what about rule thirty one?

Plot Keywords: zombie, amusement park, on the road, actor playing himself, survival horror, zombie apocalypse, roller coaster ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. A Quiet Place (2018)

Storyline: Two parents do what it takes to keep their children safe in a world full of creatures hunting every sound they can hear. Not a sound can be heard from the family hiding in silence, but all it takes is one noise and everything can go wrong.

Plot Keywords: survival, pregnancy, sign language, deafness, silence, very little dialogue, post apocalypse ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Storyline: On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends (comprising Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz) are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Fred Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Fred tries to pick them off one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?

Plot Keywords: slasher, serial killer, slasher flick, american horror, first of series, murder, sleep deprivation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. The Evil Dead (1981)

Storyline: Five college students take time off to spend a peaceful vacation in a remote cabin. A book and audio tape is discovered, and its evil is found to be powerful once the incantations are read out loud. The friends find themselves helpless to stop the evil as it takes them one by one, with only one survivor left with the evil dead and desperately tries to fight to live until morning.

Plot Keywords: cult film, sexual violence, female victim, absurd violence, first of series, sexual assault, violence against women ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Storyline: En route to visit their grandfather's grave (which has apparently been ritualistically desecrated), five teenagers drive past a slaughterhouse, pick up (and quickly drop) a sinister hitch-hiker, eat some delicious home-cured meat at a roadside gas station, before ending up at the old family home... where they're plunged into a never-ending nightmare as they meet a family of cannibals who more than make up in power tools what they lack in social skills...

Plot Keywords: cannibal, chainsaw, chainsaw murder, psychopath, massacre, skull, murder ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Storyline: When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage through Louisville, Kentucky seeking their favorite food, brains.

Plot Keywords: female frontal nudity, naked dead woman, punk, cemetery, undead, paramedic, poison gas ...

Movie Details Click Here!