Just imagine yourself thousands of meters from the plane ground, standing on a surface just big enough for your feet. There is no support, wall, or railing to hold on to and nothing else around to feel safe. When you look at the scene, you concede that you can see the horizon’s curves, and when you try to see below, you see a dead drop to the ground, nothing else.
This is an experience that can race your heart, sweat your palms, and churn your stomach hard, just like a filled washing machine. All this can be witnessed in the action thriller movie Fall, which came out in 2022, written and directed by Scott Mann. If you love some high-octane rush, and you seek adrenalin in everything you seek, then this summer movie becomes a must-watch for you.
In the movie Fall, Grace Caroline Currey portrays a young woman who has acrophobia, a fear of heights, following a sad mountain climbing accident. Virginia Gardner is her friend in the movie, and she decides that to take this acrophobia away from Grace, she should climb a 2000-foot TV tower and defeat the fear for once and all.
The duo finds themselves stuck at the top of the 2000-foot tower after a supporting staircase falls, this leaves them with no support, and now they have to plan their climb down safely back to the base.
The trailer of the flick solely gives chills down to people who are scared of heights, and those who like this thrill will get their endorphins high. If you have not watched Fall, then you should definitely check it out. And for those people who have already seen the aforesaid flick and are looking for something similar, then this list is rigorously what you need.
This list has movies that are based on survival, especially scenarios surrounding high altitudes and heights. The list is in no particular order. Look out for the movie you want to watch or avoid completely, your wish, get some popcorn, and get ready to get thrilled on the edge of your seat. I am certain that you will get one or more than one movie to give you the pump you seek.
Also Read: 35 Best Movies About Travel To Inspire You
Vertigo
Alfred Hitchcock was one of the few directors who were notably apt in appealing to viewers’ worst anxieties, suspicions, and phobias. Rear Window from 1954 made viewers close their drapes and draw their blinds when they returned home, while Psycho from 1960 made quite a few viewers lock the bathroom door before entering the shower.
It’s only rigging that the chubby dealer in fear made acrophobia the main theme of the 1958 classic Vertigo. Jimmy Stewart portrays Scottie Ferguson, a detective from San Francisco who is recruited to follow Kim Novak since she is the object of his obsession. Since taking part in a rooftop chase in which a fellow officer plummeted to his death, Scottie has struggled with a paralyzing fear of heights.
Scottie finds himself in a bit of trouble because of Novak’s Judy Barton, who has a passion for scaling bell towers. At the stressful conclusion of the film, Scottie and Judy make their way up the Mission San Juan Batista tower’s decrepit, narrow, and steep staircase.
When the camera zooms in while still moving away, Hitchcock’s masterful photography produces a confusing, disquieting effect that allows viewers to feel Scottie’s tremendous terror every time he glances down.
If they’d managed to keep their eyes open during the picture, a person with a fear of heights would probably be wildly perspiring by the time Scottie and Judy reach the top. Hitchcock’s camera work in the movie became known as “the Vertigo effect” because of how skillfully he managed to portray that dizzy, unsteady feeling.
- Released in: 1958
- IMDB Score: 8.3
- Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
- Cast: James Stewart, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Kim Novak, Henry Jones, and Others
- Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
- Streaming Platform: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Videos
Cat’s Eye – The Ledge
The screenplay for this movie, which is frankly three short tales linked by a stray cat that seems to be in each vignette, was written by Stephen King. Acrophobics will experience severe anxiety after seeing the second section, “The Ledge.” Tennis teacher Johnny Norris, a playboy having an affair with the wife of a dishonest and cruel tycoon called Cressner, is everyone’s favored alcoholic hub and Airplane’s Robert Hays, portrayed by Kenneth McMillan.
When Cressner learns of the relationship, he sends his goons to take Johnny to his penthouse apartment, which is located at the top of a 300-story skyscraper. Cressner tells Johnny that if he manages to walk the 5-inch ledge and complete the full building’s circumference, he can have Cressner’s wife.
If Johnny declines, Cressner will have him detained for having narcotics hidden in his auto. Johnny consents to go around the building, and what happens next is 15 minutes of sterile anxiety, terror, and confusion.
Johnny fights against unexpected gusts of wind, Cressner’s insults which include a blaring horn and Water from a fire hose, and a nasty tiny pigeon that keeps pecking at Johnny’s ankle as he makes his way around the edge of the tower.
As Johnny carefully maneuvers around the substantial edifice, director Lewis Teague expertly maintains the tension and anxiety. He shows the camera work from below Johnny’s leg as he droops over a thin plank right above John’s head and below hundreds of cars zooming on the streets. Anyone with the least fear of heights would feel the need for a shower and perhaps a few Valiums by the time it was all through.
- Released in: 1985
- IMDB Score: 6.3
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Cast: Drew Barrymore, James Woods, Alan King, Kenneth McMillan, Robert Hays, Candy Clark, and Others
- Directed By: Lewis Teague
- Streaming Platform: Plex. TV
The Ledge
The Ledges emerge to be a common theme in the film’s unsettling high areas. Similar to Fall, this 2022 film also stars two best friends who are avid climbers. One of the females is killed when they meet up with four sketchy characters, while the other one mounts a mountain to attempt to escape death.
The murderers follow closely after Kelly, played by Brittany Ashworth, as she climbs the very steep rock face. Kelly finally becomes stuck on the mountainside, about 20 feet below her assailants. This movie stands out because most of the action takes place in one specific location rather than dispersed over the mountain.
This makes the movie an especially dramatic nail-biter. Kelly does her best to outsmart the attackers coming at her from all sides, and director Howard J. Ford comprehends how to create action in a small area.
Height-phobic viewers may cover their faces with their palms during an especially uneasy sequence in which the bad guys attempt to knock Kelly out of the cliffside tent she has constructed by throwing a duffle bag full of camping gear down the mountain.
The Ledge is an unsettling, occasionally nauseous thriller that will make you glad you’re watching it on firm ground, even if real mountain climbers will undoubtedly laugh at the actual sense of some of the action scenes.
- Released in: 2022
- IMDB Score: 5.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 26 minutes
- Cast: Brittany Ashworth, Ben Lamb, Anaïs Parello, Louis Boyer, Nathan Welsh, Terrence Howard, and Others
- Directed By: Howard J. Ford
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV
The Walk
Aerialist Philippe Petit ran a high-wire act between the World Trade Center towers in Manhattan in August 1974 while they were still under construction. He performed for 50 minutes at the height of 1,350 feet while making eight passes through the towers and occasionally laying or sitting down on the one-inch-thick wire that was suspended between the two configurations.
If reading about Petit’s daring makes your pulse and pulmonary rate faster, you may need to breathe in and out into a paper bag while watching The Walk, the movie that dramatizes Petit’s experience.
The prevalence of the movie centers on Petit and his team’s planning for the feat, but Robert Zemeckis, who is no amateur when it comes to having exquisite visuals, employs more than enough views of the view from the top in the whole film.
Then there is the starting step Petit, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, takes onto the wire. The sound of the wire creaking and moaning, as the wind whistles, serve to heighten the worry as New York City emerges from the clearing gloaming under Petit’s ballerina shoe.
It’s hard for moviegoers not to feel like they’re right there with Petit, walking on that small, bobbing cable, thanks to Zemeckis’s masterful use of immersion. When the movie first came out, it was displayed in IMAX cinemas, a major no-no for those who were deeply acrophobic. Again I am emphasizing the performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt is one of the best he has ever displayed. The whole movie was bonded around him.
- Released in: 2015
- IMDB Score: 7.3
- Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes
- Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Le Bon, James Badge Dale, and Others
- Directed By: Robert Zemeckis
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV
Vertical Limit
If there’s one thing that filmmaker Martin Campbell excels at, it’s taking action and giving it more depth. Layer upon layer of death-defying mountain climbs, rope-hanging murders, avalanches, and dynamite may be found in Campbell’s Vertical Limit.
Robin Tunney and Chris O Donnell portray Annie and Garrett, siblings who lost their father in a horrific climbing accident, in this action film that will give acrophobes the willies. Peter, who was severely traumatized by the affair, no longer climbs, but Annie is uncontrollable and is climbing K2, the second-highest peak on Earth.
Naturally, things go seriously awry when Annie and the other climbers on her team fall into a large avalanche that buries them in a deep crevice. Peter must scale the mountain with nitro in tow in order to blow out the fissure and save his sister. Consider The Wages of Fear with snow, ice, and terrifying heights added.
In one scenario, the members of Peter’s rescue squad are forced to leap from an ice cliff onto a broken-down helicopter that is floating thousands of feet in the air. In order to further exploit viewers’ fear of heights, filmmaker Campbell also fixed to include a little amount of phobia of flying. The thrills never cease in Vertical Limit, making it the perfect action movie for adrenaline seekers.
- Released in: 2000
- IMDB Score: 5.9
- Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
- Cast: Chris O’Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney, Scott Glenn, Izabella Scorupco, Temuera Morrison, and Others
- Directed By: Martin Campbell
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV
Free Solo
For anyone with a severe fear of heights, this amazing film about Alex Honnold, the first person to scale Yosemite National Park’s 3,000-foot El Capitan with no ropes, harnesses, or other life-saving gear, is definitely a huge “nope.”
Even though it features some of the most incredible photography in contemporary filmmaking, it is highly unlikely for an acrophobe to see this man cling to the acerbity of a mountain of steep, crumbly basalt by just using his hands and feet without going into full-blown panic mode.
The cameraman who follows Alex on his climb and videoes it, Jimmy Chin, regularly says, “I worry that he’ll fall while I’m filming him,” which doesn’t help. Thank you, Jimmy; that gives me a lot of comfort. Then there is Alex’s girlfriend, who sobs, “What if I don’t see him again?” amid a stream of tears.
Free Solo is without mistrust awe-inspiring, and motivating, and Alex’s herculean efforts are genuinely amazing. However, people who struggle with heights should heed this warning. It’s clearly not a simple watch.
- Released in: 2018
- IMDB Score: 8.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Cast: Alex Honnold, Sanni McCandless, Jimmy Chin, Tommy Caldwell, and Others
- Directed By: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
- Streaming Platform: Hotstar
Cliffhanger
Every acrophobe’s greatest nightmare is the opening sequence of this Sylvester Stallone high-elevation thriller. A wounded friend and his girlfriend are being assisted over two mountain peaks by rescue ranger Gabe Walker portrayed by Sylvester Stallone, using a cable line hung 4,000 feet in the air.
The anxious girlfriend, played by Michelle Joyner, harness hook breaks as she begins to pull herself across, leaving her dangling on a strap. When her hand snags on her glove and she falls to her death, Gabe tries to bring her up by traversing the cable.
The situation doesn’t get much better from there since ruthless ex-military operator Eric Qualen played by John Lithgow, who is looking for a number of bags comprising huge portions of money, ends up using Gabe and his friend, portrayed by Michael Rooker, as his trusting grant as they scale the Rocky Mountains.
For the following two hours, director Renny Harlin keeps the heart racing with lethal dives, mountaintop explosions, torrents of snow and ice plummeting, and even impalement by a stalactite.
The real show-stopper, though, is the final brawl between Lithgow and Stallone in a helicopter attached to a steel ladder hanging over a precipitous cliff. Although there is no question who will conquer in this fight, it is anyhow thrilling to watch, so long as your nerves can handle it.
- Released in: 1993
- IMDB Score: 8.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes
- Cast: Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Michael Rooker, Janine Turner, Leon Robinson, Paul Winfield, and Others
- Directed By: Renny Harlin
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Buried
Ryan Reynolds’ character, Paul Conroy, awakens to see himself stifled under the Earth in a wooden box. He works as a truck driver and civilian contractor in Iraq. He was captured, buried alive, and his convoy was attacked. He has a limited store of air, which gives him a finite amount of time to escape.
He only has a cigarette lighter, a torch, a cell phone, and his desire to live to help him with this mission. Extremely gripping and stressful. You never know how things will turn out until the very last second. You’re kept on edge the entire time by director Rodrigo Cortes and writer Chris Sparling, who tease you with the idea that one strategy of survival could be more possible than the other.
Ryan Reynolds was method, which is helpful given that he was the movie’s main actor. He had little to no language for most of the movie, so he gave a strong physical performance. The camera work was good; it captured the cramped surroundings without compromising the visual appeal of the movie. A superior and entertaining thriller. A lot of fun and engaging but nothing extraordinary.
- Released in: 2010
- IMDB Score: 7
- Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Robert Paterson, Abdelilah Ben Massou, Cade Dundish, Michaela Petersen, Warner Loughlin, Ivana Mino, and Others
- Directed By: Rodrigo Cortes
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
A Lonely Place To Die
A gang of mountain climbers takes a vacation to Scotland’s Highlands. They find a small boy buried alive in a chamber while on a journey. The swiped kid is from Eastern Europe and is clearly missing. The gang rapidly realizes that the abductors are close by and that they would stop at nothing to retrieve the kid and get rid of any evidence of their offenses.
A Lonely Place To Die opening scene can definitely be felt as they are filled with suspense. The ensuing events, character development, and major twist in the woods are all properly illustrated. The sequences of the chase through the forest are terrific. Then, about halfway through, the movie abruptly disintegrates. The writers are unaware of how to maintain momentum.
The worst thing they could have done was to transfer the action to a town since it would have turned it into a ridiculous shoot-em-up. Michael Richard Plowman’s score, which includes a number of great Celtic themes at the beginning and closing of the movie, was another highlight of the production.
When this movie is released, it should be highly accepted and loved by a large audience. Undoubtedly, it ranks with the finest thrillers produced in Britain, a big recommendation.
- Released in: 2011
- IMDB Score: 6.2
- Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Cast: Melissa George, Ed Speleers, Sean Harris, Kate Magowan, Alec Newman, Stephen McCole, Gary Sweeney, and Others
- Directed By: Julian Gilbey
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Backcountry
In the movie, partners go camping in a faraway area only to find themselves harassed by creepy hiker Eric Balfour. And if that weren’t enough, they become lost in the woods and come across an aggressive black bear’s den. This is a superior portrayal of how to effectively use a few resources to build maximum tension.
The tempo of the film is perfectly verified, the directing is surprisingly strong, and the technical and aesthetic elements are expertly kept together. In addition to the performances, Adam MacDonald’s direction resulted in a film that seemed authentic. It wasn’t the cheap, cheesy movie that Canadians have become accustomed to seeing from local filmmakers.
It was amazing how Adam MacDonald used his own distinct cinematic style to make gory and disgusting moments almost appear vivid. The acting was really fine, and the pace at which the story was getting told was fine. All in all, it is a worthwhile watch, and you can be certain of it that you will enjoy the movie.
- Released in: 2014
- IMDB Score: 6.0
- Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
- Cast: Jeff Roop, Missy Peregrym, Eric Balfour, Nicholas Campbell, and Others
- Directed By: Adam MacDonald
- Streaming Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos
Vacancy
In the tense horror film “Vacancy,” Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson’s Amy and David Fox, who just lost a child and are getting ready to get divorced, are young, disputing partners coming back from an anniversary festivity.
The belligerent pair get stuck outside a little gas station in the middle of nowhere and decide to check into the Pinewood Inn, a budget hotel where they can stay the night before reaching help the following morning. Their performance is convincing, and I believe that their characters’ strong writing has something to do with it.
They are vastly more realistic than the normal genre idiots who collapse to the ground when the killer approaches. They make wise options and appropriate movements, which increases their credibility and realism and helps them capture the audience’s compassion quickly. The original horror film Vacancy had a lot of tension but not a lot of gore.
This movie’s greatest beauty is the caught scene and stressful build-up, which will have you on the rim of your seat and wondering what will happen next. It makes for a good late-night terror fest and is how a thriller should be done.
- Released in: 2007
- IMDB Score: 6.2
- Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson, Frank Whaley, Ethan Embry, and Others
- Directed By: Nimrod Antal
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
Open Water
Daniel, played by Daniel Travis, and Susan, portrayed by Blanchard Ryan, the duo has bland life round aura. They are placing last-minute business visitations as they leave for a much-needed holiday. They travel to a Caribbean island for the sun, pleasure, and scuba diving, which is their true love.
They reserve a space on a commercial diving tour to a reef for the next day, but they are left behind due to a tour guide error. The attainment of Open Water is that writer/director Chris Kentis created a falsely explicit movie that proves to be incredibly successful in achieving its goals.
To present a gripping, suspenseful, life-or-death scenario with horrific implications and subtextual opinions on enjoying and living life to the fullest, even when faced with the power and nonjudgmental likely ruthlessness of nature. It is a good movie, and the main thing is the not-so-lengthy runtime of the movie, which makes it a fun and thrilling experience.
- Released in: 2003
- IMDB Score: 5.8
- Runtime: 1 hour 19 minutes
- Cast: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein, and Others
- Directed By: Chris Kentis
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Triangle
A single mother named Jess, played by Melissa George, struggles to raise her differently-abled boy. She makes friends with one of the restaurant patrons while working there, a playboy type named Greg, who asks her to go sailing with him and his mates.
She accepts his bid as she is desperate for some time away from her son. She is late coming to the boat on the outing day and shows up frazzled. Although it’s a Saturday, she claims that her son is at school.
Despite her dubious cognitive condition, Greg introduces her to the company, and they set out. At first, everything goes smoothly, but a sudden storm causes the boat to capsize, leaving everyone on board stranded.
Triangle concludes with its own special justification, which has a Sisyphean motif. One of the movie’s best aspects is the power of some of its images, the best example being Sally crawling through something I won’t reveal.
- Released in: 2009
- IMDB Score: 6.9
- Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
- Cast: Melissa George, Michael Dorman, Rachael Carpani, Henry Nixon, Emma Lung, Liam Hemsworth, and Others
- Directed By: Christopher Smith
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Life
In the science fiction horror film Life, a group of scientists is tasked with analyzing a sample of mars mud inside the cramped quarters of a space station orbiting the Earth. They find a plain cellular life form that will soon develop into something far more lethal in one of the samples.
Viewers get emotionally attached to the unit as a result of the film’s tremendous insight into their life. The entire movie is exhilarating thanks to a great innovative, and terrifying concept. Excellent acting, a strong screenplay, and just the right amount of tension-creating effects keep you hooked on the show despite your expectations seldom coming true.
Unexpected turns and twists are filled in the movie, with numerous plots and storylines throughout it. Don’t believe the assay of critics who compare it to gravity or aliens; all of that is logicless. All of this movie represents a completely new level of feat and grant.
- Released in: 2017
- IMDB Score: 6.9
- Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds, Rebecca Ferguson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya, and Others
- Directed By: Daniel Espinosa
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV
The Descent
A great horror movie was made by Neil Marshall by first creating a cramped and claustrophobic environment, then adding the horrors. However, giggling often aids in relieving the stress, allowing the audience to take a breather and unwind.
The Descent forbids you from de-stress at any term because Marshall seizes your interest in the opening minutes and doesn’t let go until the closing credits. Since the plurality of the movie takes place underground, Marshall uses a shadowy vibe through its lights to great advantage to keep you on the rim of your seat for the whole 100 minutes.
The filmmaker Marshall achieved it sufficiently, and despite its direct theory, it was so successful. Faultlessly achieved in terms of pace, editing, and sound design, the ominous score is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s work all around and The Thing in particular. Additionally, the lighting is always ambient, primarily using torches, flares, and occasionally a video camera’s infrared viewfinder.
- Released in: 2005
- IMDB Score: 7.2
- Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes
- Cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, and Others
- Directed By: Neil Marshall
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Desierto
It centers on a group of transient workers who enter the country from Mexico and are then targeted by a racist vigilante. If they are spending their days killing people, these vigilantes must not have a life. It’s crucial to keep in mind that immigrants from Latin America are escaping horrendous statuses.
The journey across the desert is portrayed in the film as a terrifying ordeal. The location of the film was perfect, and both the performers and the dogs did superior work in their roles. The suspense in this movie was amplified by seeing it in surround sound.
Due to its understated message on illegal Mexican immigration, this film’s premiere could not have come at a better time. In Desierto, Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the main antagonist, a much larger role than in Fall.
A mad killer shoots down humans like animals in this enjoyable survival horror set in the desert. Although Morgan is outstanding, the movie’s finale wasn’t all that exciting. Overall it is a good watch, but you can surely get better movies on this list than Desierto.
- Released in: 2015
- IMDB Score: 6.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
- Cast: Gael García Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alondra Hidalgo, Diego Cataño, and Others
- Directed By: Jonás Cuarón
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
The Way
Tom, played by Martin Sheen, an optometrist, no longer has a close relationship with his junior. He travels across the ocean to bring his kid back home after learning that he had passed away while hiking in Europe. Tom’s life is changed as a result.
The Way is a movie with a lot of depth. The larger message included in the film may be analyzed through a study of every word, image, and sentence. The Camino of Santiago aids as the film’s backdrop.
We watch Tom’s mourning cycle as the flick chronicles his outing along the Camino as he searches for his junior. The Way, a much lighter-hearted, uplifting, and wonderful movie, is one of my all-time favorite hiking and adventure movies.
Like the hero in Fall, the main character brings ashes on his journey to scatter them following a family tragedy. The film is highly recommended because of how powerful the message is.
- Released in: 2010
- IMDB Score: 7.3
- Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes
- Cast: Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, James Nesbitt, Yorick van Wageningen, Emilio Estevez, and Others
- Directed By: Emilio Estevez
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Deepwater Horizon
The acting in this film is first-rate, and the work that went into developing the characters such that you care about them and feel for them is fantastic. The rig was expertly constructed, and you had the impression that you were learning about it as you located everything in connection to how it performed.
The fiction that was presented was genuinely horrifying; it was ably managed. This wasn’t merely articulating a story; it was conveying the story with the emotions and hardships that transpired on that horrific day.
You will be thrilled and on the brim of your seat for the entire show watching this true-story movie, but the overwhelming irritation I had over the truth that it was based on a true fable and the spill’s effects on the ecosystem was overwhelming. The visual effects were rather powerful.
People try to deny they are happening until it is too late, like so many big accidents. Ironically, BP’s safest rig, this risky one, received a safety award. The people on the platform, stuck on a blazing, bursting oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, had it far worse than the ladies in Fall.
- Released in: 2016
- IMDB Score: 7.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes
- Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, John Malkovich, Gina Rodriguez, Dylan O’Brien, Kate Hudson, and Others
- Directed By: Peter Berg
- Streaming Platform: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Videos
Wild
This movie, which is based on a valid yarn around a lady’s part played by Reese Witherspoon, whose life is turned upside down by the demise of her mother, who she loved and who gave her life, is, in my opinion, a perfect example of perseverance, fortitude, courage, and pure willpower to tolerate the nearly insurmountable challenges nature throws while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.
It is amazing to watch a gentlewoman transit the Pacific Crest Trail with a pack that weighs at least 75 pounds in an effort to rebuild her broken life. Similar to Becky in Fall, Cheryl in Wild also partakes in a noteworthy home tragedy when her husband breaks, and her mother dies, which motivates her to embark on the trip.
Although her story ended far more happily than Becky’s, I still thought Wild was fantastic. You will be inspired to get your bag and head out into the wilderness. This film is a deft sketch of the lengths we sometimes have to go to exorcise internal demons that prevent us from going on with our lives. Masterfully written, directed, and acted. A must-watch, in my opinion.
- Released in: 2014
- IMDB Score: 7.1
- Runtime: 1 hour 55 minutes
- Cast: Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, Thomas Sadoski, and Others
- Directed By: Jean-Marc Vallée
- Streaming Platform: Apple TV
Frozen
This is a very real-life, horrifying situation that may very well arise at any wink, in any area, and without warning. Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore, and Emma Bell delivered performances that were nothing short of unique, and the directing was faultless.
They created an atmosphere of such dread, ardent anxiety, terror, and horror that it was nearly intolerable. This movie gives you the impression that you are frankly partaking in what the protagonists were going through since it was altogether filmed on location in subzero temperatures.
The gore is sparse and not gratuitous in the least; the plurality of the bloody action takes place off-screen as the lens focuses on the helpless others’ emotions. Kudos to the whole actors and crew for their special effort on what must have been a difficult shoot, to put it mildly. It is a movie filled with a high level of thrills and experiences and should be watched at once.
- Released in: 2010
- IMDB Score: 6.2
- Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes
- Cast: Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers, Emma Bell, and Others
- Directed By: Adam Green
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos
Everest
The journey up the tallest and most renowned peak in the world, Everest, is rather adventurous. However, this isn’t your typical Mount Everest experience. The actual tragic account of the 1996 Mount Everest accident is told in this film.
Many of the participants on this particular climbing expedition would not survive the climb to the bottom. Many people will risk their lives and limbs to climb this peak because there is something so enticing about the experience. Participants of the flick not only climb to great extents, but they do by climbing Mount Everest, which is the greatest peak in the world.
Their experiences are based on a true story, and as rewarding as it is to reach the top, the more challenging the climb. In fact, Mt. Everest served as the backdrop for this film. Naturally, we anticipated that CGI would play a significant role in this, and it was nothing short of magnificent.
Some of the photos are intimidating and perhaps frightening. It is a beautiful yet frightening movie. A definite watch just because of the loaded star cast.
- Released in: 2015
- IMDB Score: 7.1
- Runtime: 2 hours 01 minutes
- Cast: Jason Clarke, John Hawkes, Josh Brolin, Michael Kelly, Robin Wright, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Others
- Directed By: Baltasar Kormakur
- Streaming Platform: Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV, Google Play Movies
Into The Wild
The fact that Christopher McCandless is always more concerned with what he is fleeing than what he is running from is what I find to be the beauty of Into the Wild. Sean Penn handled the direction of this movie with exquisite accuracy and creative flair.
The various characters Chris encounters along the road are as wonderful and essential to his adventure as his survival in the bush. Each scene and each image in this movie has its own tale. Famous actor Emile Hirsch contributes to the success of Into the Wild.
His acting is completely convincing, and the tale frequently advances as he performs without speaking, relying solely on his body language and facial expressions to convey feelings and thoughts.
It offers a singular glimpse into the life of a young man who is trying to figure himself out in a risky setting and who learns that what he once believed to be the actual definition of happiness may not be it.
- Released in: 2007
- IMDB Score: 8.1
- Runtime: 2 hours 01 minutes
- Cast: Emile Hirsch, Brian H. Dierker, Marcia Gay Harden, Jena Malone, William Hurt, Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn, Kristen Stewart, Zach Galifianakis, and Others
- Directed By: Sean Penn
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Videos, Apple TV
127 Hours
The acting by James Franco is just amazing. He succeeds as an actor because his character does and because he explores what it means to bring this amazing tale to the big screen for a wide audience.
This is a challenging part for Franco, who effectively performs as a one-man show. Franco expresses his suffering in every line of his face, verbalizes it with every sigh, and allows it to govern him even as he fights to regain control and escape his precarious predicament. This causes us to share Aron Ralston’s pain.
It was a happy, inspirational, and enlightening movie experience. It contained each component that makes up a film. It combined a thriller, a drama, an affair, a horror story, and even some humor.
A moving, eternal reminder of what it means to be alive, of how really privileged we are, and of how dependent we are on one another. It is a very good and deep movie filled with emotions and pain, and it transfers viewers to a solitary place that James is trying to deliver.
- Released in: 2010
- IMDB Score: 8.1
- Runtime: 2 hours 01 minutes
- Cast: Aron Ralston, James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Clémence Poésy, Lizzy Caplan, and Others
- Directed By: Danny Boyle
- Streaming Platform: Apple TV, Google Play Movies
Also Read: 31 Movies Like Luther: The Fallen Sun
