The Best Survival Movies and TV Shows on Kanopy

What it's about: Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime, Hoopla & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A father living in the forests of the Pacific Northwest with his six young kids tries to assimilate back into society.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man's idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression where a harrowing end awaits him. Through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his woman and his family he will make a desperate break to return home and to ultimately save his way of life.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Mumbai, India, November 26, 2008. While several terrorists spread hatred and death through the city, others attack the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Both hotel staff and guests risk their lives, making unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and keep everyone safe while help arrives.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Hulu & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A young British soldier must find his way back to safety after his unit accidentally abandons him during a riot in the streets of Belfast.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu, Epix & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man stranded in the Arctic is finally about to receive his long awaited rescue. However, after a tragic accident, his opportunity is lost and he must then decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his camp or embark on a deadly trek through the unknown for potential salvation.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Starz & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Starz) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A punk rock band becomes trapped in a secluded venue after finding a scene of violence. For what they saw, the band themselves become targets of violence from a gang of white power skinheads, who want to eliminate all evidence of the crime.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Alone on a tiny deserted island, Hank has given up all hope of ever making it home again. But one day everything changes when a dead body washes ashore, and he soon realizes it may be his last opportunity to escape certain death. Armed with his new “friend” and an unusual bag of tricks, the duo go on an epic adventure to bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body's exact location. As the group continues looking, its members can't help but chat among themselves about both trivia and their deepest concerns in an investigation that is proving more trying than any of them expected.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: An unassuming office worker is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy).

What it's about: Mary Henry ends up the sole survivor of a fatal car accident through mysterious circumstances. Trying to put the incident behind her, she moves to Utah and takes a job as a church organist. But her fresh start is interrupted by visions of a fiendish man. As the visions begin to occur more frequently, Mary finds herself drawn to the deserted carnival on the outskirts of town. The strangely alluring carnival may hold the secret to her tragic past.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, HBO MAX, Philo & 7 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix & AMC) & rent or buy from $2.00 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Vudu), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A dramatization of the Montreal Massacre of 1989 where several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor, Hoopla & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When legendary hunter Bob Rainsford is shipwrecked on the perilous reefs surrounding a mysterious island, he finds himself the guest of the reclusive and eccentric Count Zaroff. While he is very gracious at first, Zaroff eventually forces Rainsford and two other shipwreck survivors, brother and sister Eve and Martin Towbridge, to participate in a sadistic game of cat and mouse in which they are the prey and he is the hunter.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, HBO MAX, Epix & 2 others), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Tensions are high after a Danish freighter is captured and held for ransom by Somali pirates, leading to weeks of high-stakes negotiations – and an escalating potential for explosive violence.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla, Kanopy & Dox) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

What it's about: North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their attempt to scale the deadly North Face of the Eiger.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: The drama, the story of three childhood friends and a young woman who are torn apart in their fight for freedom, is billed as the first fully-financed film to come out of the Palestinian cinema industry.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: Wendy, a near-penniless drifter, is traveling to Alaska in search of work, and her only companion is her dog, Lucy. Already perilously close to losing everything, Wendy hits a bigger bump in the road when her old car breaks down and she is arrested for shoplifting dog food. When she posts bail and returns to retrieve Lucy, she finds that the dog is gone, prompting a frantic search for her pet.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Kanopy & Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror the Vietnam experience.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other) & stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

What it's about: When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Plex & 1 other), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Fandor, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: Amidst a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of schoolboys crash lands on a deserted island. With no adult survivors, the boys are forced to fend for themselves. At first they cooperate, but when the they split into two separate camps -- one led by the pragmatic Ralph and the other by militaristic Jack -- their society falls into disarray, leading to a disturbing examination of human nature and a chilling conclusion.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: Steve Russell is a small-town cop. Bored with his bland lifestyle, Russell turns to fraud as a means of shaking things up. Before long, Russell's criminal antics have landed him behind bars, where he encounters the charismatic Phillip Morris. Smitten, Russell devotes his entire life to being with Morris regardless of the consequences.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy & Cinemax), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Cinemax) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Fandor, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: In occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Google Play).

What it's about: After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Set in the year 2024 in post-apocalyptic America, 18-year old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, are scavengers in the desolate wilderness ravaged by World War IV, where survivors must battle for food, shelter, and sexual companionship in the desert-like wasteland. Vic and Blood eke out a meager existence, foraging for food and fighting gangs of cutthroats.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV, Vudu & 3 others), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla, Kanopy & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Microsoft).

What it's about: The little nomad girl, Nansal, finds a baby dog in the Mongolian veld, who becomes her best friend - against all rejections of her parents. A story about a Mongolian family of nomads - their traditional way of life and the rising call of the City.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM).

What it's about: Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (IMDb TV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Kanopy & Sundance Now) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A concentration camp survivor discovers her former torturer and lover working as a porter at a hotel in postwar Vienna. When the couple attempt to re-create their sadomasochistic relationship, his former SS comrades begin to stalk them.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: Masaki, a baseball player and gas-station attendant, gets into trouble with the local Yakuza and goes to Okinawa to get a gun to defend himself. There he meets Uehara, a tough gangster, who is in serious debt to the yakuza and planning revenge.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: In the not too distant future, two young women who live in a remote ancient forest discover the world around them is on the brink of an apocalypse. Informed only by rumor, they fight intruders, disease, loneliness & starvation.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime, Hoopla & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A woman inexplicably finds herself cut off from all human contact when an invisible, unyielding wall suddenly surrounds the countryside. Accompanied by her loyal dog Lynx, she becomes immersed in a world untouched by civilization and ruled by the laws of nature.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: An English slave trader is marooned on a remote tropical island, forced to fend for himself and deal with crushing loneliness.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, The Criterion Channel, Fandor & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Norway, 1204. A civil war between the birkebeiners —the king's men— and the baglers —supporters of the Norwegian aristocracy and the Church— ravages the country. Two men must protect a baby, the illegitimate son of King Håkon, who will be the future king and peacemaker, from those who want to kill him.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy & Warriors Gangsters) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: An Austrian military officer and roue' attempts to seduce the wife of a surgeon. The two men confront each other in a test of abilities that ends surprisingly.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Epix & Kanopy), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Epix) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: An allegorical comedy centered on two childhood sweethearts who seem destined for one another until the women of their isolated village, angered by male indifference toward the water shortage, go on a sex strike that threatens the young couple's first night of love.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PlutoTV) & stream on a subscription service (Fandor & Kanopy).

What it's about: The ambiguous suicide of a local beauty, weathergirl, cheese model, and Marilyn Monroe look-a-like finds an eager sleuth in David Rousseau, best-selling crime novelist. When Rousseau visits a remote Alps village for the reading of his friend's will he unwittingly, but irresistibly, gets caught in the tangled web of murder and small town politics in this off-beat mystery.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: After a terrible virus ravages human civilization, Ann finds herself living alone in a forest, foraging for supplies, and accompanied only by a radio that broadcasts a single transmission in French. Few animals even remain; the only survivors seem to be the roving hordes of infected creatures with a taste for human flesh. One fateful day, Ann crosses paths with two more survivors, Chris and Olivia. But after surviving on her own for so long, she struggles to relate to them and and their desire to settle down and start a new community.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: The Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago. A Neolithic clan leader must avenge the massacre of his people and theft of his holy shrine.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A woman who survived the brutal killing of her family as a child is forced to confront the events of that day.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (fuboTV, Showtime, Hoopla & 1 other), stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Film adaption of the novel by Jean Craighead George. A family movie made by Paramount Studios, the story revolves around thirteen-year old Sam Gribley (Teddy Eccles), a devotee of Thoreau, as many were back in the in 1960's. Sam decides to leave the city (set in Toronto) to spend a sabbatical in the Canadian woods and see if he can make it as a self-sufficient spirit after his parents promise a summer trip that doesn't pan out.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: For six female Holocaust survivors, liberation from the camps marked the beginning of a lifelong struggle.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: Three family members head deep into the woods for a hunting trip that doubles as a distraction from their troubles at home. When all of their gear is stolen, they turn on each other, but soon realize there are much more treacherous forces at work.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi, PlutoTV & Plex), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hoopla & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: When 12-year-old Ton transfers to an all-boys boarding school, he's taunted by his peers and terrified by their tales about the ghosts that inhabit the school. Ton is utterly miserable -- until he befriends a mysterious fellow pupil.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy).

What it's about: An old, traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village—and almost destroy each other.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a subscription service (Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Prime Video & Vudu).

What it's about: In the near future, after an unspecified holocaust, survivors are herded into prison camps. There, they are hunted for sport by the leaders of the camp. Paul, one of the newest prisoners, is determined not to go down as quietly as the others.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (PopcornFlix), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Shudder, Kanopy & 1 other) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (Prime Video & Microsoft).