Movies like The Revenant always go to great lengths in establishing nature as a truly dangerous adversary, but also make a point of proving that man is perhaps even more dangerous.
Alejandro Inarritu’s jaw-dropping epic sees Leonardo DiCaprio’s Hugh Glass abandoned and left for dead after a bear attack, and he battles alone through the wilderness to seek revenge.
Harsh conditions, life-threatening situations and human conflict all play a major role in these kinds of films, and we’ve curated ten of the best to satisfy your viewing needs.
10 Brutal Wilderness Movies Like The Revenant
1. Apocalypto (2006)
Mel Gibson should really direct more often, because at his best he’s one of the most visceral storytellers in the business, and Apocalypto might well be his best effort.
A Mayan hunter is captured along with his tribe, but he makes a daring escape and tries to make it back home to his wife and son while evading the bloodthirsty enemies on his trail.
The dialogue is sparse and spoken in an archaic language, but Gibson lets the visuals to the talking in a beautifully shot but unrelentingly brutal action-packed thriller.
2. Seraphim Falls (2006)
Movies like The Revenant don’t always have to be snow-capped stories, and David Von Ancken’s Seraphim Falls hits many of the same narrative and thematic beats in a much more sun-baked setting.
A former army officer is being pursued across Nevada’s Ruby Mountains by his old Civil War nemesis, who want to bring him to justice for an atrocity by any means necessary.
The grizzled charisma comes close to bursting through the screen thanks to leads Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson, and Seraphim Falls is a no-holds-barred throwback to classic Westerns.
3. Slow West (2015)
A lot of movies like The Revenant place the focus on a single character, but John MacLean’s Slow West is more of a two-hander, which ultimately benefits the story as a whole.
A teenager roams the wilds looking for his lost love, and a bounty hunter offers to aid him in his cause by serving as his bodyguard and guide, without revealing that his ulterior motives.
Michael Fassbender and Kodi Smit-McPhee make for a great central duo, and the slow-burning puts a fresh spin on familiar tropes that have been the bread and butter of the Western for years.
4. Bone Tomahawk (2015)
S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk is not for the faint of heart, making it a perfect companion piece to gripping if sometimes difficult to watch movies like The Revenant.
A veteran gun-slinging sheriff gathers a ragtag band of misfits to rescue three townsfolk from a band of cave-dwelling savages, but they find much more than they initially bargained for.
The first two acts follow the standard Western arc, but all hell breaks loose in the third as Bone Tomahawk turns itself inside out and morphs into a relentless blood-soaked horror.
5. The Grey (2011)
Although most movies like The Revenant tend to be period pieces, there’s no rule that says they can’t take place in the modern day.
Joe Carahan’s intense survival thriller finds Liam Neeson in charge of an ever-dwindling group of plane crash survivors as they battle against the elements and the pack of wolves following close behind.
The characters all have personalities instead of being there as nothing more than cannon fodder, and The Grey’s story has a lot more emotional complexity than you’d think, as well as the requisite action.
6. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Michael Mann’s historical epic delivers exactly what the title promises, as the remaining members of the titular tribe find themselves drawn into the French and Indian War.
A renegade scout captures two Englishwomen, forcing Daniel Day-Lewis’ Hawkeye into a dangerous rescue mission to try and safeguard the future of his people.
The sort of big, bold, sweeping epic that Hollywood doesn’t make any more, if you find movies like The Revenant to be a bit too heavy, The Last of the Mohicans is sheer entertainment.
7. The Finest Hours (2016)
Wilderness thrillers don’t have to be confined to land, and The Finest Hours is one of many movies like The Revenant that tells a survival story set on the unforgiving ocean.
Craig Gillespie directs the Disney blockbuster, that finds a storm-ravaged ship become the subject of a daring rescue mission as the weather conditions get increasingly treacherous.
Chris Pine, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster head up a youthful and charismatic cast in an old-fashioned adventure that wouldn’t have been out of place in the genre’s 1970s heyday.
8. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
Another seafaring survival story, Chris Hemsworth’s ship has been crippled following several battles with a massive whale, leaving the captain and his crew fighting for their very survival.
In the Heart of the Sea emphasizes the human aspect as opposed to putting the visuals at the forefront, as is the case with many movies like The Revenant.
Luckily, director Ron Howard has an ensemble that really sell the emotional stakes, with Hemsworth backed by Cillian Murphy, Benjamin Walker, Tom Holland and more.
9. The Way Back (2010)
Not to be confused with this year’s Ben Affleck basketball drama of the same name, Peter Weir’s World War II movie is an altogether different story of battling back from the brink of despair.
A hardy group of prisoners escape a Siberian labor camp, and embark on an arduous 4000 mile journey to safety that will force them to traverse the Himalayas on foot.
Weir definitely knows how to create a sweeping sense of spectacle, and the cast do a great job with their roles in what may or may not be a true story depending on what account you believe.
10. The Hunted (2003)
Movies like The Revenant don’t always have to be awards-baiting prestige dramas, and The Hunted is happy to throw two great actors in a battle to the death and see how it pans out.
Veteran director William Friedkin’s big budget B-movie pits Tommy Lee Jones’ tracker hunting down Benicio Del Toro’s assassin through the dense forestry of an Oregon state park.
That’s about the extent of the plot, and some excellent hand to hand combat sequences along with two top tier actors on great form make The Hunted an underrated gem worth checking out.