Best movies like The Donner Party
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on the real events of The Donner Party tragedy. The Donner Party was a group of California-bound American settlers caught up in the western expansion of the 1840s. After becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada during the winter of 1846-1847, a number of the trapped settlers joined together in a final effort to reach California and organize a rescue party.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: psychological, disturbing, serious, realistic, mysterious, suspenseful, bleak, wild
Best tv shows and movies like The Donner Party (2009):
Similar in 85%
The Promise (1999)
Plot Summary:
Lisa's husband, Bill, abuses her. With her sister's encouragement, she takes their three kids and leaves her husband. Bill keeps interfering with Lisa's attempts at a new life. She gets an order of protection against him, but the police can't do anything else to help her. One night Bill breaks into Lisa's apartment and shoots her. As she dies in the hospital, Lisa asks her sister to promise to take care of her three children. The sister takes the kids into her home, but Bill is still on the loose, an ever present threat.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 228
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
Boxing Day (2012)
Plot Summary:
A struggling, indebted business man leaves his family immediately after Christmas to pursue a lucrative property deal that could solve all of his problems: buying foreclosed properties from banks at a fraction of their value, refi tting them for a minimum cost, and then selling them for a large profi t. He hires a local chauffeur for 24 hours to drive him around the mountainous area but, as night sets in and the weather worsens, the car is trapped on an icy road and the men face an uncertain fate.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 200
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, atmospheric, thought provoking, serious, clever, gloomy, road movie, minimal cast, modern day adaptation
Similar in 87%
Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of baby Jessica McClure who fell into a drain pipe in her back yard while playing. She was stuck in the pipe about 20 to 30 feet down and it took rescuers 58 hours to get her out. There was fear that if they shook the earth too much with machinery they could cause Jessica to fall further down and die.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 862
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: emotional, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Waterborne (2005)
Plot Summary:
Heera Bhatti, an American-Sikh, runs a corner store in Los Angeles with the help of her son, Vikram, and Gulu. She does not approve of Vikram's Caucasian girlfriend, Lillian, and would prefer that Vikram marry a Punjabi girl, but Vikram has made up his mind. Then the lives of all Californians are turned upside down when one morning eight people are dead after drinking contaminated tap water.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 777
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful, bleak, apocalyptic, captivating, intercultural, inter cultural
Similar in 79%
The Quispe Girls (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story occurred in 1974, this is the tale of sisters Justa, Lucia, and Luciana Quispe, sheperds in the Chilean altiplano who lead a solitary life. A visitor brings news about a law that might change their way of living. This event forces the women to question their existence and relentlessly brings them to a tragic end.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 111
Genere: Drama
Country: Chile, France, Argentina
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, bleak
Similar in 81%
Blackout (2007)
Plot Summary:
BLACKOUT takes you inside the personal journey of what went down and what it was really like in Brooklyn, NY on August 14. It examines the nature of man to take advantage of his own fellow man outside of normal conditions, in times of weakness and vulnerability.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 609
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, psychological, bleak
Similar in 85%
The King Is Alive (2000)
Plot Summary:
Stranded in the heat of a barren African desert, eleven bus-passengers shelter in the remnants of an abandoned town. As rescue grows more remote by the day and anxiety deepens, an idea emerges: why not stage a play. However the choice of King Lear only manages to plunge this disparate group of travelers into turmoil as they struggle to overcome both nature's wrath and their own morality.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Norway, USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: bleak, stylized, melancholic, atmospheric, psychological, independent film, offbeat, serious, realistic, road movie
Similar in 75%
Ordeal (1973)
Plot Summary:
Left to die in the desert by his wife and her lover, a businessman fights to survive and get his revenge.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 236
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 80%
Survive! (1976)
Plot Summary:
Sixteen plane crash survivors stranded in the Andes turn to cannibalism to stay alive. Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 578
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: Mexico
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: disturbing, controversial, grindhouse, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic
Similar in 84%
Lost Holiday: The Jim & Suzanne Shemwell Story (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Idaho, an estranged couple are trapped in a blizzard while on vacation just before Christmas.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 297
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 90%
Siberia, Monamour (2011)
Plot Summary:
Siberia. Late autumn. In taiga, in the deserted village there lives an old man Ivan & his seven-year-old grandson Leshia. A pack of feral dogs devours everything alive in the neighborhood. One of these dogs is Leshia's best friend. Sometimes their relative uncle Yuri brings food to them. Once on his way back from Ivan's village uncle Yuri is attacked by dogs & perishes. Ivan & Leshia stay without supply. Once Leshia witnesses Ivan shooting at 'his' dog & runs away. The old Man finds him in a dry well, but he fails to get him out on his own. Ivan sets out through taiga in search of help. Now the dogs are hunting him... And the boy is waiting for his father.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Russia
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: touching, gloomy, sentimental, serious, captivating, bleak, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
First Winter (2012)
Plot Summary:
When winter begins, life is serene for a group of new-age Brooklynites living in a remote country farmhouse. Sex, drugs, yoga, and organic cooking absorb their days, safely tucked away from the stresses of urban life. But when a blackout of apocalyptic proportions strands them with no heat and no electricity during the coldest winter on record, their utopian commune is breached by anxiety and their idyllic harmony begins to lose its tune. As time wears on and the food supply dwindles, power struggles, jealousy, and desire threaten the group's ability to work together in order to survive.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, atmospheric, serious, realistic, mumblecore, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 75%
Thirst (2010)
Plot Summary:
After wrecking their car in the middle of the desert, two couples find themselves stranded with few supplies. When the heat intensifies and their precious water supply dwindles, the frantic friends begin betraying each other in the hopes of survival. Their civility rapidly deteriorates as they begin to experience overwhelming fear and desperation in this tense drama starring Lacey Chabert, Tygh Runyan, Brandon Quinn and Mercedes McNab.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Drama, Horror
Country: Canada
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, psychological, realistic, suspenseful, suspense, independent film
Similar in 79%
Snowbound: The Jim and Jennifer Stolpa Story (1994)
Plot Summary:
Two thousand miles from home, Jim and Jennifer Stolpa (with baby Clayton) lose their way and are stranded in an endless wilderness of deep snow, battling for survival against the elements. Using only meager supplies and resourcefulness, the young couple struggles to keep themselves and their infant son alive in a frozen shelter while awaiting rescue. Realizing they won't be found, Jim ultimately strikes out on a courageous 50-mile mission, determined to reach help and return to save his loved ones in this exciting and moving true story. Written by Anonymous.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 717
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 86%
Redland (2009)
Plot Summary:
As a family struggles to survive in rural isolation during the Great Depression, their daughter's secret affair begins a journey into the unknown.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 100
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, rough, serious, disturbing, mystic, tense, bleak, realistic, independent film, epic
Similar in 80%
Held Hostage (2009)
Plot Summary:
Michelle a single mother is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank which is the only option she has to saving her only child's life while they are both wired to explode.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 709
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic
Similar in 75%
Endless Night (2015)
Plot Summary:
Greenland, 1908. Josephine, self-confident and bold wife of famous Arctic explorer Robert Peary, embarks on a dangerous journey in pursuit of her husband who is seeking a route to the North Pole. But Josephine is also naïve and ignores warnings from experienced polar travellers about the onset of winter. At great sacrifice the expedition reaches Peary's base camp. Josephine refuses to go home and wants to spend winter in the hut. Only the young Inuit woman Allaka, who lives in an igloo and knows about the cold, stays with her. As the long nights draw nearer, Josephine realises she has more in common with this woman from a different world than she thought.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain, France, Bulgaria
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, psychological, tense, realistic, stylized
Similar in 76%
The Wild Ones (2012)
Plot Summary:
Five juvenile delinquents break out of jail and attempt to make their way to a house in the Mendoza foothills of Argentina.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 239
Genere: Drama
Country: Argentina, Netherlands
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, captivating, bleak
Similar in 85%
Time of the Wolf (2003)
Plot Summary:
When Anna and her family arrive at their holiday home, they find it occupied by strangers. This confrontation is just the beginning of a painful learning process.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: France, Austria, Germany
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, bleak, atmospheric, intense, apocalyptic, suspenseful, road movie, dark, stylized
Similar in 79%
Against the Sun (2014)
Plot Summary:
A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, psychological, serious, realistic, minimal cast, independent film, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Gerry (2002)
Plot Summary:
Two friends named Gerry become lost in the desert after taking a wrong turn. Their attempts to find their way home only lead them into further trouble.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA, Argentina
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: surreal, minimal cast, art house, enigmatic, melancholic, disturbing, captivating, visual, mindfuck, independent film
Similar in 84%
The Skin of the Wolf (2017)
Plot Summary:
Martinón is the last inhabitant of Auzal, a village in the mountains where he lives in communion with nature. He only goes down to the valleys twice a year to trade and to buy provisions. But one day he’s convinced to take a wife, a decision intended to soften his calloused soul—but in some ways his real struggle is only just beginning.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: Spain
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: touching, bleak, suspense, realistic, serious, suspenseful, intense
Similar in 90%
The Old Man (2012)
Plot Summary:
This is a survival story - a Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea' as if written for our days.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 774
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Kazakhstan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, suspense, psychological, tense
Similar in 80%
To Brave Alaska (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young couple and their dog struggle to survive in Alaska.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 588
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Alive (1993)
Plot Summary:
The amazing, true story of a Uruguayan rugby team's plane that crashed in the middle of the Andes mountains, and their immense will to survive and pull through alive, forced to do anything and everything they could to stay alive on meager rations and through the freezing cold.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 60000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: realistic, inspirational, emotional, disturbing, suspense, sad, suspenseful, intense, breathtaking, exciting
Similar in 89%
Zero Kelvin (1995)
Plot Summary:
Larsen, an aspiring poet in '20s Oslo, leaves his girlfriend to spend a year as a trapper in East Greenland. There he is teamed with a seemingly rough old sailor/trapper, Randbæk, and a scientist, Holm. Trapped in a tiny hut together as the Arctic winter sets in, a complex and intense love/hate relationship develops between Randbæk and Larsen, who are more similar than either would like to admit. A powerful psychological and physical drama set against stunningly bleak Arctic scenery.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Norway, Sweden
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: psychological, philosophical, atmospheric, neurotic, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, erotic
Similar in 78%
Scream of Stone (1991)
Plot Summary:
A meeting of two world famous climbers, one an experienced mountaineer the other a sport climber, and a journalist (Ivan) results in a bet on which of the two is the best climber. Roger (the mountaineering expert) states that Martin (the sport climber) wouldn't survive a day on a 'real' climbing expedition, although he is considered to be the world's best sport climber (having just won an indoor 'world championship,' an event depicted in the opening scene). They plan to climb 'Cerro Torre,' in the Patagonia region of South America, near the Argentinian/Chilean border, one of the world's most difficult mountains, especially considering the extreme weather conditions common to the area.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Argentina, UK, South Africa
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, poliziottesco
Similar in 78%
Courage (2009)
Plot Summary:
Jason Priestley (TV's "Beverly Hills, 90210") and Andrea Roth star in this inspirational adventure story about courage, love and the power of family. Aspiring author Robert (Priestly) organizes a quick getaway with his wife and daughter designed to rebuild their estranged relationship with his daughter, but when a powerful storm hits they are forced to make a crash landing on the ominously named Bear Island. With Robert seriously injured and no way to reach the mainland, the three castaways find that they must rely on their faith -- and each other -- to survive the ordeal.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 284
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, realistic, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 81%
Ravenous (1999)
Plot Summary:
Upon receiving reports of missing persons at Fort Spencer, a remote Army outpost on the Western frontier, Capt. John Boyd investigates. After arriving at his new post, Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who recounts a horrifying tale of a wagon train murdered by its supposed guide -- a vicious U.S. Army colonel gone rogue. Fearing the worst, the regiment heads out into the wilderness to verify the gruesome claims.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Horror, Western
Country: UK, Czech Republic, Mexico, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: disturbing, dark comedy, scary, tense, suspenseful, black comedy, bloody, psychological, cult classic, atmospheric
Similar in 81%
The Snow Walker (2003)
Plot Summary:
A bush pilot in nothern Canada who with the aid of modernity thinks he can handle it all & knows it all. After reluctantly agreeing to transport a local indian girl to a medical facility his light plane crashes & they have to survive whilst finding their way back to civilization. Along the journey the man finds a new respect for the native ways as they battle to survive the elements.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: emotional, serious, sentimental, breathtaking, realistic, compassionate, touching, heartbreaking, sad, scenic