9 Deserted Island Movies That Make You Question Your Survival Skills

It’s funny how far I’ve come: from the young me making my family cancel a cruise vacation after watching Swiss Family Robinson because I was scared to death about pirate attacks and being stranded on an island, to now, daydreaming about escaping to an unknown deserted island, leaving behind all this adulting for good. Until I can make up my mind whether I want to stay or run, movies have my back.

The best deserted island movies are not just stories of sun-soaked, sandy adventure surrounded by endless waves. These castaway narratives often explore complex themes, capturing the primal mix of survival, solitude, human connection, and the occasional whack-in-the-head epiphany.

In this article, we’ve listed some of the best deserted island movies that are cinematic escapes to the middle of nowhere.

Best Deserted Island Movies

1. Cast Away on the Moon (2009)

Lee Hae-jun’s Cast Away on the Moon follows a hapless man, buried in debt and dumped by his girlfriend, who decides to jump into the Han River to end his life, but he wakes up alone on a deserted island in the middle of the Seoul River. He begins to enjoy living away from the city’s chaos and worries when life takes a turn when he gets to know Kin Jung-yeon, a reclusive young woman addicted to social media, who spots him through her camera, and the two begin talking via messages in bottles and sand writings. Before they realize, two isolated individuals have freed each other from their respective self-imposed captivity and alienation. Cast Away on the Moon is a story that presents human connection as the ultimate remedy to all human woes.

2. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

If survival on an island is your thing, you cannot miss this 1932 classic, as it takes the thrills to a whole other level by turning survival into a cat-and-mouse chase. Directed by Irving Pichel and Ernest B. Schoedsack, the narrative follows a group of passengers of a luxury yacht who are stranded on a remote island, where a psychotic hunter turns them into his prey. Based on a short story by Richard Connell back in 1924, the movie is notable for its unwavering suspense that doesn’t let you breathe!

3. Cast Away (2000)

Robert Zemeckis’ Cast Away is widely considered to be a pioneer in the deserted-island genre, with Tom Hanks and Wilson, the volleyball brilliantly shouldering the narrative between themselves, in this quintessential story of survival, self-discovery, and transformation. Cast Away revolves around Chuck Noland, a FedEx employee who gets stranded on a deserted island for four years after surviving a plane crash. After he is rescued, he returns to his past life as a changed man.

4. The Red Turtle (2016)

Michaël Dudok de Wit’s The Red Turtle is one of the best Studio Ghibli creations that follows a castaway stranded on a deserted island and a huge, mysterious red turtle who won’t let him leave. Eventually, the man realizes that he shares a deeper connection with the turtle and the island. The Red Turtle ditches dialogue to double down on visual and musical cues that transport you into a world of mystery and magic.

5. Swiss Army Man (2016)

A surrealist take on human connection through a deserted island narrative, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s Swiss Army Man follows Hank (Paul Dano), a man stranded on a deserted island who comes across an enchanted corpse (Daniel Radcliffe) and soon becomes best friends with him. The film defies nature’s norms, relying on humor and a dose of the bizarre to depict a heartfelt and surreal adventure between a mortal and an immortal. If you’re a fan of absurdism, you’re sure to like this one!

6. Triangle of Sadness (2022)

An excellent satire about how wealth incapacitates you, Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness revolves around the shipwreck of a luxury cruise, which leaves its filthy rich passengers stranded on a deserted island. With no survival skills whatsoever, these elites are left to die until Abigail, a cleaning woman on the cruise, takes charge to lead the survivors to safety. The narrative is drenched in twisted humor, mirroring the vicious cycle of power and control that quietly exists in our society.

7. Sweetheart (2019)

J.D. Dillard’s Sweetheart is a survival story, but with a touch of monster horror. The narrative follows Jenn, who ends up stranded on a small tropical island, all alone. In addition to surviving the nature and wilderness by day, Jenn finds herself battling with a mysterious, vicious force that comes to the island to haunt her each night. Finally, she is reconciled with her boyfriend and another survivor, but when Jenn tells them about the monster, they refuse to believe her, further complicating her life by denying help out of sheer disbelief.

Dillard’s sea monster represents the gender and racial discrimination that a Black woman like Jenn faces every day in her life within the civilization. The cyclical arrival of the monster to haunt Jenn becomes a metaphor for her cyclical trauma, which victims such as her often have to face all alone because no one would believe them. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking, female-centric, deserted island movie to watch this weekend, this is it.

8. Madagascar (2005)

Directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, Madagascar is an animated movie for children, yet it can be a real eye-opener for adults, too. The narrative follows a group of wild animals, who had spent all their life in a New York Zoo, as they end up in the jungles of Madagascar and are forced to adapt to the wild ways. Being tended all throughout their life, these animals struggle for a while to come out of their comfort zone, until they finally rediscover themselves in their natural habitat.

A box office hit on its release, Madagascar is notable for its striking animation and lucid exploration of universal themes of friendship and unity, identity and self-discovery through memorable characters such as Martin the Zebra, Alex the Lion, and Gloria the sassy hippopotamus. I even had a Martin plushie when I was a kid!

9. Extortion (2017)

A movie that’s quite underrated and quenches my adult dark soul is Phil Volken’s Extortion. It gives me the creeps because the premise feels eerily relatable, as if I’m being made to examine a gray area in morality that’s best left unexplored. The narrative follows a family who end up on an island after their Caribbean family vacation takes a disastrous turn, leaving them at the mercy of a cold-blooded fisherman, who sees this as an opportunity to make money and make ends meet.

Two providers are battling it out for their family, but only one is willing to go that extra mile, even if it means doing the wrong thing. This deserted island movie is an anxiety-riddled journey that only becomes more and more dreadful with each passing minute.

Which of these movies have you watched already? Comment down your favorite movie if it made it to this list!