--- title: "The Survivalist" year: 2015 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-survivalist" fi1m_id: "the-survivalist" imdb_id: "tt2580382" tmdb_id: 329004 wikidata_id: "Q22674244" fi1m_score: 77 critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-10-02T23:12:49.484982+00:00" updated: "2026-10-02T23:13:01.792614+00:00" region: "RO" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Survivalist (2015) Directed by Stephen Fingleton · 1h 44m · Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller ## Identity The Survivalist - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-survivalist - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-survivalist - **IMDb ID:** tt2580382 - **TMDB ID:** 329004 - **Wikidata ID:** Q22674244 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2580382/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/329004, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22674244 **Fi1m score: 77** · Critics 73 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* A man, a shotgun, a vegetable patch and two guests who have already counted the vegetables > Stephen Fingleton’s debut strips the end of the world down to a cabin, a vegetable patch and three people who cannot afford to trust each other. Lean and properly tense, though its people stay thin and its ending is more cryptic than it needs to be. ## Synopsis Some years after the oil ran out and the population fell with it, a man (Martin McCann) lives alone in a cabin in a forest with a shotgun, a water barrel and a small plot of vegetables that he guards and tends with equal care. He has no name and almost nothing to say. His days are routine: check the snares, weed the rows, wash, watch the trees. Then two women walk out of them. Kathryn (Olwen Fouéré) and her daughter Milja (Mia Goth) are starving and offer seeds in exchange for a meal and a night’s shelter. He refuses. Kathryn offers Milja instead. He accepts, and the three of them settle into a cabin built for one, each watching the others eat and sleep and waiting to see who will move first. ## Review Stephen Fingleton’s first feature opens with a graph. One line is the oil the world pumps out, the other is the number of people living on it; both rise together, then both fall off a cliff, and the film begins down the far slope. There is a man, a cabin, a vegetable patch and a shotgun, and for the opening stretch of its 104 minutes nobody says a word. Fingleton, who also wrote it, has set out to make a post-apocalypse film with the apocalypse taken out, and the result is lean, tense and worth your evening if you can sit still for it. Damien Elliott shoots the forest as it is, green and brown and damp, with light that looks as if it came through the canopy rather than off a lamp. He keeps the frame tight, so the cabin feels like a box with three people in it and the trees outside feel like a wall. Dick Lunn builds the cabin out of scavenged planks and plastic sheeting, with a floor so small the shotgun is always within reach of whoever is nearest. Susan Scott puts everyone in the same grey wool; nobody here owns a second outfit. Giorgio Ferrero and Rodolfo Mongitore keep the music to a low hum and leave it out for long stretches, so the loudest thing in most scenes is a twig. Martin McCann plays the man as pure routine: he eats standing up, sleeps with the gun and checks the tree line before he does anything else. He says a few hundred words in the whole film and makes most of them count. Olwen Fouéré’s Kathryn is the hard one, a mother who will trade her daughter for a bowl of food and does not blink while she does it, and Fouéré plays her so that we can never tell whether she is sorry. Mia Goth gives Milja a flat, watchful face that could be fear or calculation or both, and the film depends on our not knowing which. Here is what it did to us. The first meal, with the women eating and the man sitting opposite with the shotgun across his knees, is a scene of almost nothing: spoons, chewing, a glance at the door. We were tense to the point of discomfort, and when it ended without incident we realised we had been holding ourselves off the back of the sofa. Fingleton has worked out that in this world a stranger is a calorie problem before they are a person, and he lets that arithmetic run under every scene. Later, a single moving shot crosses the cabin and changes who holds the power without a cut, and Mark Towns is right to leave it alone. It is not all this good. The man keeps seeing a figure in the trees, and these visions feel like a device borrowed from a more ordinary film. The three characters remain what they are at the start, and a film this spare needs them to grow or to give something away, and they do neither. The second half brings people out of the woods and takes a turn we will not describe. It is well handled, but the final stretch is more cryptic than it needs to be, and we left wanting one more plain scene where the film had settled for a meaningful look. Most post-apocalypse films show the end of the world. This one shows a vegetable patch and lets us work out the rest. *The Road* (2009) had a father, a son and a dead continent to walk across; Fingleton has three people and perhaps an acre, and he gets more fear out of the acre. The film belongs with the quiet, grown-up end of the genre. Most critics have been kind to it and we are with them. It carries an 18 certificate and earns it, not through gore but through a few scenes of bodily matter-of-factness that will trouble some viewers more than violence would. Watch it with the lights off and the phone in another room, because a film with this little dialogue will not wait for you to look up. *Fi1m score 77, published 2 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics admire The Survivalist, and the spread is narrow: nine of the twelve reviews are positive and none is outright negative. The praise gathers around Stephen Fingleton’s direction, which several reviews call an assured debut, and around the film’s restraint. Critics repeatedly single out the framing and the cinematography, which they say keep the woods tense even when little is happening, and the performances, with reviewers noting how much the actors convey through gesture and silence rather than dialogue. Martin McCann’s lead performance draws particular praise. The reservations are about character and pace. Several reviews find the people thinly drawn or hard to like, the ending cryptic, and the restraint pushed further than it needs to go. Little White Lies thinks it tightly made but short on originality. The one firmly unimpressed voice is Collider, which finds it bleak and dull and objects to how Milja’s dependence on the Survivalist is handled. ## Straight answers **Is The Survivalist worth watching?** *The Survivalist* is worth watching for anyone who can sit still through a lean, nearly wordless thriller about three people and a vegetable patch, and we scored it 77. Stephen Fingleton's debut is properly tense, though its characters stay thin and the final stretch is more cryptic than it needs to be. **How long is The Survivalist, and what is it rated?** *The Survivalist* runs 1h 44m. It is a drama and science fiction film. **Where can I watch The Survivalist in Romania?** *The Survivalist* is not on any streaming or rental service in Romania at the moment. It is available in 7 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is The Survivalist, and is it suitable for children?** *The Survivalist* carries an 18 certificate and is not suitable for children. The rating is earned less through gore than through a few scenes of bodily matter-of-factness that will trouble some viewers more than violence would, and the sustained tension, with a shotgun always in reach, is what makes it hard to watch rather than any body count. **How does The Survivalist compare to The Quiet Earth?** *The Survivalist* is the tighter and more frightening of the two, while [*The Quiet Earth*](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-earth) is the stranger and more expansive. Geoff Murphy's film is at its best when its scientist has the whole planet to himself and weakens once other people arrive; Fingleton's film starts with other people arriving and gets its fear from an acre of forest and three people who cannot afford to trust each other. **What should I watch after The Survivalist?** After *The Survivalist*, try [*The Quiet Earth*](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-earth) (1985, Fi1m 78): A New Zealand man wakes alone in the world and slowly loses his composure. Then [*Leave No Trace*](https://film.one/film/leave-no-trace) (2018, Fi1m 88): A father and daughter living in the woods by choice, no apocalypse required; and [*Threads*](https://film.one/film/threads) (1984, Fi1m 92): Sheffield after the bomb; makes this film’s forest look like a weekend away. ### Reviews we read (12) - **IndieWire**, Eric Kohn (B+): Kohn finds the film hypnotic and suspenseful, despite underdeveloped characters and occasional vignettes that feel piled up. He praises its precise framing and textured landscape for turning the story into a fascinating cinematic puzzle. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/tribeca-review-riveting-the-survivalist-is-mad-max-in-the-countryside-62885/) - **Radio Times**, Damon Wise (4/5): The critic praises the film as a stark, realistic take on societal collapse. Its restrained approach is singled out as a corrective to more garish dystopian films. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-07qihf/the-survivalist/) - **The Guardian**, Mark Kermode (4/5): Kermode finds the film an impressive, unsettling debut and a beautifully bleak dystopian drama. He particularly praises its visual storytelling and the performers’ ability to convey character through gesture rather than dialogue. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/14/the-survivalist-mark-kermode-review) - **Time Out**, David Clack (4/5): The critic calls the film an effective, ambiguous post-apocalyptic drama. They praise Stephen Fingleton’s work as an impressive directorial debut. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-survivalist) - **The AV Club**, Katie Rife (B): Rife finds the minimalist post-apocalyptic thriller rewarding for viewers who can embrace its slow, naturalistic pace, though it is not for those seeking action spectacle. She praises its thoughtful cinematography and character development, especially a fluid shot that shifts the balance of power in a scene. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-survivalist-is-post-apocalyptic-action-at-its-most-1798191363) - **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (76/100, inferred): Walsh finds the dystopian thriller riveting and morally confounding, despite its excessive restraint and cryptic resolutions. She praises the meticulous cinematography for sustaining a sense of tense foreboding. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-mini-survivalist-review-20170518-story.html) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, THR Staff (75/100, inferred): The review finds the film an assured, starkly effective debut with a lean life-or-death atmosphere. It praises the performances and the way silence conveys the characters’ ambivalence and hard-won caution. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/survivalist-tribeca-review-789013/) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (70/100, inferred): Newman finds it a harsh, unsentimental and intensely physical post-apocalyptic film, with empathy persisting beneath its brutality. He praises the performances and the striking contrast between the calm woods and the hard work of survival. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/survivalist-review/) - **Screen Daily**, Graham Fuller (64/100, inferred): The accessible page does not reveal the critic’s verdict. It also gives no specific praise or complaint. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-survivalist-review/5086626.article) - **Little White Lies**, David Jenkins (4/3/3): Jenkins finds the film impressive and tightly made, though short on originality and held back by a less engaging lead. He praises its lean storytelling and claustrophobic close-up style. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-survivalist) - **HeyUGuys** (75/100, inferred): The review finds the film captivating and haunting, despite some contrived visions and unnecessary Biblical references. It especially praises Martin McCann’s performance and the film’s tense, raw portrayal of survival. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/the-survivalist-review/) - **Collider**, Perri Nemiroff (C): Nemiroff finds the film bleak, dull, and unentertaining, despite acknowledging its grounded approach. She singles out the unlikable characters and the distracting depiction of Milja’s dependence on the Survivalist for food and shelter. [Read](https://collider.com/the-survivalist-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Stephen Fingleton - **Director:** Stephen Fingleton - **Writer:** Stephen Fingleton - **Cinematography:** Damien Elliott - **Editor:** Mark Towns - **Music:** Giorgio Ferrero, Rodolfo Mongitore - **Production design:** Dick Lunn - **Costume design:** Susan Scott - **Producer:** David Gilbery, Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones - **Cast:** Martin McCann as The Survivalist; Mia Goth as Milja; Olwen Fouéré as Kathryn; Douglas Russell as Snatcher; Andrew Simpson as Augustus; Ryan McParland as Crossbow Raider; Hussina Raja as Watchwoman; Ciaran Flynn as Watchman - **Runtime:** 1h 44m - **First release (the US):** 15 April 2015 - **Genres:** Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller - **Budget:** $1 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH66dngiW0Y ## Where to watch in Romania Not streaming, renting or buying in Romania at the last check. Also available in: AT, AU, CA, CH, DE, NZ, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Time of the Wolf* (2003): Haneke’s collapse film, set mostly in the dark, where nobody explains anything either - *Z for Zachariah* (2015): Three people, one green valley, and a love triangle in place of a shotgun - *The Quiet Earth* (1985), Fi1m 78: A New Zealand man wakes alone in the world and slowly loses his composure — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-earth.md) - *Leave No Trace* (2018), Fi1m 88: A father and daughter living in the woods by choice, no apocalypse required — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/leave-no-trace.md) - *Threads* (1984), Fi1m 92: Sheffield after the bomb; makes this film’s forest look like a weekend away — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/threads.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-survivalist