EDITOR’S NOTE: Survival was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, November 17, 1979 at 1:00 a.m., Saturday, March 21, 1981 at 1:00 a.m. and Saturday, September 4, 1982 at 1:00 a.m.
When it comes to 70s family wilderness movies, you expect rough cinematography, slightly stressed-out animal wrangling and a family stranded far from the nearest payphone. Survival—released through Christian regional distributors like Russ Doughten Films—checks every single one of those boxes right out of the gate, then twists the dial straight into Sunday school territory.
The Ryan family experiences every air passenger’s worst nightmare when their small plane goes down over a high-desert mesa in California. With no food, zero radio contact and a severely injured crew, they’re left stranded at the mercy of the elements. Meanwhile, down in the valley, the local sheriff and his deputy are hunting a rogue, bloodthirsty cougar that’s been terrorizing local livestock and wildlife.
For the first twenty minutes, Survival delivers surprisingly effective regional thriller vibes. The early cougar attacks are reasonably well-staged, leaning into genuine tension and solid wild-animal stunts. When the two storylines begin to align—with young twelve-year-old Mike Ryan setting off alone into the scrub brush to find help while being stalked by the wounded killer cat—you think you’re in for a tight, man-versus-nature nail-biter.
Then the scripture kicks in.
While faith-based themes are a staple of 1970s regional family-in-peril cinema, Survival drops all pretense of subtlety past the halfway mark. Scripture isn’t just integrated into the characters’ inner resolve; it takes over the script entirely. Dialogue halts for long, repetitive preachments that derail whatever momentum the wilderness-survival aspect had. The physical danger of heat stroke, dehydration and a predatory big cat takes a back seat to long existential monologues and heavy-handed moralizing.
Survival ends up an oddity: part gritty 70s creature-in-the-brush thriller, part evangelical lecture. It makes sense, as director Donald W. Thompson and co-writer Russell S. Doughten Jr. also made the A Thief in the Night series. Those make this look like a fun jaunt by comparison.
You can watch this on Tubi.
