There are few cinematic subgenres capable of making your palms sweat more than a survival thriller, which essentially takes some of the worst fears imaginable for any person and throws them onto the screen complete with insurmountable odds, brushes with death, and all sorts of nightmare scenarios. It may not be the finest effort to emerge from the wilderness, but 2017’s Jungle still does a damn good job in creating nerve-shredding tension.
Led by Daniel Radcliffe once again proving himself capable of delivering the goods in almost any setting, the true-life story finds the actor as Yossi Ghinsberg, who found himself stranded in the inhospitable Amazon rainforest staring certain death in the face. He wasn’t too keen on the adventure in the first place, and it’s a highly unfortunate way of being proven right.
Director Greg McLean’s background is in horror, and the brains behind the acclaimed Australian efforts Wolf Creek and Rogue applies many similar themes to Jungle in terms of creating an altogether different kind of terror. The end product wasn’t universally acclaimed or wildly successful at the box office, but it’s got enough in the tank to keep at-home audiences on the edge of their seats.
As per FlixPatrol, Jungle has hacked through the dense undergrowth of the streaming charts to emerge bleary-eyed into the daylight, taking a spot on the platform’s global viewership rankings. Radcliffe’s excellent performance anchors the entire narrative, and it’s another reminder that the star shed any stigmas left over from his decade-long association with Harry Potter a long time ago.
