Films 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death  

Ranker Film
625 votes 140 voters 7.8k views 21 items

There are no higher stakes than a fight to the death. Whether it's hand-to-hand combat, a knife fight, or a duel with pistols, death battles push film characters to their very limits. The top fight to the death movies feature dangerous scenarios where it's every man for himself. This is a list of fight to the death movies featuring everything from Bloodsport to Battle Royale to Gladiator.

What titles will you find on this list of films featuring fights to the death? If you're a fan of young adult fiction, you might vote The Hunger Games to the top. This series captivated movie-goers as Katniss Everdeen fought to keep her loved ones safe by entering a bloody and brutal tournament. The Kill Bill movies offered scores of breathtaking fight-to-the-death scenes, splashed in director Quentin Tarantino's signature bright colors and inventive cuts. The Running Man, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name, features Ben Richards using cunning and creativity to evade the deadly aim of the stalkers hunting him on a gladiator game show. Other good films featured on this top fight to the death movies list include The Naked Prey, Death Race, and The Killing Room.

Do you have a favorite death battle movie? Give the best films a thumbs up and please add any good life or death movies that are missing.

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Kill Bill Volume 1 is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Kill Bill Volume 1 Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Quentin Tarantino Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is a 2003 action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.

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Battle Royale is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Battle Royale Beat Kitano, Chiaki Kuriyama, Kou Shibasaki Battle Royale is a 2000 Japanese action thriller film adapted from the 1999 novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. It is the final film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, the screenplay written by ...more

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The Hunger Games is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Hunger Games Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth The Hunger Games is a 2012 American dystopian science fiction adventure film directed by Gary Ross, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins. In a dystopian post-apocalyptic future in the nation of ...more

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Gladiator is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Gladiator Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Michael Sheen Gladiator is a 2000 American-British epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, ...more

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Kill Bill Volume 2 is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Kill Bill Volume 2 Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Samuel L. Jackson Kill Bill Volume 2 is a 2004 martial arts action film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the second of two volumes that were released several months apart. It was originally ...more

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The Condemned is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Condemned Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Manu Bennett The Condemned is a 2007 American action film written and directed by Scott Wiper. The film stars Steve Austin, Vinnie Jones, Robert Mammone, Madeleine West and Rick Hoffman. The film centers on ...more

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The Raid: Redemption is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Raid: Redemption Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Victoria The Raid: Redemption is a 2011 Indonesian martial arts action film written and directed by Welsh filmmaker Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais. This is the second collaboration of Evans and ...more

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The Running Man is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Running Man Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Brown, Jesse Ventura The Running Man is a 1987 American science fiction action film loosely based on the 1982 novel The Running Man, written by Stephen King and published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. ...more

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Death Race is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Death Race Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Natalie Martinez Death Race is a 2008 American science fiction action thriller film produced, written, and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and starring Jason Statham. Though referred to as a remake of the 1975 ...more

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Bloodsport is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Bloodsport Jean-Claude Van Damme, Forest Whitaker, Bolo Yeung Bloodsport is a 1988 American martial arts film directed by Newt Arnold, and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roy Chiao, Donald Gibb and Leah Ayres. The film is partly based on unverified claims ...more

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Gamer is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Gamer Gerard Butler, Ludacris, Michael C. Hall Gamer is a 2009 American science fiction action film written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. The film stars Gerard Butler as a participant in an online game in which ...more

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The Quick and the Dead is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Quick and the Dead Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 western film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. The story focuses on "The Lady", a ...more

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The Killing Room is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Killing Room Nick Cannon, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Stormare The Killing Room is a 2009 psychological thriller film directed by Jonathan Liebesman and starring Chloë Sevigny, Nick Cannon, and Timothy Hutton. It premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film ...more

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Death Race 2000 is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Death Race 2000 Sylvester Stallone, David Carradine, Mary Woronov Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth and Sylvester Stallone. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in ...more

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No Escape is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
No Escape Ray Liotta, David Wenham, Lance Henriksen No Escape, released in some countries as Escape from Absolom, is a 1994 American action/science fiction film directed by Martin Campbell and starring Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen, Stuart Wilson, ...more

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House of 9 is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
House of 9 Kelly Brook, Dennis Hopper, Peter Capaldi House of 9 is a 2004 thriller film directed by Steven R. Monroe and starring Dennis Hopper and Kelly Brook. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 20 May 2004, and had a limited release in ...more

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The Most Dangerous Game is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Most Dangerous Game Fay Wray, Joel McCrea, Buster Crabbe The Most Dangerous Game is a 1932 Pre-Code adaptation of the 1924 short story of the same name by Richard Connell, the first film version of that story. The plot concerns a big game hunter on an ...more

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The Tournament is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Tournament Ian Somerhalder, Kelly Hu, Robert Carlyle The Tournament is a 2009 British independent thriller film, marking the directorial debut of local filmmaker Scott Mann. The film was conceived by Jonathan Frank and Nick Rowntree while at the ...more

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The Naked Prey is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
The Naked Prey Cornel Wilde, Patrick Mynhardt, Ken Gampu The Naked Prey is a 1965 adventure film starring Cornel Wilde, who also served as director and producer, which was released by Paramount Pictures. Set in the South African veldt, the film is a ...more

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Kill 'em All is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Kill 'em All Chia Hui Liu, Johnny Messner, Tim Man Kill 'em All is a 2012 action film written by Ken Miller and directed by Raimund Huber.

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Series 7: The Contenders is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list 20+ Great Movies Where People Have to Fight to the Death
Series 7: The Contenders Will Arnett, Brooke Smith, Marylouise Burke Series 7: The Contenders is a 2001 dark comedy directed by Daniel Minahan. The movie is presented as a marathon of the seventh series of an American reality television show called The ...more