A certain ‘timelessness’ has characterised the representation of self-endangerment thus far. In the first chapter, the eternal struggle between the burdens of the self and the demands of society was waged within the action film and its glorification of heroism, of duty and, especially, of the American way. In the second, the enduring structures of phallocentrism and imperialism were revealed beneath some of the most noteworthy films about suicide. But the flirtation with death is, itself, a timeless theme: the thrill of survival, the allure of the flame, is an age-old conceit. For Freud this flirtation formed the cornerstone of his universal theory of the drives, as the pre-eminence of the death instinct. As discussed in the introduction, the individual tests and strengthens the death drive precisely through these brushes with mortality, and ‘culture’ offers a compelling platform for occasioning such thrills. But the flirtation with death also provides the joy of mastery and the (perverse) allure of pain that Freud associated with masochism. Fears or frights are conquered, suffering indulged, and, most importantly, and however eventual its appreciation might be, there is pleasure in it. In this chapter's approach to film's flirtation with death, our attention will turn to ‘what's in it’ for the individual, both as imperilled protagonist and as witness to the prospective suffering, on-screen and off.