time travel horror movies

Doing the Time Warp Again: 10 Mind-Bending Time Travel Horror Movies

Happy Death Day took a fun Groundhog Day style approach to the slasher, with a star-making performance by Jessica Rothe as Tree Gelbman, the mean college coed turned final girl after being murdered repeatedly by a masked killer. Writer/Director Christopher Landon expanded Tree’s world and the temporal paradox concept in the sequel, shifting away from the slasher elements to bring something completely different while setting up potential for a bonkers sequel. With Happy Death Day 2U recently released on Blu-ray, it seems like a perfect time to celebrate by revisiting other horror movies that have explored the twisty, mind-bending nature of time travel. Whether it be loops, or simply moving backwards and forwards through time in dizzying fashion, these 10 horror movies will have you doing the time warp again.

Insidious: Chapter 2

Insidious may have introduced us to the haunting purgatory known as The Further via astral projection, but leave it to screenwriter Leigh Whannell and director James Wan to up the ante in a big way by introducing a time loop for the sequel. Picking up after the events of the first film, which ended with strong astral projector John Lambert (Patrick Wilson) trapped in the Further while his body is possessed by the Bride in Black, the sequel becomes a complex web of time travel with adult Josh and young Josh overlapping in time to assist each other and their loved ones in the fight to restore present day Josh to his own body.

From director Vincenzo Natali ( Cube , Splice ), Haunter brings a refreshing twist to a haunted house thriller by way of time loop. Abigail Breslin stars as Lisa, a teen who slowly comes to realize that she’s a ghost stuck reliving the day she was murdered in 1985 along with her family, on perpetual loop. Lisa also discovers that she can bend time to communicate with people in other timelines, eventually working with a teen currently living in her home to prevent the same killer from murdering again. And hopefully breaking the cycle. Look for the always magnetic Stephen McHattie as Pale Man, a mysterious ghost that tries to warn Lisa away from tampering with time too much.

The House at the End of Time

Dulce is happily married and the mother of two sons; a perfect life interrupted by spooky paranormal occurrences in their home. One night her family is attacked by an unseen foe inside the home, leaving her husband dead and her son Leopoldo missing. Dulce is arrested and convicted once her fingerprints are discovered on the murder weapon. Cut to 30 years later, she’s released from prison under the requirement that the rest of her sentence be carried out via house arrest- the same home where tragedy occurred. The paranormal activity begins anew, only this time the older Dulce learns it’s not ghosts, but time travel that’s behind it all. The House at the End of Time takes the familiar trappings of a haunted house tale and injects a heartbreaking story of familial love and tragedy by way of time travel.

A dinner party goes awry when a comet passes overhead, causing strange occurrences and anomalies. Or rather, the dinner party guests find themselves stuck in a sort of temporal nightmare. The guests discover parallel realities overlapping with their own, causing an unsettling mix of quantum physics and interpersonal dynamics. Coherence is a creepy Twilight Zone-style tale of doppelgangers via claustrophobic paranoia on a micro-budget.

Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo’s first feature film is a twisty sci-fi horror time travel story that sees its lead, Hector, stuck in a time loop following an attack by man covered in bloodied bandages. Those that are a stickler for time travel logic and characters whose decisions compound their own misfortune might be frustrated, but Timecrimes is a creative, fun face-paced romp in suspense. The more Hector continues his time loop, the deadlier things get. What starts as a slasher evolves into something completely different.

The Butterfly Effect

Evan Treborn discovers that when he reads his journals from adolescence, he can travel back in time to redo pieces of his life. But as the film’s title suggests, Evan learns that making small changes in the past can lead to catastrophic consequences in the present. The more Evan tries to undo mistakes or fix tragic moments from his friends’ pasts, the worse things tend to get. A great example of the horrors that await in wielding the ability to alter time, this thriller explores the brutal side of Chaos Theory.

Waxwork II: Lost in Time

Proving not all time travel horror movies have to be cerebral and dark, this fun sequel bypasses the demise of the Waxwork museum in the first film by introducing time travel. In this outing, plucky heroes Mark and Sarah travel through various horror-filled dimensions with a compass that allows them to navigate through time and space. Literally. But it comes with a bit of a learning curve. There’s Alien homages, nods to The Haunting (in comical black and white, with a Bruce Campbell appearance to boot), Invasion of the Body Snatchers , Frankenstein , and so many more.

The Endless

The latest by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead sees them star as a pair of brothers returning to the cult they fled from years ago when an old videotape resurfaces. It may have been a decade since they left, but they discover the cult members haven’t aged a single day. The cult, Camp Arcadia, resides on a strange plot of land filled with various time loop pockets, presenting a very unique, meditative story of cosmic horror and coming to terms with the past. For these brothers, Camp Arcadia presents a mind-bending space that allows them to confront both their bizarre upbringing and their current place in the world, in all its existential intricacies.

In this sci-fi horror movie, a ship of 60,000 people embarks on a 123-year trip to colonize an Earth-like planet; the passengers remain in hypersleep while the crew rotates out of hypersleep every two years to maintain the ship. But when two crew members, Corporal Bower and Lieutenant Payton, awaken improperly from hypersleep, they discover that they might be suffering from a space psychosis, and weird cannibalistic humanoids have overrun the ship. With a 123-year trip into deep space, a lot can go wrong, and the passage of time factors into Pandorum in a major way in this fun creature feature.

Director Christopher Smith ( Black Death , Severance ) delivered one of the most mind-bending horror films in Triangle . Melissa George stars as Jess, a woman desperate for a break from her autistic son so she agrees to join a friend for a day on a yacht. A storm leaves them stranded until an ocean liner comes along, only it’s deserted. As the group finds themselves hunted by a masked killer on board, a serious case of Déjà vu sets in for Jess, and no one can effectively predict the turns the story takes from there. There are seriously twisted time loops involved in this one.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Looking Back on the Underrated Xenomorph Campaign in 2010’s ‘Aliens vs. Predator’

Every time a new licensed horror game gets announced, a sizable chunk of the horror community emits a collective groan when it’s revealed that upcoming the title will be an asymmetrical multiplayer experience. While I actually enjoy the virtual hide-and-seek thrills of titles like Dead by Daylight and Gun Interactive’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre , I can still understand the frustration. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that even our asymmetrical multiplayer frights came bundled with fully-fledged single player modes.

In fact, one can even argue that the licensed asymmetrical horror experience itself was invented by a franchise that was just as well known for its campaign as its legendary multiplayer mode. Naturally, I’m referring to the Aliens vs. Predator games, a series that has been mostly forgotten despite its tremendous influence on gaming as a whole. And with Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus showing plenty of love for the franchise’s long history of terrific video games, today I’d like to look back on a criminally underappreciated part of Alien history: the Xenomorph campaign in 2010’s lovable hot mess, Aliens vs. Predator .

Based on series of licensed comics published by Dark Horse in 1989, AvP would take the world by storm with an insanely successful expansion into toys, books and video games (with the film series only happening decades later). And while the initial beat ‘em up games were fun enough, it’s generally accepted that the crossover franchise only came into its own when Rebellion Developments released their phenomenal First-Person-Shooter, 1994’s Alien vs Predator .

Inspired by controversial adaptations like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the Atari 2600, Rebellion realized that playing as the monster could be even more fun than simply running away from them, which is why they made sure that players would be able to take control of humans, Predators and the Xenomorphs in their groundbreaking titles. This decision led to some of the most profitable licensed games in history, with Aliens vs Predator 2 and its expansions often being cited as one of the best FPS games of all time. Unfortunately, there would be a long hiatus after the sequel titles once Twentieth Century Fox finally decided that it was worth focusing on a theatrical version of the crossover.

This is why it would take a decade for Rebellion’s AvP to finally make a comeback, though the much-anticipated sequel would then be turned into a full-on reboot in order to better conform with the movies’ newly established lore. Unfortunately, executives split between this project and the ill-fated Colonial Marines (as well as some rumored studio interference) made development of the 2010 title a complicated process, which is why it came as no surprise that the finished title was so negatively received when compared to its groundbreaking predecessors.

While critics at the time were correct in lambasting the game’s short campaign length and plethora of technical issues, it’s much easier to look back on the game today as a flawed yet commendable throwback to a bygone era of gaming – especially since the idea of a commercial release containing three completely different playstyles (four if you count the multiplayer) would likely seem ludicrous to modern consumers.

Despite middling reviews, even the harshest critics from the time had to admit that the regrettably brief thrills of the Alien campaign made up some of the most unique and entertaining segments of the game. And now that you can purchase AvP online for next to nothing, I’d argue that the title is worth buying simply to play this gory third of the experience. For starters, this portion of the campaign borrows most of what made the previous Xenomorph modes so much fun, allowing players to zoom across floors, walls and ceilings with little regard for gravity as “Number 6” stalks its prey from the shadows – armed only with teeth, claws and a razor-sharp tail.

And while it’s true that the 2010 game removed some features from the original games in order to focus on visual fidelity (like playing as a Face-Hugger and having alternate vision modes), Rebellion mostly made up for this by placing the lead Xeno in a series of unique story-driven situations paying homage to the films rather than making every level a variation of the same old colonial marine buffet. You even receive telepathic commands from the Queen as you play, which gives the story missions some much-needed context.

Personally, I love the idea of a mistreated Xenomorph escaping from Weyland-Yutani and wreaking havoc among his captors, with the initial break-out reminding me a lot of the fugitive Xenos from Alien Resurrection . It’s also really cool how the story accompanies you from Chest-Burster to Praetorian to Queen as this monstrous underdog embarks on an epic quest to keep its kind going, even slaying a Predator along the way. And since these are standalone campaigns, you don’t even have to play through the terrible Colonial Marines story in order to understand what’s going on.

By having you systematically destroy lights and turrets while hunting down your foes in the dark as you search for a brainy snack, the Alien campaign actually reminds me of that common internet meme where fans point out how Predators act more like hunters while Aliens are the true predators (though both creatures are technically aliens).

Obviously, the experience here isn’t perfect, with the Alien’s extreme agility even causing motion-sickness in certain players (Number 6 is clearly tapping into the Speed-Force as it crawls through ventilation shafts like a bat out of hell), and that’s not even mentioning the janky animations that often lock you into an action while you’re still getting shot at. However, in the grand scheme of things, I’d argue that most of these shortcomings can be overlooked simply because the game around them is so much fun – especially for Alien fans. Hell, I can even forgive the repetitive execution animations since eating your enemies’ heads remains an inexhaustible source of thrills.

Honestly, my biggest gripe with the experience is how short it is, as I’d pay for a AAA Alien game based solely on this third of the AvP experience. A hypothetical successor could even expand on the idea of helping your fellow Face-Huggers out as they search for suitable hosts, with those future chest-bursters then serving as your replacements if you die.

I’ve heard it said that putting players in the shoes of a living embodiment of cosmic horror completely misses the point of the Alien films, and while I agree that this approach wouldn’t make for a particularly scary experience, I think the power fantasy might just make you appreciate the brutality behind these monsters that much more when you encounter them from the victims’ perspective. It’s just a shame that the Xenos end up being treated like canon fodder throughout the rest of AvP (which has honestly been an issue ever since James Cameron showed us how cool it looked when Aliens got shot up with pulse rifles).

Regardless, now that an Aliens vs Predator revival has become a very real possibility (with Fede Alvarez even suggesting that he team up with Prey director Dan Trachtenberg in order to develop the project), why not bring back the long-time tradition of tie-in video games with a next-gen Aliens vs Predator game? After all, I can’t be the only one wanting to dive back into the biomechanical shoes of our favorite phallic space monster.

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5 Horror Movies That Involve Time Travel

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When it comes to time travel, the genre that uses it most tends to be straight science fiction films for very obvious reasons. However, it's worth noting that the idea of time travel is well-suited for the horror genre for a couple of different reasons. There is the fact that when a character travels into the past or the future, they might think they know what they are going to encounter, but the fact of the matter is that all kinds of nightmares can unfold.

It turns out that horror movies tend to combine with science fiction more often than people realize. Certainly, there are monsters or killers that aren't rooted in science at all. But there are plenty of times when the villains are either using an aspect of science or birthed by science itself. Time travel is one of those aspects of science that is easy to lean on when trying to show the dangers of science fiction precisely because so much can go wrong. That's why some of the best horror movies out there tend to use time travel as a major plot device.

RELATED: 5 Hidden Horror Gems Inspired By H.P. Lovecraft

Project Almanac

Some might find Project Almanac to be an odd movie to start off this list because it's not strictly a horror movie. However, it does have dark enough elements that it can be featured as a horror movie that relies heavily on science fiction. The movie features a group of teens that first discover and then complete a time machine that has limited range but still gives them plenty of ability to travel back in time and change things so that they can benefit.

Fixing ever-growing mistakes is part of the horror aspect as things start to go wrong at a rather alarming rate. But it's the fact that when these teens actually run into themselves in the time stream, they essentially wipe themselves out that the movie really starts to grip its audience as a horror movie. Especially since the way that they are obliterated is very, very creepy.

When it comes to some of the best horror movies that deal with time travel, it's really about being caught in a time loop that makes them scary. Melissa George stars in this particular time loop/time travel movie where she and a group of friends board a seemingly abandoned ocean liner that just happens to be in the Bermuda Triangle . At first, they think it's quite an interesting little setting but things soon turn violent and deadly as they realize that a hooded figure is hunting down the friends and killing them one by one.

It turns out that the killer is actually none other than George's character who is attempting to break the time loop she's realized they're all trapped in. This movie is one of the better but lesser-known horror movies that deal with time travel because it has a little of everything. There are the more traditional slasher aspects of the film, mixed in with the time loop to give it a pretty original premise.

While Abigail Breslin's best-known horror movie is likely Zombieland , she starred in another spooky ghost story that involved time travel and time loops. In Haunter , Breslin plays a ghost girl by the name of Lisa who is doomed to relive the day in 1985 when her entire family was killed. She has to do this while the rest of the world moves on around her. However, while Haunter starts out as a movie that's about a kind of time loop, it eventually turns into something a little more time travel-focused like Quantum Leap .

Lisa realizes that she can essentially "jump" into the present by inhabiting the body of another young girl who now lives in the house. Unfortunately, she soon finds out that the killer can do the same kind of body leaping that she can. The film does a nice job of combining a more straightforward slasher film with an interesting spin on a ghost story that is told from the perspective of the ghost and a time loop aspect.

The Endless

Yet another movie that is more about the inability to travel in time, than time travel, this time loop-based horror movie still counts thanks to the fact that parts of this world move in different times depending on where the characters are located. The movie by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead sees them star as a pair of brothers who escaped a kind of cult years ago. They end up going back to where the cult was located and discover that many of the people they left behind decades ago don't seem to have aged at all. The cult, Camp Arcadia, is located on a strange plot of land filled with various time loop pockets that allow for a very original take on the kind of cosmic horror that comes from time travel. There's also a really good mystery wrapped up into this film that amps up the tension and that makes the horror of the situation that much better.

Army Of Darkness

While some people might feel that Army of Darkness is more of a comedy than a straight horror movie, it's important to note Sam Raimi simply liked to add a dash of humor into his horror films . The third film in the original Evil Dead trilogy saw Ash get transported back in time by the Necronomicon. He ends up being transported to the middle ages where he has to try and help the folks there overcome an invasion of the evil dead.

While there are plenty of good and funny moments in this movie, such as Ash explaining to everyone what his "boomstick" is, there's also plenty of monsters and skeletons and creepy crawlies that were no doubt plenty creepy, especially when the film first came out. This is one of those films that isn't going to have chills running up and down a viewer's spine but it certainly fits into the horror genre thanks to quite a bit of death and destruction that takes place thanks to truly evil beings.

MORE: 5 Awesome Horror Movies Directed By Women

Movies That Combine Sci-Fi And Horror

Game rant's ultimate guide to horror movies, movies set in the future.

Movies & TV

The 32 greatest time travel movies

You don't need a DeLorean to revisit these time travel gems

If you had the means to travel in time, where would you go? The past, or the future? For so long, filmmakers have wondered this same question, with more time travel movies than you can count. At least some of them happen to be - ahem, timeless classics.

While time travel has existed in the human imagination for centuries, with examples found in Hindu and Islamic mythologies, our modern understanding of time travel begins with early science fiction tales. Stories like The Year 2440 by French author Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, and The Time Machine by H.G. Wells are some of the earliest and most popular uses of time travel in sci-fi.

It should be no surprise that as soon as humans invented moving pictures, time travel became a recurring genre. (This is not to be confused with time loop movies, in which stories involve a set and finite time frame that "loop" back and start all over again.) Whether it's to prevent catastrophes or just fall in love, filmmakers have obsessed over time travel as a story device to explore what it really means to be human. With so many time travel movies to choose from, here are 32 of the greatest time travel movies ever made.

32. The Time Machine (1960)

It should be no surprise that the first feature film adaptation of H.G. Wells' seminal science fiction novella The Time Machine also qualifies as one of the best time travel movies ever made. Rod Taylor stars as a scientist inventor, also named "H. George Wells," whose invention of a time machine flings him to Earth's distant future where he sees mankind split between peaceful, gentle Eloi and the predatory Morlocks who feed on them. Though its primitive effects may be hard on modern eyes, George Pal's movie splits the difference between pulp slop and old-school magnificence.

31. Timecop (1994)

It's not saying much that Timecop, an adaptation of comic strips published by Dark Horse, is one of the best movies starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. But JCVD is in top form in Peter Hyams' corny '90s gem. Van Damme stars as a police officer in the Time Enforcement Commission who must stop a corrupt politician (played by Ron Silver) from influencing the past for personal gain. Although Timecop's comic book-y premise and wham-bam filmmaking renders it indistinguishable from other Van Damme flicks, it also happens to feature one of Van Damme's finest performances.

30. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Based on Audrey Niffenegger's hit debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife stars Rachel McAdams as the wife of a Chicago librarian (Eric Bana) who suffers from a genetic disorder that causes him to spontaneously travel through time, making a stable life in the present difficult to maintain. Written by Niffenegger as an elaborate metaphor on her failed relationships, the sentimental and sappy movie version - from director Robert Schwentke - efficiently captures that painful desire to stay still in a life that pulls us apart.

29. Déjà Vu (2006)

In their third collaboration together, actor Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott teamed up for the time travel thriller Déjà Vu. Washington plays a special agent who goes back in time to prevent a terrorist attack in New Orleans. While doing so, he falls in love with a beautiful victim (Paula Patton) and becomes determined to save her. While Déjà Vu isn't the best movie by Scott nor even the best from Scott and Washington's creative tag-teaming, it's still a gritty action thriller with a novel science fiction bent.

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28. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

While it may feel too "Tumblr twee" for some, Colin Trevorrow's Safety Not Guaranteed is an emotional comedy-drama about having trust in the impossible. A group of magazine journalists (played by Aubrey Plaza, Jake Johnston, and Karan Soni) investigate a curious classified ad that promises a time travel adventure; Mark Duplass plays the socially awkward grocery clerk who placed the ad, claiming to have a time machine. Safety Not Guaranteed notably launched Trevorrow into the realm of big budget blockbusters, with the director landing the gig of helming Jurassic World shortly after and, for a time, attached to the coveted ninth Star Wars movie. Safety Not Guaranteed is small fries in comparison, but the movie's flightful sensibilities showed what Trevorrow was capable of.

27. Donnie Darko (2001)

It's a bit of a spoiler to detail exactly how time travel factors into Richard Kelly's morbid teen drama Donnie Darko. But in its tale about a troubled suburban teenager (Jake Gyllenhaal) who receives cryptic psychic messages from an ominous figure in a scary bunny costume, Donnie Darko explores adolescence as a vehicle to meditate on the nature of reality. Years later, Donnie Darko remains a cult classic, not only for its dark and cerebral tone and surprisingly star-studded cast, but for its enthralling portrait of teenage angst and depression through the lens of science fiction and comic book tropes.

26. Star Trek (2009)

In this modern reboot of the classic 1960s sci-fi television saga, the past and present collide in unexpected ways when villainous Romulans (led by Eric Bana) are flung to Starfleet past, changing the course of Star Trek history forever. As the starting point for what has been called the "Kelvin Timeline" - an alternate timeline diverting from original Star Trek canon - J.J. Abrams ' Star Trek satisfies fans both new and old with a zippy, crowd-pleasing blockbuster that is secretly about the burdens of history and legacy and the virtues of pursuing one's own path.

25. Midnight in Paris (2011)

Leave it to Woody Allen to create a time travel movie that isn't about aliens or A.I., but hanging out with famous literary icons. Owen Wilson stars as a dissatisfied screenwriter who, while on a trip to Paris with his fiance (Rachel McAdams), finds himself able to travel to 1920s Paris, meeting the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and befriending Ernest Hemingway. After a long period of movies that failed to live up to his established reputation, Allen enjoyed a brief career resurgence with his critically acclaimed Midnight in Paris, a jovial gem (with an excellent Corey Stoll as Hemingway) that romanticizes Paris regardless of whatever era you're seeing it.

24. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

While parsing out the X-Men movie timeline can induce psychic shock, the 2014 tentpole X-Men: Days of Future Past is still one of the franchise's all-time strongest entries. Loosely adapting Chris Claremont's iconic comic book storyline, Bryan Singer's film version swaps Kitty Pryde for fan-favorite Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) who is psychically sent back in time to the 1970s to prevent Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) from creating his menacing Sentinels that will doom mankind and mutantkind alike. With memorable set-pieces and a locked-in Jackman anchoring alongside Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy, the past and present collide like never before in this exquisite sci-fi superhero spectacle.

23. When We First Met (2018)

After falling in love at a Halloween party in 2014, lovestruck Noah (Adam Devine) uses a magical photo booth to relive the night he met the gorgeous and funny Avery (Alexandra Daddario), who only sees Noah as a friend. While Noah tries to relive and redo that night all over again, he quickly finds out that love is sometimes set in stone. Though Ari Sandel's sugary rom-com for Netflix may leave some audiences in the friend zone, for anyone familiar with the pangs of unrequited feelings, When We First Met is a breeze of a movie that can help us figure out why things happen for a reason - or for no reason at all.

22. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Raunchiness meets bitterness in the R-rated time travel comedy Hot Tub Time Machine. John Cusack, Rob Corddry, and Craig Robinson (plus Clark Duke, as Cusack's nephew) play unsatisfied adult men who - after a freak accident involving a hot tub and an energy drink spillage - find a way to time travel back to one fateful night in 1986. Determined to change their mediocre lives for the better, the men embark on reliving the greatest night of their young lives. With surprising depths of darkness, wistful nostalgia, and an underlying message to never take even one second for granted, Hot Tub Time Machine is more than its simplistic title leads on.

21. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

If your life ethos is to "Be excellent to each other!" and "Party on, dudes!" then you have Bill and Ted to thank. In this cult classic from 1989, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter co-star as dim-witted high school students and aspiring rock stars who are desperate to pass their history class and avoid being enrolled in military school. With the help of an enigmatic figure - played by the legendary George Carlin - Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan travel in time to collect the world's greatest figures in history to help them pass. While Bill and Ted inadvertently threaten to change history, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is, indeed, an excellent movie about the virtues of friendship and being true to oneself.

20. Synchronic (2020)

In this time travel horror movie, two New Orleans paramedics - hard-drinking playboy and terminally ill Steve (Anthony Mackie) and family man Dennis (Jamie Dornan) - find a series of bizarre deaths linked to a designer drug called Synchronic, which induces abilities to travel in time. Dennis grows alarmed when his daughter goes missing at a party where Synchronic was rampant. With its explorations of loss and friendship, Synchronic is unlike many other time travel movies with a distinctly dark and grim atmosphere. It's complimented by the skillful filmmaking of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who have helmed films like Spring (2014), The Endless (2017), Something in the Dirt (2022), and the Marvel shows Moon Knight and Loki.

19. Click (2006)

Ever wondered what the "Beyond" was in Bed, Bath, and & Beyond? Adam Sandler found out in the 2006 comedy Click, where Sandler plays a workaholic family man who finds a universal remote that lets him travel in time. Though Sandler has fun "fast-forwarding" mundane moments, he soon finds out how critically important it is to relish every single minute you get in life. While Click initially polarized audiences and critics, it has slowly accrued goodwill, with some observers calling it one of Sandler's best and most mature movies behind Uncut Gems.

18. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

Oh, behave! In the third installment of the Austin Powers series, the out-of-time special agent Austin Powers (Mike Meyers, reprising one of his most iconic characters) is flung from 2002 back to 1975, teaming up with feisty FBI agent Foxxy Cleopatra (Beyoncé) and his own distant father, Nigel Powers (Michael Caine) to stop the mastermind known as "Goldmember." After spoofing spy-fi media of the 1960s, Jay Roach's Goldmember roasts the grittier, funkier era of '70s James Bond and Blaxploitation classics like Foxy Brown.

17. Kate & Leopold (2001)

Can love transcend time? That's the idea behind Kate & Leopold, a most enchanting romantic comedy from James Mangold and starring Meg Ryan opposite Hugh Jackman. Jackman plays Leopold, the handsome Duke of Albany from the 19th century who falls through a time portal and ends up in 2001 Manhattan. While adjusting to the 21st century, he begins wooing a successful but lonely ad executive (Ryan). Kate & Leopold is good old fashioned Hollywood magic at its best, being a mismatched couples comedy that champions how love can triumph over all - even time itself.

16. About Time (2013)

Several years after The Time Traveler's Wife, Rachel McAdams again fell in love with a time traveler in Richard Curtis' sappy but sweet romantic dramedy About Time. Domnhall Gleeson plays an ordinary man who inherits a remarkable family power: the power to travel in time. (The only catch: They can only travel in their lived timeline, and never forwards.) Determined to use his power to find love, he becomes smitten with beautiful Mary (McAdams), though using time travel to maintain a perfect life involves a lot more risk than it seems. About Time plays fast and loose with its time travel rules, but the movie's irresistible premise and picturesque romance is enough to thaw even the most cynical of hearts.

15. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

After revolutionizing Hollywood filmmaking with his acclaimed gangster epics The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Francis Ford Coppola lightened up with his lively comedy about middle-age regret and baby boomer nostalgia. In Peggy Sue Got Married, dissatisfied Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) is on the brink of divorcing her unfaithful husband Charlie (Nicolas Cage) when she faints at her 25th high school reunion. When she wakes up, she's back in her senior year of high school, learning she's been given a second chance at changing her life for the better.

14. Looper (2012)

Brick star Joseph Gordon-Levitt and director Rian Johnson reunite for one of the best time travel thrillers of the 2010s. Looper, released in 2012, takes place in a near future reality where time travel is possible but illegal; "loopers" are hired assassins who are sent back in time to kill specific targets. Things get complicated for a looper named Joe (Gordon-Levitt) who must "close the loop" when his older self (Bruce Willis) is sent back for him to kill. A trippy action-thriller that was critically acclaimed for its ingenious depiction of time travel, the buzzy success of Looper undoubtedly put Johnson on the map to later helm Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017.

13. See You Yesterday (2019)

Time travel whimsy meets timely social commentary in See You Yesterday from director Stefon Bristol and producer Spike Lee. Teenage science prodigies and best friends C.J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) and Sebastian (Danté Crichlow) invent backpacks that enable time travel; they use their inventions to save C.J.'s brother, who was killed by a racist police officer. But in trying to save her family, C.J. finds unforeseen problems in trying to alter the past. A beautiful mix of Amblin-esque adventure and the full weight of systemic racism, See You Yesterday - a sweeping picture about love and the ethics of genius - elevates the time travel genre into something more.

12. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

To mark the end of Marvel's acclaimed Infinity Saga, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely invited Marvel fans to take another lap around the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the time travel-oriented finale Avengers: Endgame. Following up on the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame sees the Avengers reunite and hatch a scheme to reobtain the powerful Infinity Stones - all scattered throughout the MCU's vast canon - and restore a vanished populace, not to mention stop Thanos for good. Avengers: Endgame needs no introduction; it was and still is one of the biggest movies of all time.

11. Time Bandits (1981)

Terry Gilliam brings his strange sensibilities to a more mainstream family audience with his 1981 classic time Bandits. Craig Warnock stars as Kevin, a young boy with a fascination for history who is visited by time-traveling dwarves who plunder treasures from different historical periods. As Kevin joins the dwarves, they escape capture by Evil (David Warner), a malevolent entity who wants to steal the dwarves' map that lets them travel through portals. Time Bandits stands the test of, ahem, time, to look and feel like a riveting children's storybook come to life.

10. Primer (2004)

In Shane Carruth's debut feature film, two engineers (played by Carruth and David Sullivan) accidentally discover the means of time travel. While experimenting with their discovery, they find out that time travel is a lot more complex than they thought it would be. Still an underground indie favorite to this day, Primer is remembered for its experimental plot structure that mixes philosophical theory with hard mathematics. Primer was concocted by Carruth, who actually majored in mathematics in college and previously worked as an engineer prior to becoming a filmmaker. Primer was a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival and is still beloved for its cerebral exploration of the ethics of scientific discovery.

9. Time After Time (1979)

Nicholas Meyer pays tribute to the granddaddy of time travel storytelling, H.G. Wells, with his delectable time travel fantasy Time After Time. Malcolm McDowell plays H.G. Wells, who uses his time machine to finally apprehend Jack the Ripper (David Warner) after the famed serial killer escapes to modern-day San Francisco. While Time After Time tries to be a dark thriller, it can't help but have fun with H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper exploring a most alien environment loaded with fast food chains and disco nightclubs.

8. Somewhere in Time (1980)

Have you ever been in love so bad you were willing to get lost in time? Shortly after Christopher Reeve took off with Superman: The Movie, the actor strove to play against typecasting with Somewhere in Time. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc, Reeve stars as a playwright who becomes smitten by a beautiful stage actress (Jane Seymour) seen in a portrait dated 1912. Under hypnosis, Reeve's character ends up in 1912 and tries to find and woo the woman. He succeeds, but we won't spoil the devastating ending. While the movie endured bad reviews during its original release, it has since become a beloved romantic classic. The Grand Hotel in Michigan, where the majority of principal photography, hosts annual anniversary screenings of the picture every October.

7. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Terry Gilliam is no stranger to science fiction and time travel stories. One of his most successful Hollywood films to date is still the 1995 classic 12 Monkeys. Bruce Willis plays a convict from 2035 who is sent back in time to 1996 (though he ends up in 1990) to gather information about the terrorist plot that led to a virus wiping out most of humanity. Arriving at the right time to observe the paralyzing inundation of information at the end of the 20th century, 12 Monkeys mesmerized critics and audiences to become the number one movie for two weeks in January 1995. While not strictly a remake of the French New Wave sci-fi La Jetée by Chris Marker - Gilliam even claimed he hadn't even seen it before production - Universal Studios obtained the remake rights to Marker's film after producer Robert Kosberg successfully pitched the studio 12 Monkeys as a movie heavily inspired by it. In 2015, a hit TV series remake premiered on Syfy.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Time travel isn't exclusive to science fiction. In the 2004 sequel to the hit fantasy film saga, Mexican auteur Alfonso Cuarón adapts the book of the same name which sees the increasingly aging Hogwarts trio - Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermoine (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) - meet the wizard criminal Sirius Black (Gary Oldman) who has connections to Harry's family. A key part of Prisoner of Azkaban's story involves a magical device that lets the characters travel in time; some of the film's most memorable and deliciously staged set pieces center around ingenious depictions of time travel.

5. Source Code (2011)

In the aftermath of major events like 9/11, some Hollywood filmmakers dared to ask if time travel could stop acts of terrorism. Enter: Source Code, from director Duncan Jones. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as a U.S. soldier tasked with using a cutting-edge government program called "Source Code" to relive the final minutes of a commuter train prior to its bombing and identify the terrorist behind it. The catch is that Gyllenhaal's character enters the program inhabiting the body of another unknown man, which creates problems for both himself and the unknown man's beautiful companion (Michelle Monaghan). Jones' movie is a muscular action-thriller that successfully combines time travel with time loop stories, perfectly balancing the two to become something totally unique.

4. Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker obsessed with time as a thematic motif. But in 2020, Nolan was in top form with his summer sci-fi Tenet. John David Washington stars as the nameless agent, going only by "The Protagonist" who must navigate the twilight world of international espionage to stop the powerful arms dealer Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh) and prevent World War III. To accomplish this, he teams up with another enigmatic agent (Robert Pattinson) and the beautiful wife of Sator, Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), all while using the newest tool in his arsenal: inverted entropy, basically the reverse physics of an object in time. Confused yet? A lot of people were. But that hasn't stopped Tenet from amassing a dedicated fanbase who insist that Tenet isn't a movie you think about, but rather feel.

3. Your Name (2016)

In this sweeping animated romantic fantasy by acclaimed director Makoto Shinkai, two teenagers (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki and Mone Kamishiraishi in the original Japanese language, and Michael Sinterniklaas and Stephanie Sheh in the English dub) mysteriously find themselves swapping bodies. In their efforts to better understand what is going on, they find a deeper connection linked to a tragic natural disaster. A time travel movie unlike so many others, Your Name was celebrated upon release for its gorgeous visuals and equally breathtaking story about fate, love, and intertwined destinies that transcend time itself.

2. The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arguably the definitive time travel action blockbusters, James Cameron 's Terminator movies are simply unstoppable. Arnold Scwharzenegger is in top form as the T-800, who is initially dispatched to kill the mother of mankind's hero John Connor, a woman named Sarah (Linda Hamilton). In the bigger, somehow better sequel Terminator 2, Schwarzenegger returns as a repurposed T-800 to save both Sarah and her 12-year-old son John Connor (Edward Furlong). Despite numerous sequels, nothing can top the tech-noir transcendence of the first two Terminator entries.

1. The Back to the Future Trilogy (1984-1989)

Robert Zemeckis' '80s classic trilogy is, without question, one of the greatest time travel adventures ever told, an untouchable sci-fi trilogy if there ever was one. In the first movie, teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) accidentally travels to 1955 and must figure out a way to get his own parents to fall in love again after his presence disrupts the whole town. In the sequels, Marty travels to the "future" year of 2015, and then the distant past of the Old West, all with the help of Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and a ridiculously tricked-out DeLorean. The Back to the Future trilogy is foundational for an entire generation, and it's not hard to see why. The movies are fast, fun, and unforgettable, a movie that doesn't need roads to take us away.

Eric Francisco is a freelance entertainment journalist and graduate of Rutgers University. If a movie or TV show has superheroes, spaceships, kung fu, or John Cena, he's your guy to make sense of it. A former senior writer at Inverse, his byline has also appeared at Vulture, The Daily Beast, Observer, and The Mary Sue. You can find him screaming at Devils hockey games or dodging enemy fire in Call of Duty: Warzone.

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The 25 Best Time Travel Movies of All Time, Ranked

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Time travel movies have been done to death, and many time travel movies suck because they rehash the same old predictable tropes and cliches. But there's still a lot of potential left to be mined in the genre!

Despite the vast number of lackluster time travel movies, there have also been many notable films that came out in the past few decades—and that's on top of the sci-fi classics that still hold up.

At the end of the day, all movies are meant to deliver an entertaining experience for the viewer. With that in mind, here are what I consider to be the best time travel movies of all time.

Warning: I hate spoilers as much as anyone, so I've taken care to exclude spoilers from all movie descriptions in this article. However, knowing that a movie involves time travel could itself be a spoiler! Read on at your own risk.

25. Project Almanac (2015)

Directed by Dean Israelite

Starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Virginia Gardner

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 46m)

6.3 on IMDb — 38% on RT

Project Almanac is an underrated time travel movie that probably flew under your radar. Don't let the fact that it seems like a teen drama deter you from checking it out.

A group of high schoolers find something strange in an old home video, which spurs them to investigate—and uncover secrets plans for a time machine. They build it, of course, and that's when the trouble starts.

24. ARQ (2016)

Directed by Tony Elliott

Starring Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson

Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 28m)

6.3 on IMDb — 43% on RT

A strange energy-providing device causes a couple to be stuck in a time loop while being forced to defend the device against a group intent on stealing it. The setup is strange, the ending is stranger.

This low-budget film is really nothing more than a popcorn flick, but it's a fun ride as long as you don't think too deeply about it. Compared to other thought experiment-type time travel movies, this one's pretty good.

23. Click (2006)

Directed by Frank Coraci

Starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (1h 47m)

6.4 on IMDb — 34% on RT

Using a magical universal remote, a workaholic finds himself able to skip ahead or rewind back to various points in his life. During those skipped times, his body continues to live on autopilot.

Don't be turned away by the fact that this is an Adam Sandler movie. In one of his best performances ever, Sandler effectively carries this funny-but-heart-wrenching story on his back.

22. Time Lapse (2014)

Directed by Bradley King

Starring Danielle Panabaker, Matt O'Leary, George Finn

Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 44m)

6.5 on IMDb — 74% on RT

When three friends discover a machine that can take photos 24 hours in the future, things take a dark turn as each photo reveals more than they could've anticipated.

Smart writing makes up for the mediocre performances in Time Lapse . If you go into this indie film without much in the way of expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

21. The Endless (2017)

Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Starring Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Callie Hernandez

Drama, Fantasy, Horror (1h 51m)

6.5 on IMDb — 92% on RT

Sci-fi horror done well tends to be pretty rare, but The Endless is a shining example of when it goes right.

The film centers on two brothers who used to belong to an alleged UFO death cult when they were young. Years later, after they'd escaped, they both have different memories of what the cult was like—so they agree to return for one day to set the record straight.

What they find is that the supposed UFO death cult is nothing like how either of them imagined, and they end up embroiled in all kinds of mysterious happenings, including a time loop.

20. The Adam Project (2022)

Directed by Shawn Levy

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo

Action, Adventure, Comedy (1h 46m)

6.7 on IMDb — 67% on RT

The Adam Project stars Ryan Reynolds as Adam Reed, a man from the future who goes back in time to save his wife. He's injured and takes refuge in his childhood home, but is accidentally discovered by his younger self. They work together to complete Adam's mission of saving his wife.

It's a simple story with Ryan Reynolds basically playing Ryan Reynolds—which is great, if you're into that—but what sets The Adam Project apart is the deeply moving emotional threads that undergird the characters and weave together into a surprisingly cathartic climax.

19. Primer (2004)

Directed by Shane Carruth

Starring Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden

Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 17m)

6.8 on IMDb — 73% on RT

Four entrepreneurs accidentally invent a time travel machine, which ends up ruining their lives when they decide to give it a spin. Primer is the quintessential time travel film and a must-see movie for time travel fans who love poring over the tiniest details.

It's short (only 77-minute runtime) but insanely dense—the kind of movie you have to watch multiple times to really understand what actually happened, and even then you may not fully get it.

18. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson

Adventure, Comedy, Drama (1h 26m)

6.9 on IMDb — 91% on RT

Safety Not Guaranteed is a comedy romance film centering on three magazine staffers who go out to interview a strange man who's looking for a partner for his upcoming time travel mission. They think it's all a joke, but the truth slowly shows itself to be something more.

While the actual act of time traveling doesn't play a huge role, Safety Not Guaranteed is a must-watch for anyone who's looking for a heartfelt drama that's well-written and infused with depth by a solid cast.

17. Triangle (2009)

Directed by Christopher Smith

Starring Melissa George, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor

Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 39m)

6.9 on IMDb — 80% on RT

In the wake of a yachting accident, a group of friends are rescued by what appears to be a mysteriously empty cruise ship. As they further explore the ship's interior, they encounter horrors unknown.

Again, well-done science fiction horror films are hard to come by, and Triangle stands out for its premise and execution, particularly in how time travel is revealed and incorporated. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but it's certainly interesting and memorable.

16. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

7.1 on IMDb — 39% on RT

In The Time Traveler's Wife , Henry is a man who has a genetic anomaly that causes him to time travel. The thing is, he can't control when or where he travels to, and thus struggles to keep his marriage alive.

Based on the novel by the same name, The Time Traveler's Wife may not be able to capture the full magic that made the book so great—there's just too much content to fit into one movie—but it's still a stirring romantic drama with several twists and moving moments.

15. Timecrimes (2007)

Directed by Nacho Vigalondo

Starring Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga

Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 32m)

7.1 on IMDb — 90% on RT

In the Spanish-language Timecrimes , an average man accidentally travels back in time one hour, unleashing a series of disastrous events. That's all you really want to know about this film before diving in.

More to the tune of mystery than action, Timecrimes is a flawless example of a "What actually happened?" narrative that asks you to puzzle things together as events unfold before you. The twists are plentiful here.

14. Palm Springs (2020)

Directed by Max Barbakow

Starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J. K. Simmons

Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery (1h 30m)

7.4 on IMDb — 94% on RT

Palm Springs takes place at a wedding in Palm Springs, California. Two guests inadvertently get stuck in a time loop, reliving the same exact wedding day over and over, and try to find a way to escape.

The premise may not seem like anything special, but the performances by Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti elevate this film to new heights. Infused with comedy, drama, and romance, Palm Springs makes full use of its time loop situation to tell an impactful story.

13. Predestination (2014)

Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig

Starring Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor

Action, Drama, Sci-Fi (1h 37m)

7.4 on IMDb — 84% on RT

A time-traveling agent's final assignment is to track down the one criminal who he's never been able to capture. But the further down the rabbit hole he goes, the more mind-bending the truths become.

Predestination isn't just a time travel film. What sets this film apart from most sci-fi movies is how deftly it handles its deeper themes, how deep it's willing to go with its characters, and how expertly the narrative unfolds. It's truly one of the most complex time travel movies ever made.

12. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

Starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters

Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 53m)

7.6 on IMDb — 34% on RT

A man discovers he has the ability to change the present by traveling back into the mind of his younger self, but around every corner await unintended consequences.

You've heard of "the butterfly effect" before, and The Butterfly Effect effectively takes that concept and turns it into a dark thriller. Ashton Kutcher stars in this film against type and delivers a surprisingly great performance in this gripping film about regret and control.

11. About Time (2013)

Directed by Richard Curtis

Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (2h 3m)

7.8 on IMDb — 70% on RT

A man who can travel through time decides to use his power to woo the girl of his dreams, but things aren't as easy as they seem—and the limits of his power cause him to make a tough and important decision.

With Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams taking the lead, About Time ends up being a romantic comedy that's far better than it has any right to be, complete with a superbly moving ending that's completely earned.

10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Adventure, Family, Fantasy (2h 22m)

7.9 on IMDb — 90% on RT

It's Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts and this time Lord Voldemort isn't his main concern. Instead, Sirius Black—the one who was suspected as betraying his parents—has escaped from Azkaban Prison and rumor has it that he's coming to finish Harry off.

Often praised as the best film in the Harry Potter franchise—thanks to impeccable direction by Alfonso Cuaron— The Prisoner of Azkaban isn't just a standout for its time travel subplot but also for its cohesive narrative that combines numerous themes with stellar cinematography.

9. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Directed by Doug Liman

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi (1h 53m)

7.9 on IMDb — 91% on RT

In the face of an alien invasion, a soldier somehow ends up reliving the same day over and over every time he dies. He must somehow use this to his advantage and defeat the invading aliens while also finding a way to escape the endless loop in which he's trapped.

As far as time loop movies go, Edge of Tomorrow is one of the better executed ones. Not only is the tight story well-paced, but stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt put in excellent performances that carry the narrative forward from start to finish.

8. The Man From Earth (2007)

Directed by Richard Schenkman

Starring David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley

Drama, Fantasy, Mystery (1h 27m)

7.8 on IMDb — 100% on RT

During a retirement party, an aging professor reveals that he's been alive longer than his colleagues can imagine.

The Man From Earth is best described as a "play caught on camera," delivering an engaging mystery that's built on the foundation of an interesting thought experiment.

Not many dialogue-only films are this riveting, which is why you should definitely give this one a watch.

7. Arrival (2016)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 56m)

7.9 on IMDb — 94% on RT

When aliens arrive on Earth, a linguist is brought to the frontlines to decipher their language and establish communications.

Easily one of the most cerebral science fiction movies ever made, Arrival takes things to the next level by exploring deep themes and ideas that few other films have dared to touch. You won't ever forget this one.

6. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt

Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller (2h 9m)

8.0 on IMDb — 88% on RT

In the year 2035, a convict is sent back in time to 1996 with one mission: to investigate the cause of a man-made virus that decimated the world. But his mission is sidetracked when he's sent back to the wrong time period and ends up in a mental hospital.

Featuring one of Bruce Willis's best performances, 12 Monkeys starts off slow but ends with a bang. There's a lot to love about this mind-bending movie if you can get through the slow but necessary setup.

5. Donnie Darko (2001)

Directed by Richard Kelly

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 53m)

8.0 on IMDb — 87% on RT

A high schooler begins to see visions of a man in a deranged bunny suit who warns him that the world is going to end in a few days—and convinces him to commit all sorts of crimes and unsavory deeds to prevent the oncoming apocalypse.

Donnie Darko is a strange film with time travel elements that aren't as overt as in other time travel films. But if you're itching for a uniquely surreal film experience, it doesn't get much weirder than Donnie Darko .

4. Groundhog Day (1993)

Directed by Harold Ramis

Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (1h 41m)

8.0 on IMDb — 94% on RT

An insufferable weatherman finds himself caught in a time loop, reliving the same mundane day over and over again with seemingly no way out of it—and after thousands of repeats, it starts to take its toll on him.

Groundhog Day is a hilarious comedy that's also surprisingly deep if you're willing to unpack it, acting as a lesson in what really brings about happiness and self-improvement. If you're a fan of Bill Murray and haven't seen this yet, what have you been waiting for?!

3. Your Name (2016)

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Starring Michael Sinterniklaas, Stephanie Sheh, Kyle Hebert

Animation, Drama, Fantasy (1h 46m)

8.4 on IMDb — 98% on RT

One day, a high school boy in Tokyo and a high school girl in the countryside start swapping bodies, seemingly at random but only when they go to sleep. But then the swapping stops. The boy is compelled to find the girl, but investigating leads to a heartbreaking answer.

Your Name isn't just one of the best animated movies of all time, nor simply one of the best Japanese movies of all time, but one of the best, period. It's incredibly heartfelt with a climax that'll hit you in the gut.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi (1h 56m)

8.5 on IMDb — 93% on RT

A teenage boy from 1985 accidentally goes back in time thirty years with his mad scientist friend. Not only does he need to find a way home, but he accidentally puts his own existence in danger and must make sure his future parents end up falling in love.

Back to the Future is a classic time travel movie and you owe it to yourself to make it the next movie you watch if you've never seen it. Look past the 1980s cheesiness and you'll see an engaging story beneath it all.

1. Interstellar (2014)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain

Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi (2h 49m)

8.7 on IMDb — 73% on RT

With Earth on the brink of extinction, a team of astronauts must travel through a wormhole to find a new planet for humans to colonize. But journeying through outer space comes with all kinds of complications, and finding a habitable planet isn't going to be so easy.

For all its flaws, Interstellar packs a thrilling story on top of dazzling visuals and one of the most moving soundtracks of any film, period. This is the kind of film that'll have you thinking long after the credits roll, and for many reasons beyond just time travel.

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25 cool time loop movies, ranked.

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10 TV Shows With Time Travel That Actually Makes Sense

10 movies like the girl who leapt through time you have to see, 8 time travel movies that actually make sense.

Time loop movies add a special twist to the sci-fi genre, with diverse genres showcasing the versatility of this concept.
The best time loop movies feature action, horror, and drama, with characters facing their flaws to break the loop.
From romantic comedies to thrillers, time loop movies offer intriguing narratives that keep audiences engaged and entertained.

Time travel movies are always interesting, but the truly best time loop movies add an extra special aspect to the genre — and do it with style. Time loop movies are defined as when a character, for one reason or another, relives a day or experience over and over again and must figure out what they need to do to escape it. Hollywood has used this concept numerous times for different genres with varying success. So many notable movies have employed a time loop premise, and its influence in sci-fi movies shows no signs of fading away anytime soon.

There are many examples of time travel on the big screen , but cool time loop movies come with their own spin. Time loop plots have been shown to work in just about anything from family comedies to experimental science-fiction, so there's no shortage of great time loop films to recommend to fans of any genre. The best time loop movies show just how versatile the idea is, featuring a lot of action and horror as well as theoretical science and metaphorical drama . The best movies featuring the time loop idea are beloved classics and cult hits worldwide.

Time travel is a fun element of sci-fi, but it needs to be done right. These series utilize time travel in a way that makes sense and abides by rules.

25 River (2023)

People in a restaurant repeat the same two minutes.

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River is a 2023 Japanese comedy/drama/sci-fi by director Junta Yamaguchi. An inn in Kibune, Kyoto is caught in the midst of an endless time loop of two minutes, resetting the world around them every two minutes that pass without losing their memories. While the staff struggle to determine whether or not they want to leave the seemingly peaceful loop, one waitress finds herself isolated from them wondering what lies next for her.

River is a unique Japanese time loop movie that follows a group of people at a small hotel. What makes this unique among others in the genre is that the loop only lasts two minutes at a time. Also, everyone in the hotel knows the time loop is happening rather than one person who no one believes. This creates a situation where everyone does what they can to make changes and try to stop the loop, but they often do so at odds with one another.

The movie plays with comedy and awkward situations, almost as if it lived in the world of a sitcom. However, the characters struggle with their past actions as the loop repeats. Everything they do carries over in their memories, and they struggle to reconcile those decisions with how they react to each other in the next loops. As with the best in the genre, the characters realize their actions and preconceptions might have caused the loop, and it takes understanding their flaws to finally work things out.

24 Mondays: See You 'This' Week! (2022)

Office workers are caught in an endless time loop.

The Japanese time loop movie Mondays: See You 'This' Week! takes two fun genres and blends them together. Similar to how Shaun of the Dead equates how the daily work grind creates a lifeless existence similar to a zombie apocalypse, Mondays presents the idea that office workers' daily and weekly lives are often similar to time loop horrors . In a commentary on the never-ending cycle of work in an office setting, the workers in this movie realize they are literally in a time loop.

Seen as Office Space meets Groundhog Day, when two employees realize they might be living the same weeks over and over again, they start to convince others to break the chain. There is even a funny moment where they have to explain it to their boss with a PowerPoint presentation since he only understands things in business terms. The movie heads in an interesting direction involving Japanese mangas, and the ending is a creative solution not before seen in the genre.

23 Meet Cute (2022)

A woman uses a time loop to fix a bad date.

Meet Cute is a 2022 romantic comedy directed by Alex Lehmann. The film stars Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, focusing on the whimsical and repetitive nature of their character's encounters as they explore themes of love, time, and fate. The narrative unfolds with a blend of humor and poignancy, offering an unconventional take on the rom-com genre.

Meet Cute is a romantic comedy spin on the time loop movies, with Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson in the lead roles. In the film, Sheila meets a man named Gary, who seems perfect for her as he would rather watch movies than sports, and they share other similar likes with a lot in common. However, the date ends up awkward when Sheila tells Gary she has a time machine she found at a nail salon that she uses to relive this same night repeatedly for seven nights in a row.

The movie does take a dark turn when she admits she started using the time machine on a day she was planning to die by suicide because it helped her relive a day when she was happy for the first time in a long time. The story has Gary realize what is happening and he tries to intervene, with possible tragic results. Meet Cute is more of a rom-com than an actual sci-fi movie, and it received lukewarm reviews but has its charms.

22 11.22.63 (2016)

Based on stephen king's time travel novel.

11.22.63 centers on Jake Epping, a young high school English teacher, who develops a plan to travel back in time and save John F. Kennedy from being assassinated. The Hulu mini-series was based on the 2011 novel 11/22/63 by Stephen King and stars James Franco as Jake Epping. Upon release 11.22.63 received mostly positive reviews.

While not technically a movie, 11.22.62 is a Hulu miniseries that can be viewed as one long film. It follows Jake, a recently divorced English teacher from Maine who learns about a time machine in a local diner.

The diner owner, Al Templeton, explains that he has been using the time machine for years to attempt to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy. There is one problem. The time machine drops a person off at a precise date and time - September 9, 1958 . This means he had five years to set up the plan to stop it but the problem is that the person ages in real time.

When they return to the present, they have aged and then when they go back, they hit 1958 again and have to start over. Al has gotten too old and is dying, and Jake agrees to take his place to put the plans in motion. After a few failed attempts, he finally sets out to achieve their plan with unexpected results.

The miniseries won the Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation and it sits at 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

21 When We First Met (2018)

A young man tries to force love through a time loop, when we first met.

When We First Met is a romantic comedy directed by Ari Sandel. The film stars Adam DeVine as Noah, who discovers a time-travel photo booth and uses it to try and win the heart of his dream girl, Avery, played by Alexandra Daddario. As he relives the night they first met multiple times, he learns important life and love lessons.

When We First Met was a tough topic from the start, as it has a protagonist in Noah Ashby who wants to use time travel to make a woman fall for him rather than the person she actually fell in love with. Adam DeVine stars as Noah, a guy who learns that he can cause a time loop using a photo booth at a party, and he figures he can manipulate things so that the woman he loves, Avery (Alexandra Daddario), falls in love with him rather than her fiance, Ethan (Robbie Amell). The entire plan is toxic.

However, what makes the movie work is DeVine's charming personality and the fact that, as he keeps fighting to force his idea of happiness on the world, he realizes that he is not the center of the universe. He needs to let people — including himself — find their own happiness. It is when he realizes this that he sees love has been in front of him the entire time. The film received lower critical reviews, but it remains a lighthearted romantic time loop comedy with fun performances and a big heart.

20 12:PM (1990)

A short film of a man stuck in a time loop on his lunch break.

A unique addition to the long list of time loop movies that exist, 12:01pm doesn’t take place over the course of a day or a week. Instead, this short film takes place over the course of a single lunch hour , or more accurately, over 59 minutes. Starring That 70s Show’s Kurtwood Smith as Myron Castleman, the movie sees his character start his time loop by standing in the middle of the road when he’s started his lunch break from work.

Myron, fortunately, spends one of the hours of his time loop seeing a news broadcast that details a report of “time bounces,” which is exactly what he finds happening to him, as he’s bounced back to the start of the 59 minutes as soon as it ends. He spends his next time loop chapter trying to find the scientist who predicted the time bounce. It’s an incredibly unique take on a time loop movie that manages not to get too repetitive despite the shorter time frame.

19 The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

Teens who like living in a time loop.

The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things turns the idea of the time loop on its head because it begs the question: why would you want to escape a time loop where you know how everything plays out? That’s the question for Mark (Kyle Allen), a teenager who uses the time loop to slightly change his decisions every day and make himself into a seemingly effortlessly cool individual.

When he meets Margaret (Kathryn Newton), however, his perspective on the time loop changes just a little bit. Instead of making herself cooler to other people, Margaret likes to create “tiny perfect things” within the time loop, moments of everyday beauty that can be missed when people are too busy moving on to the next thing . She finds them or creates them and returns to them again and again. It’s a great and unusual take on a time loop movie.

18 The Incredible Shrinking Wknd (2019)

Each time loop gets shorter in time.

The Incredible Shrinking Wknd is not the typical time-loop movie. Instead of repeating the same set time over and over, this time loop lessens by an hour every time it repeats. That puts a ticking clock on this time loop , creating tension that makes the audience and the main character wonder just what will happen when the time loop finally ends. When there is no time left, will they blink out of existence, or will something even worse happen?

That main character is Alba (Iria del Rio), who is someone quite literally stuck in a rut in her life when the time loop occurs. She finds herself unsure of where she wants her life to take her as she’s unemployed, living with her father, and heads out with friends to celebrate her 30th birthday. Alba has to find an opportunity to grow even as her chances seem to get shorter and shorter.

17 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

An anime about a young woman who creates her own time loop.

This beloved anime isn’t strictly a time loop movie, but it does have a major time loop element in it. The movie is more about time travel as a whole when the main character Makoto Konno (voiced by Riisa Naka) discovers she has the ability to time travel. She uses that ability without thinking about the consequences until she settles on her school days.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time sees the main character relive her school days over and over again, trying to fix her past mistakes. She chooses to loop time and go back and change things instead of necessarily getting stuck in a loop as most other fictional characters do . The narrative here, however, explores the unintended consequences of her changes. The movie highlights how small decisions can have a big impact.

For fans of the sci-fi anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, they should check out these 10 movies.

16 Two Distant Strangers (2020)

A time loop short movie about police brutality.

Two Distant Strangers is an unusual addition to the time loop selection because it is not a feature-length movie but a short film directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe. The duo teamed up to provide a half-hour movie depicting police brutality and the Black American community .

Joey Bada$$ stars as Carter, a man who has a one-night stand and just wants to get home to his dog the next day. He has an encounter with a police officer that becomes the focal point of a time loop. The thought-provoking short film earned a 2021 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film and is a great way to use the time loop trope in a modern context. It opens up conversations about racism, abuse of power, and police brutality, all with a very small window of time to tell a story.

15 Christmas Every Day (1996)

A christmastime time loop movie.

Originally based on an 1892 short story about a girl who wishes to have Christmas every day, the story was adapted to match the then-recent hit Groundhog Day when this movie released in 1996. Christmas Every Day revolves around Billy, a selfish teenager who's forced to relive Christmas every day until he understands its true meaning .

This slightly non-traditional Christmas movie premiered on The Family Channel and has since become a perennial favorite, replaying every Christmas on each iteration of The Family Channel: Fox Family, then ABC Family, and then Freeform. It offers the morality tale of something like A Christmas Carol , but it does so with a slightly different story featuring a '90s family. The movie actually got a remake in 2006 as then ABC Family created Christmas Do-Over with an adult protagonist instead.

14 Timecrimes (2007)

A hugely popular cult-favorite time loop movie.

In Timecrimes , a man is attacked by a mysterious masked assailant in the woods, leading him to take refuge in a secluded scientific research facility and the realization that he is already caught in the fateful web of an ongoing time loop, where his actions are already predetermined, but he is yet to discover exactly what they will be and why.

Timecrimes is a fascinatingly fun take on both sci-fi and horror concepts that may seem overused but are given a new lease on life here thanks to the time loop movie's smart plotting and down-to-earth style . It's unusual to see a time loop concept employed in horror, but there are a handful of horror movies that make the idea their own. While Timecrimes isn't as well known as some of the others, it's worth a watch.

13 The Final Girls (2015)

A 1980s based slasher time loop movie.

The Final Girls takes a unique twist on the time loop genre while also being a satire of the slasher genre. The movie transports a group of high school students into a 1980s slasher movie where they experience the movie's 92-minute running time repeatedly and have to relive its horrors and murders each time. The Final Girls premiered at the South By Southwest Film Festival, and critics praised it for its unique take on the slasher genre, its various tropes , and its clever use of the time loop concept.

Instead of strictly being a morality tale, The Final Girls is focused on the stages of grief . As the group of teens relive the slasher movie over and over, one of them has a particular connection to it: her mother was one of the stars and has since died. It's an interesting way to approach closure.

12 Before I Fall (2017)

A young woman ends up in a time loop after a car crash.

Based on the Young Adult book of the same name, Before I Fall stars Zoey Deutch as a popular teenager who starts reliving the same day over and over again following a car crash . Stuck in a time loop, she tries to change her ways and make a difference in the life of a girl she had bullied in the past. Like many time loop movies, the story plays with the idea of how small decisions can make big differences, but it also posits that some things are going to happen no matter what.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was later released to theaters to mixed reviews, with much criticism directed toward its ending, but Zoey Deutch's performance received high praise. The movie was also nominated for several Teen Choice Awards, winning one.

11 The Endless (2017)

A partial sequel to resolution.

The Endless expands on time loop ideas featured in the 2012 movie, Resolution , from directors, producers, and lead actors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Both of the movies feature some of the same characters, but it's not necessary to see one to understand the other. The story features a signature blend of sci-fi horror and indie dramedy and has an interesting bit of the hand-crafted quality to it (Benson also served as the film's writer while Moorhead also served as its cinematographer) give it a real personality .

The plot revolves around two brothers who return to an isolated–but largely non-threatening–cult commune that they once belonged to when they were young. Once there, they discover several people trapped in the time loop, which is all for one entity's amusement. While the setup for all the dark revelations that the two discover is fairly clear-cut, the time loop movie is still engagingly surprising and original throughout.

10 Triangle (2009)

Inspired by the greek myth of sisyphus.

A fun time loop movie that is also a variation on both the ghost ship story and slasher movies, Triangle sees a group of shipwrecked friends take refuge on a creepy old derelict cruise ship with a masked killer on board . Writer and director Christopher Smith was inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was cursed to repeatedly move a boulder up a mountain, but could never reach the top. The same idea is used in time loop movies that gradually get closer to their conclusion before the loop begins again.

The time loop angle comes into play throughout the movie as characters begin to notice events playing out again, with the identity and motivation of the killer evolving as the story goes along. Fans of twists in horror movies are sure to have a fun time with this amazing cerebral thriller as Triangle 's time loop plot leads to a twist ending that is clever and unexpected.

9 Primer (2004)

Shane carruth's debut time travel masterpiece.

A micro-budgeted masterpiece, Shane Carruth's debut movie Primer is one of the few science-fiction movies that focuses just as much on science as it does on fiction and one of an even smaller number that does it very well. The plot follows two aspiring inventors who accidentally discover time travel and, as much as that sounds like a setup for comedic hijinks, the realistic nature of the theoretical science employed leads to some very real problems for the two .

It's a fascinating watch for genre fans and provides perhaps the most hypothetically accurate time loop movie ever made. Much of that is likely due to Carruth having so much creative control over the movie. Carruth isn't just the writer and director, but also producer, editor, and even the one who wrote the movie's musical score.

8 Boss Level (2021)

A video game-inspired time loop movie.

As the title suggests, Boss Level is inspired by the gleeful destruction of video games, particularly retro shoot 'em-ups . The movie almost didn't get made. Originally developed in 2012 for 20th Century Fox, it didn't move forward with the studio. It took until 2017 for a creative team to get the movie back on track to film in 2018.

The plot follows Frank Grillo's gruff and down-on-his-luck hero as they fight through an endless repeat of a day filled with nothing but well-trained and well-armed assassins trying to kill him, and it exploits almost every opportunity for an action scene. It's not all car chases and explosions, however. The movie sticks close to the core credo of self-betterment through repetition, with Grillo's lousy husband/absent father taking the opportunity to reflect on his life in all the carnage of the time loop movie.

Time travel is a common theme in the sci-fi genre, and with every artist making their own time travel rules, not all movies make sense.

7 Predestination (2014)

A time traveling agent tries to catch a criminal.

This relatively small-scale Australian sci-fi movie was adapted from Robert Heinlein's complex short story "–All You Zombies–" and wasn't a big box office draw on release. Nevertheless, it quickly developed a loving fanbase that has rated it among the best time loop movies ever. Featuring a time-traveling agent that is trapped in a paradoxical game of cat and mouse with a bomber, Predestination is really a much more philosophical sci-fi movie than most and explores the theoretical concepts at the heart of the time loop idea to their fullest extent.

Much more than a morality play, Predestination examines the idea of using time travel to prevent bad acts and how that may or may not work. It also examines issues surrounding identity - whether it is crafted or predetermined, making for one of the most fascinating time loop movies .

6 Source Code (2011)

A military man tries to find a terrorist by reliving a tragedy.

Directed by Duncan Jones, Source Code tells the story of an army pilot (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is sent into the body of a deceased train passenger through whom he must relive the eight minutes leading up to the detonation of a bomb that destroys the train. Beyond the time loop angle, the movie also broaches the subject of alternate timelines created by the loops, something not often considered in the subgenre .

The movie is a taut thriller that's full of twists and turns as it relies on the protagonist not fully understanding how he was dropped into his predicament in the first place. It is another solid addition to Jake Gyllenhaal's filmography and he gives an excellent performance. It's a grippingly stylish take on the time loop movie idea, with the 8-minute window keeping the story moving along–quite fittingly–like a locomotive.

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The 23 best time travel movies of all time

From Back to the Future to Looper to Palm Springs, the time travel narrative traverses the film spectrum. Here are EW’s picks for 23 of the best.

Despite time travel being considered more of a science fiction trope, there is something positively enchanting about the idea of being able to go back to another time or forward into the future, even if just for a moment. While this list deals with a mix of films, some of which consider the hazards of time travel (mostly through time loops), for the most part, these films see time travel as a net positive. Time travel is also a sphere that is mostly occupied by television, thanks to shows like Doctor Who , Quantum Leap , and Lost , even though the number of time travel movies has shot up over the past two decades or so.

Unfortunately, the earliest this list goes is 1962; while there are some time travel movies from the Old Hollywood days, they lack a lot of the imagination and thoughtfulness about the nature of time that the movies on this list bring. This list is a mix of straight dramas, killer action, rollicking comedies, and heartfelt romance — and sometimes, all of those elements exist in a single movie. This list is unranked, and mostly grouped together according to each movie's particular "genre" of time travel: conventional time machines, time loops, magical circumstances, and missions to save the past and the future at the same time. These are 23 of the best time travel movies of all time.

La Jetée (1962)

Kicking off an unranked list of time-travel movies chronologically seems like a good place to start, actually. La Jetée is also probably the most experimental of the films on this list. A French Left Bank short film set in a post-nuclear apocalypse future told through narration and photographs, this is not the first time-travel film by any means, but its impact on the time-travel movies that came after, like 1995's 12 Monkeys , cannot be understated.

A young prisoner (Davos Hanich) is forced to undergo torturous experiments to induce time travel by using impactful memories — and unlike those who came before him, he succeeds, but he ends up discovering a time loop in the process. This is an incredibly stylish telling of what is now a familiar type of story, but in 1962, it was absolutely revolutionary. Honestly, because of its unique technical and visual elements, it still is.

Watch La Jetée on Criterion Channel

Time After Time (1979)

Nicholas Meyer is behind not one, but two brilliant time-travel movies that made this list. For this particular film, he not only wrote the screenplay but also made his directorial debut. The tale of two 19th-century former friends, H.G. Wells ( Malcolm McDowell , unusually wide-eyed and adorable) and John Leslie Stevenson a.k.a. Jack the Ripper ( David Warner , never more menacing yet charming), as they chase each other through 1979 San Francisco thanks to Wells' time machine, Time After Time doesn't spend too much time on the science of time travel, and it's better for it.

This is, in essence, a romantic thriller, as Wells falls for quirky bank clerk Amy ( Mary Steenburgen , delightfully independent) while in search of his old friend turned enemy. It has chase scenes, interrogation sequences, gory murder (courtesy of Jack), and a delightful sense of humor as Wells learns to navigate the future. He thought it would be a utopia; instead, he finds a world in sore need of his idealism, kindness, and dedication to justice.

Where to rent or buy Time After Time

The Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990)

While it's true that the first Back to the Future movie is probably one of the greatest time-travel movies of all time, with its two sequels living in its shadows, all three are essential to understanding the character of Marty McFly ( Michael J. Fox ). The Back to the Future trilogy is an '80s version of a bildungsroman about a teenager who has to learn that there's much more to life than being, well, a teenager. The first film, confidently directed by Robert Zemeckis , is imbued with so much humor and heart, it's all too easy to get sucked into a plot that should be convoluted, but that works so awfully well.

Back to the Future Part II evokes a bit less feeling than the original, and it's significantly grittier, but it's still " another fantastic voyage " as EW's Ira Robbins wrote, flinging Marty and Doc Brown ( Christopher Lloyd ) into a slightly prescient future version of 2015. Back to the Future Part III , meanwhile, restores the heart, but its story is slighter as it wraps up Marty's saga, sending Doc off on a brand new adventure all his own. While the first Back to the Future movie is required viewing for any time travel enthusiast, stick around for the rest of the trilogy, too: Even if this franchise's view of time travel is riddled with potential paradoxes, they are entertaining paradoxes nonetheless.

Watch the Back to the Future trilogy on Tubi

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

"Be excellent to each other" is the reigning philosophy of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure , the adventurous, fun-loving, stoner time-travel comedy that spawned a franchise, including a third installment released in 2020. Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves absolutely triumph in the roles of lackadaisical teenagers Bill and Ted, respectively, as they journey through time to bring back legends in order to pass their history class.

If the film seems silly, that's because it is meant to be. Whereas the Back to the Future franchise intended to craft a legend, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure kicks off the journey with George Carlin as the duo's time travel guide and mentor, Rufus, who intends to enlighten the pair on their mission and destiny. In any other film, the two budding legends, with their free-wheeling ideals and misadventures, would bring down the fabric of time and space itself. However, Excellent Adventure is not a time-travel film that forces you to think too hard about its premise; instead, it invites you to just kick back and have a good time.

Watch Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on Amazon Prime Video

Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Meet the Robinsons received mixed reviews when it first debuted, but of the 3-D animated movies that came out of Disney Animation in the 2000s, it's probably the most imaginative and outstanding of the bunch. Following a young orphan as he goes on a fantastic voyage into the future with another young boy who is a time traveler (kind of), Robinsons is stylish to a point and is filled with heart. It's probably also the most kid-friendly entry on this list, but its good-natured humor and complicated emotional palette will appeal to adults, too.

It also fits neatly into a more classic genre of time travel, with time machines, eccentric inventors, and kids looking to make an impact — not just on their time, but on the time they find themselves in, be it the near future or the distant past.

Watch Meet the Robinsons on Disney+

Run Lola Run (1998)

This is, in many ways, the time loop movie; debuting in 1998 to rave reviews, Run Lola Run , a German experimental thriller, is one you will not be able to shake, long after you've finished a viewing (or even a second, to catch what you missed the first time). The protagonist, Lola (Franka Potente, in a punishingly physical performance), is forced to relive a scenario, again and again, involving saving her boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) from certain death.

Potente's performance alone is worth the watch, and of the films on this list, Run Lola Run is actually one of the shorter ones, using its 80-minute runtime to its full advantage. The other time loop movies on this list are also worthy viewing experiences in a lot of ways, but for a pure shot of adrenaline, you can't miss the film EW deemed "a masterful pop piece, humming with raw romance, youth, and energy." If you're interested in more of director Tom Tykwer 's work, he also codirected 2012's Cloud Atlas with the Wachowskis , which, while not a pure time-travel movie, certainly plays with the intertwined nature of time and memory.

Where to rent or buy Run Lola Run

Source Code (2011)

Duncan Jones made a splash with his 2009 feature directorial debut Moon , a moody, philosophical insight into possible lunar labor practices in the future. He followed that thoughtful film up with Source Code , which, while not a movie that could always be described as "thoughtful," could certainly be described as moody. Hitchcockian in a sense, Source Code follows the misadventures of a U.S. Army pilot ( Jake Gyllenhaal ), as he attempts to stop a terrorist attack on a Chicago commuter train — repeatedly.

Source Code does have something to say about the commodification of bodies and minds in the service of the so-called "greater good"; while Gyllenhaal's Captain Stevens' services are no doubt helpful, are they necessary, the film asks. Is it really a good idea to force someone to relive an incredibly stressful idea, over and over again? The movie has its funny moments, even in the thick of all the intense chase scenes through the train; EW noted back in 2012, "The director finds moments of humor in unlikely corners of that train of fools." Indeed. If you enjoyed a film like The Commuter (2018), but thought it could use a time loop and the potential of alternate realities, Source Code is your next mandatory viewing.

Watch Source Code on Showtime

Looper (2012)

Before Rian Johnson introduced us to Benoit Blanc or journeyed to a galaxy far, far, away , he made the tangled time-travel film fittingly called Looper . Starring Bruce Willis , Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a younger Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt , Looper tells the tale of a contract killer sent after his next target: himself. This is a complicated film, and it is imperfect in a lot of ways, but its brutal appraisal of a possible dystopian future, and the efforts one man takes to prevent that future, are worth the amount of head-scratching you might find yourself doing throughout.

That Johnson likes his narratives to be impenetrable Gordian knots that only his designated protagonist can solve can perhaps be frustrating to the audience. However, if there's one thing that the Knives Out franchise seems to have reinforced, it's that not trying to unpack the mysteries of his work might work to your advantage as a viewer, because Johnson will probably have someone explain what just happened by the end, anyway. Like most of his films, Looper has a social conscience lurking within it as well. As EW's Lisa Schwarzbaum noted , "It's time to wipe the drops from our eyes or else get stuck in a loop, an endless cycle, a rut" about Looper 's core tenet back in 2012. It's a worthy takeaway from a film obsessed with self-fulfilling prophecies people find themselves within.

Watch Looper on Freevee

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Time loop movies need some incredible editing in order to really succeed, and Doug Liman 's enthralling Edge of Tomorrow certainly does so on that point. While Tom Cruise is the lead as a cowardly lion–turned–near-super soldier, all eyes are on Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski, who rules this movie as one of the few heroes this dystopian, post-alien invasion world actually has left. While the quest Cruise and Blunt go on may be a bit convoluted, the film is so incredibly entertaining because it's so sharply cut, keeping up the pace even as we see similar things over and over and over again.

A tip of the hat must, of course, go to the action, which is as compelling as you would expect from a mega-star who seems determined these days to do all of his own stunts. In an era of often depressing science fiction, Edge of Tomorrow , as EW's Chris Nashawaty mentioned , is a fun, "deliciously subversive kind of blockbuster" to immerse your senses in for two hours, if nothing else.

Watch Edge of Tomorrow on Max

Interstellar (2014)

While this film might technically be considered more of a space opera than a time-travel movie, there's no reason it can't be both. Christopher Nolan 's Interstellar is a dazzling portrait not just of space travel, but of the love between a father and daughter that stretches over the thin fabric of both time and space. Matthew McConaughey as the astronaut father has never been so serious, but acclaim needs to go to Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway as Nolan's strongest women characters to date.

Interstellar varies between being almost too tense to stand, and, at other points, utterly relaxed. As a cinematic experience, it feels all-encompassing, using every possible outstanding special effect to draw its viewers in before the script hits them with emotional truth. While Nolan can certainly be considered " cold and clinical " as EW noted, his space-journeying meditation on the intersection between love and time is anything but.

Watch Interstellar on Paramount+

Palm Springs (2020)

Releasing a time loop movie during a global pandemic where life felt increasingly repetitive and bizarre was certainly a strategy for Hulu and Neon with Palm Springs , but it paid off. While the film was certainly developed long before COVID-19, the scenario of two wedding guests trying to escape the situational loop they've found themselves definitely resonated at the time, and it still does. Palm Springs may seem serious from the above description, but it is actually a fun sci-fi-tinged tale that is largely driven by the comedic skills of leads Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti .

EW noted that the movie avoids " true discomfort comedy ," and honestly, it's all the better for it. If Palm Springs had been angrier, it wouldn't hit home so hard, and it also wouldn't be nearly as entertaining. Instead, it's an often sweet rom-com that doesn't take itself or its completely made-up time loop physics too seriously. It was a Sundance darling for a reason, never quite letting up on the wild ride it takes its characters or its viewers on over the course of its 90 minutes.

Watch Palm Springs on Hulu

Somewhere in Time (1980)

Somewhere in Time might employ one of the strangest methods of time travel of all the movies on this list: time travel by hypnosis, of all things. (And self-induced hypnosis, for that matter.) Time travel on such shaky ground can't possibly hold up, and it somewhat doesn't, in the end. Science fiction great Richard Matheson adapted his own novel into a lackadaisical screenplay for this film, starring Christopher Reeve in a perfectly tragic role as the young man who gives his all for a woman (Jane Seymour) he can never really have.

In many ways, Somewhere in Time feels like a curio of the era from which it came, serving as a time capsule of how stories were told in the late-'70s and early-'80s. That is actually not a mark against it; this is a film that is just a peak tragic romance in a lot of ways; special nods must also go to Christopher Plummer as the young woman's cynical mentor, who seems to possess a certain foresight about the impossibility of Reeve's character. If you want a time-travel movie that is beautifully romantic, from its iconic score to its grand cinematography, you shouldn't stray from Somewhere in Time .

Watch Somewhere in Time on Tubi

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

The tale of a grown, about-to-be-divorced woman forced to relive her high school days and her courtship with a dorky-cool musician, Peggy Sue Got Married might be one of Francis Ford Coppola 's most small-scale movies, but it decidedly has the most soul of his catalog of mostly epics. Peggy Sue ( Kathleen Turner , in an Oscar-nominated performance) just wants to leave Charlie (Nicolas Cage) behind, but her time-traveling coma dream conspires against her to force her to reconsider. (It forces Charlie to become a better person, too.)

The film combines the cynicism of a rightfully embittered '80s housewife with the unbridled idealism of a '60s teenager to make one heck of a sincere cinematic concoction. That the film starts at a high school reunion could mean it becomes awkward very quickly, but instead, it's completely joyful. Whether Peggy Sue Got Married started a tradition of "person has some sort of crisis and subsequently ends up in another time" movies is unclear, but it does have a rather clear descendant in one of our next entries.

Where to rent or buy Peggy Sue Got Married

Kate & Leopold (2001)

Doesn't everyone want a young Hugh Jackman from the 19th century to fall out of the sky and into their lives? Leopold (Jackman) is a foppish and geeky, if not perfect, gentleman who quickly has Kate ( Meg Ryan ) falling for him despite her modern understanding of the world. That so many time-travel movies somehow end up in romantic territory is an interesting phenomenon, but one that does make sense. There is something appealing about falling for someone whose time is not your own.

Kate & Leopold is decidedly not a perfect film, although it is the first of director James Mangold 's and Jackman's collaborations (see 2017's Logan for the much grittier future fruits of their labor). It's fluffy, it's light, and it creates a paradox without even really acknowledging it. Someone looked at the Meg Ryan comedies of the '80s and '90s and asked, "But what if we made them science fiction?" It works in spite of itself, with Jackman's physical comedy as he plays " a doll of a boyfriend " and Ryan's sardonic tone carrying the day.

Watch Kate & Leopold on Paramount+

13 Going on 30 (2004)

When a 13-year-old girl is crushed after being tricked at her own birthday party, she makes a wish to be "30, flirty, and thriving," quickly waking up the next day to find herself just that, in the body of Jennifer Garner . Instead of traveling back to the past à la the protagonist of Peggy Sue Got Married , Jenna (Garner, Christa B. Allen) ends up in a potential future, where she is all the things she wished for, but definitely not as happy as she thought she would be.

The 2004 rom-com is a magical time travel tale — there's literally "magic wishing dust" — but that doesn't take away from the hilarity that comes with a 13-year-old trying to navigate an adult woman's life. Of course, in the end, Jenna learns her lesson — it's okay to just be young, for a little bit longer — but the journey she goes on as she discovers not just herself but also her true love ( Mark Ruffalo ) is worth all the silliness in the end.

Watch 13 Going on 30 on Max

Mirai (2018)

This lovely little gem directed by Japanese animation visionary Mamoru Hosoda tells the story of a little boy who unhappily gets a baby sister and ends up learning a lot of lessons about the past and the future. Kun (Moka Kamishiraishi) gets a chance to meet not only the grown, future version of his sister Mirai (Haru Kuroki) but also members of his family at different points in their lives. Mirai is a delightfully imaginative film with some gorgeous animation that contains some " mind-boggling visuals " as EW's Christian Holub pointed out.

It is also a genuinely heartwarming tearjerker; while all ends well for little Kun, the meditations this film offers on the nature of family bonds over the course of multiple generations might just leave you in a state of reflection on your own ties that bind. While many time-travel movies tell their stories from the perspective of youth, few unveil them through the eyes of a rambunctious preschooler, and gaining that perspective, in this case, allows for a truly precious journey.

Where to rent or buy Mirai

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

If you know anything about Star Trek , you know the fourth film is "the one with the whales," but if you don't know anything about the franchise, you probably also know that this one is "the one with the whales." Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home often gets acclaim as the funny Star Trek movie, but it brings a lot more than just comedy. The original crew of the Enterprise fling themselves back in time to save humpback whales in the past in order to save the future from a strange probe that threatens Earth...and will stop, but only if it hears some natural whalesong.

The crew finds themselves in 1986 San Francisco, so it's great that Time After Time's Nicholas Meyer returned to the franchise not as director (he helmed Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ), but as a screenwriter. Watching these characters from a literal utopia navigate a world not designed for them creates not only dynamic humor but great tension as well. As they almost always do, the Enterprise team breaks all the rules in order to save the future as well as the whales. Or, as EW noted in a tribute to the film: "It has heart, and passion — Save the Whales! — and a tremendous sense of fun."

Watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home on Max

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek: First Contact doesn't particularly feel as much like a Star Trek movie as Voyage Home does, and EW, in fact, says it harnessed "a sleek, confident style fully independent of its predecessors." As a Trekkie, this may not be the most complimentary way of looking at it, but as a film fan, however, it might be the highest honor someone could bestow upon a movie within this franchise. Captain Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) turns from a peace-loving diplomat to a Borg-slaying action star while the rest of his crew tries to get the inventor of the Warp Drive (the technology upon which the future relies) to stop drinking so much and actually invent the thing. James Cromwell, as the inventor, Zefram Cochrane, serves as the comedic relief for a remarkably serious and often scary film.

The Borg, '90s Star Trek 's biggest villain, are the main antagonists here, and they do provide some chilling action, even if the introduction that they can easily time travel would really wreck things for some future Trek series. Stewart manages the transition from his mild-mannered diplomat to traumatized warrior well, turning in one of his most ferocious performances. Star Trek: First Contact also gives us a look at a post-apocalyptic world in the midst of a recovery, and in that respect, it makes it both a thoughtful entry in the Trek canon and a time travel action-thriller with a brain.

Watch Star Trek: First Contact on Max

The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

What would a best time-travel films list be without including at least one of the Terminator movies? While an often brutal franchise with diminishing returns after James Cameron 's first two installments, the misadventures of an evil cyborg-turned-good (played to physical perfection by Arnold Schwarzenegger ) in a consistently dangerous world are always thrilling and entertaining.

Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor, mother of the future's savior (and much, much more), is also due an acknowledgment; while the films are remembered for Schwarzenegger's portrayal of the T-800, Hamilton is the heart of this franchise a great deal of the time, as she refuses to die or let her son face the same fate, either. The first two Terminator films are so much more than "scary robots take over the world, everybody dies" – they're action-packed, bloody thrillers with startling narratives, pioneering visual effects, and, of course, time travel as the catalyst.

Watch The Terminator on Max

Where to rent or buy Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

"Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke...I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED": This is part of the joke classified ad from which this movie was inspired. You might inspire a more risky movie from the tone of the ad, but what you get is a light comedy that served as the first leading film role for Aubrey Plaza . This Colin Trevorrow -directed film isn't so much about time travel as it is about the cultural assumptions that surround the concept, and those who think it might be possible.

In that sense, it's a meta-narrative on nearly every time travel story which has come before it, and quite possibly, that will come after it. EW called it " a fable of 'redemption' "; redemption, and the acts of salvaging something, anything, for the benefit of the future, is a regular time travel theme, from all those time machines to all those time loops. Safety Not Guaranteed manages to explore these themes with a lot of irony and a splash of heart.

Where to rent or buy Safety Not Guaranteed

'Totally Killer' — Everything We Know About the Time-Traveling Horror Film

Quick links, when is 'totally killer' coming out, is there a trailer for 'totally killer', who stars in 'totally killer', what is 'totally killer' about, who is making 'totally killer'.

Get ready for a total blast with Totally Killer , the latest flick directed by Nahnatchka Khan , premiering just in time for the Halloween spirit. Starring Kiernan Shipka and Julie Bowen , the upcoming movie follows Jamie (Shipka), whose mom, Pam (Bowen), is coming to terms with some seriously freaky stuff – the comeback of the Sweet Sixteen Killer, the creepy masked dude who went on a teenage girl slaying spree back in the '80s.

As things get intense, they're returning to 1987! They're teaming up with a teenage version of Pam ( Olivia Holt ) to put an end to the killer's reign of terror. Produced by Blumhouse, the minds behind modern horror staples like Insidious and The Purge , brace yourself for a wild blend of past and present as Totally Killer takes you on a time-tripping, spine-tingling ride to uncover secrets and face down some seriously bloody baddies. Here’s everything we know so far about Totally Killer .

Editor's Note: This article was updated on October 3.

Related: The 10 Best Blumhouse Horror Movies, According to IMDb

Mark your calendars because Totally Killer is set to make its premiere on Prime Video starting October 6, 2023. It's a date you won't want to miss! Additionally, Totally Killer is also set to screen at Beyond Fest 2023 , with the screening scheduled for October 4 at 7:30 PM PT at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, CA.

Totally Killer 's two-and-a-half-minute trailer dropped on September 12. The time-traveling horror flick is Scream meets Back to the Future . The film's outlandish setting offers a fresh take on the time travel and horror genre.

Kiernan Shipka is a rising star in the entertainment world. With her breakthrough role as Sally Draper in the critically acclaimed series Mad Men , Shipka showcased her acting prowess at a young age. More recently, she charmed audiences as the lead in Netflix's dark and spellbinding adaptation of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina . She's also starred in White House Plumbers .

Olivia Holt first caught the spotlight as Kim in Disney XD's Kickin' It , showcasing her talent for both comedy and drama. She dazzled audiences as Dagger in the Marvel television series Cloak & Dagger , where she displayed her range in a complex and dynamic role.

Julie Bowen gained widespread recognition as Claire Dunphy in the beloved TV series Modern Family , effortlessly blending comedy and heart in her portrayal. Randall Park made his mark as Louis Huang in the popular sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and the Netflix movie Always Be My Maybe . Park recently made his directorial debut with Shortcomings .

In addition to its stellar cast, Totally Killers features a lineup that includes Charlie Gillespie , Lochlyn Munro , Troy L. Johnson , Liana Liberato , Kelcey Mawema , Stephi Chin-Salvo , Anna Diaz , Ella Choi , Jeremy Monn-Djasngar , Nathaniel Appiah , and Jonathan Potts .

Below is the official synopsis for Totally Killer :

“35 years after the shocking murder of three teens, the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer“ returns on Halloween night to claim a fourth victim. 17-year-old Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) ignores her overprotective mom’s (Julie Bowen) warning and comes face to face with the masked maniac and on the run for her life, accidentally time travels back to 1987, the year of the original killings. Forced to navigate the unfamiliar and outrageous culture of the 1980s, Jamie teams up with her teen mom (Olivia Holt) to take down the killer once and for all before she’s stuck in the past forever."

The latest images from Totally Killer offer audiences a sneak peek into the movie's electrifying style, seamlessly blending with the blood and gore you'd expect from a slasher flick. Brace yourself for a nostalgic trip with those rad '80s hairstyles and outfits (who doesn't love a stylish blowout?). And let's not forget. Nothing channels the old-school vibe quite like a group of people donning eerie masks and a heart-pounding scene of someone wielding a baseball bat while hiding in the toilet. Totally Killer truly evokes memories of those cherished horror classics from the past that audiences simply can't get enough of.

Related: 'Five Nights at Freddy's,' 'Insidious: The Red Door,' and More Blumhouse Releases Get Thrilling Travel Posters

Totally Killer is directed by Nahnatchka Khan . Starting out with her writing roots embedded in shows like Malcolm in the Middle and American Dad! , Khan isn't a stranger to the entertainment scene. She's the creator and the executive producer behind the ABC comedy series Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 . Khan previously teamed up with Park on the NBC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and her very Netflix debut film, Always Be My Maybe , making Totally Killer another addition to their collaboration list.

Khan shares her excitement about the project with Deadline :

“The idea of a horror-comedy time-travel movie is, I’m gonna be honest, something I never thought of in my life,” Khan said. “So when I was approached by the amazing creatives at Blumhouse and Amazon about Totally Killer, it was just so unique and exciting I had to be involved. And then add this incredible cast on top of that? Everybody get readyyyyyyy.”

At the production helm of Totally Killer is Jason Blum , who brings his expertise through his Blumhouse Television platform. Adam Hendriks and Greg Gilreath from Divide/Conquer are joining him on the production team. Blumhouse, a seasoned player in the realm of horror, boasts recent triumphs like M3GAN , currently available for streaming on Prime Video . Blum also serves as producer for the film adaptation of the fan-favorite video game Five Nights at Freddy’s , premiering this October. In the spirit of the film’s release, Blumhouse tweeted an announcement with a cryptic riddle.

Also to Deadline , President of Blumhouse Television Chris McCumber comments on how director Khan is the perfect choice to direct the movie:

“We thought this genre mash-up of slasher/comedy with a twist of time travel was just so fun, and Nahnatchka Khan is perfect to direct.”

The screenplay for Totally Killer comes courtesy of Jen D’Angelo , who penned the original script by David Matalon and Sasha Perl-Raver . Notably, D’Angelo wears multiple hats in the industry, as she's also the writer behind the upcoming sister comedy Quiz Lady , featuring the dynamic duo Sandra Oh and Awkwafina . Conversely, Matalon boasts a dual role as director and writer for The Clearing , while Perl-Raver showcased her writing abilities in the TV movie Let’s Get Married .

'Totally Killer' — Everything We Know About the Time-Traveling Horror Film

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The Best Vacation Horror Movies, Ranked By Fans

A road trip can be a blast - that is, until a chainsaw wielding maniac enters the picture. Then, the vacation's over. The best horror movies about travel gone wrong feature characters as tourists that are out of their element and fighting for their lives. This is a list of the top scary vacation horror movies including everything from The Cabin in the Woods to Wolf Creek to Joy Ride . Hopefully none of these horror vacation scenarios happen to you on your next family road trip.

What films will you find on this list of the best horror movies about traveling ? In The Evil Dead, a trip that should have been a fun getaway turns into a living nightmare when a group of friends accidentally resurrect a demon. Sam Raimi wrote and directed this classic horror film starring Bruce Campbell. The Shallows is another frightening film about a horrific vacation, this time involving the real-world threat of a hungry shark. Eli Roth's 2005 film Hostel sent a chill down the spine of anyone who has taken backpacking vacations through Europe. Other good horror films about travelling combine the anxieties of going someplace new with some real dangers.

Which horror movies about travelers deserve the top spots on the list? Vote your favorites towards the top. Be sure to check back for new movies will killer vacation plots based on groups of friends or families travelling as they are released.

While Wrong Turn may seem incredibly cliche for horror audiences today, back in 2003, this folk horror slow burn of cannibals and vacations gone wrong was the blueprint on how to tell a terrifying tale that will make audiences terrified to ever go on a road trip again. Set in the backwoods of West Virginia, after a group of friends has car trouble and panic about being stranded, they realize they are not alone in these woods, and that something terrifying lurks just beyond what they can see. Being hunted in and of itself is scary, but throw in being utterly stranded with mutated cannibal freaks into the mix, and nightmare fuel for every audience is born.

Released : 2003
Directed by : Rob Schmidt

The Hills Have Eyes

Bloodthirsty mutant cannibals, government atomic zones, and being hunted down to feast on your flesh may not seem like the perfect vacation, but in The Hills Have Eyes , it is a horrifying and vile reality that a poor family must endure. Arguably one of the most graphic, disturbing, and disgusting horror films ever created, The Hills Have Eyes shows what happens when every single thing that could go wrong on a road trip goes wrong. Showcasing some of the most horrifying and vile creatures of the 2000s, the film will leave audiences in a paranoid stance anytime they hear the slightest thing wrong in their cars.

Released : 2006
Directed by : Alexandre Aja

Possibly the greatest fear for people on a road trip is being stalked and hunted by a crazed lunatic in a car. Now replace car with massive semi-truck, and a terror unlike any other is realized to perfection in Joy Ride . Most people who have ever been behind the wheel of a car have experienced road rage in one form or another, but it just takes saying one wrong thing to the wrong person to create a living breathing nightmare from which there is no waking. Joy Ride may be a bit campy at times, but the underlying fear of being hunted by a psychopath behind the wheel is something audiences won't ever be able to shake.

Released : 2001
Directed by : John Dahl

The Descent

Widely regarded as one of the best horror films to ever come out of the UK, The Descent is a wonderfully crafted jump scare bonanza that will ensure audiences never want to go spelunking in their lives. An uber claustrophobic experience that will leave audiences holding their breath whether they realize it or not, this terrifying adventure of cave diving just gets more tense and terrifying as the film goes on. When the group of incredibly strong and powerful female protagonists realizes they aren't in the caves alone, then a second act of utter blood-curdling terror kicks into gear that will unlock an entire new phobia in the minds and hearts of viewers.

Released : 2005
Directed by : Neil Marshall

The Cabin in the Woods

On the surface, The Cabin in the Woods seems like every generic would-be slasher film ever created. A group of college kids go to a creepy cabin for a mini-vacation and suddenly bad things begin to happen. However, the film has so many twists and turns it would make a roller coaster jealous. Being stranded isn't nearly as scary as being hunted by forces outside of your control, and the film showcases this fear beautifully. Nothing is as it seems, and the only way to survive is to fight.

Released : 2011
Directed by : Drew Goddard

Every couple's worst nightmare comes to life in brutal and spine-chilling light in 2007's cult classic, Vacancy . When a couple gets stranded while traveling, they decide to spend the night at a local motel, only to realize they aren't alone, and if they don't act fast, they will be the stars and victims of a crazed killer's next snuff film. The film takes great pride in making every aspect of this stalking feel incredibly realistic and plausible, which just makes the film all the more terrifying.

Released : 2007
Directed by : Nimród Antal

The quintessential movie about vacations gone wrong, Hostel makes sure anyone and everyone who watches it will never want to stay in these lovely little hotels ever again. While a group of college graduates travel to Europe for vacation, they soon realize that their home for the summer is not what it seems, and sex, drugs, violence, and pain lay in wait for them. This paranoia-inducing thriller and gore fest is one of the most shocking and vile films ever created, and gave way to the “torture-porn” moniker akin to Saw . Showcasing the gnarly underbelly of Hostels in Europe and how wrong things can go for tourists, this magnificent horror film will leave audiences utterly shaken.

Directed by : Eli Roth

A film that will crawl under your skin in more ways than one, The Ruins shows the repercussions of going against the rules, the ignorance of man, and the danger of vacationing in Mexico. A masterclass in body horror and making audiences squirm, The Ruins has managed to become a massive cult classic thanks to incredible acting, realistic depictions of tourists in terror, and a shocking and surprisingly well-crafted story. Sometimes people aren't the most dangerous of creatures, and The Ruins shows that even the smallest beings can be a deadly threat.

Released : 2008
Directed by : Carter Smith

As most films on this list prove, Wolf Creek instills the idea that car troubles will indeed be the downfall of all tourists on vacation. When a couple's car breaks down and they are stranded in the Australian outback, a dangerous and deadly hunter decides they are his next prey, and they must fight to survive at any cost. A gritty, dirty, and low-budget film that feels almost too real for comfort that was “based on true events,” Wolf Creek shows the disgusting and vile nature of man, and the struggle to survive in a world you're unfamiliar with. Not for the faint of heart or weak-willed, the film takes great pleasure in making viewers squirm.

Directed by : Greg McLean

Train to Busan

A film that helped revolutionize the dying zombie subgenre in horror, Train to Busan was a stomach-churning, pulse-pounding, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that pulls no punches in drama, gore, and violence, and will have your palms nice and sweaty by the time the credits roll. As a zombie apocalypse outbreaks in the world, a young man must protect his daughter at any cost as their trip to Busan, South Korea became a living nightmare. Taking place nearly entirely on a train and in a train station, the film feels incredibly claustrophobic as zombies unlike anything mainstream audiences have ever seen rush in to chop on some human flesh.

Released : 2016
Directed by : Yeon Sang-ho

A Perfect Getaway

Heading to the tropical island of Hawaii on their honeymoon, A Perfect Getaway shows that even the most wonderful and gorgeous of areas can be home to some of the most dangerous and vile monsters in the world. An utterly terrifying battle for survival, the film showcases that just because someone seems nice, that doesn't mean they don't have a hideous monster on the inside ready to pounce. A Perfect Getaway will undoubtedly have any and all vacationers looking sideways at their guides from here on out.

Released : 2009
Directed by : David Twohy

Chair lifts are a scary enough contraption in and of themselves, two tiny wires holding up dozens of people as they propel hundreds of feet in the air, but in the 2010 hit film Frozen , every skier's worst nightmare comes to life as a group of friends become stranded on the lift for weeks. A film rich in paranoia and dread, Frozen forces audiences into the shoes of the most poor unfortunate souls in the world as they slowly begin to turn on one another. Surivial is key, and when stranded with friends with freezing cold temperatures coming in for the kill, unspeakable acts unfold to make it to the next day.

Released : 2010
Directed by : Adam Green

The Evil Dead

The quintessential cabin in the woods horror film, The Evil Dead helped revolutionize the horror genre by showcasing a brutal, bloody, and utterly terrifying adventure of a group of college kids who are hunted down by a supernatural presence in the middle of the woods. Widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made, the film at its core is indeed a film about a group of tourists who venture to a cabin, and everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Director Sam Rami exploded onto the scene with one of the most important and genre-defining films of all time with The Evil Dead .

Released : 1981
Directed by : Sam Raimi

The Shallows

One of the surprise hit horror films of the 2010s, The Shallows is a perfectly paced and executed venture into terror, paranoia, and sharks! When a woman finds herself stranded in the middle of the ocean with a great white shark looking to take a bite out of her, she must navigate the waters of this strange land and do whatever it takes to survive. Isolation, desperation, an paranoia creep in every crevasse of this spine-chilling movie, and much like Jaws before it, after watching The Shallows , audiences will never want to go in the water again.

Directed by : Jaume Collet-Serra

During a romantic getaway in the remote woods, a lovely young couple finds themselves the prey for a vicious and malicious attack of modern youth gone wild. Showcasing the dangers of group gang mentality and the lengths individuals will go to get what they want, Eden Lake is an utterly terrifying and vicious film that shows the world that nothing is scarier than a group of deranged and bitter teenagers.

Directed by : James Watkins

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

A remake of arguably the greatest film the world has ever seen, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is arguably the perfect tourist horror movie. A group of young travelers venture to rural Texas but while driving through, they come across a corrupt police officer who has made it his mission to make their life a living hell. Throw in cannibalism, and everyone's favorite skin-wearing killer Leatherface, and one of the scariest films of all time is born.

Directed by : Marcus Nispel

A breakup film wrapped in a cult film wrapped in a tourist horror movie, Midsommar has quite a few layers to unpack throughout its nearly three-hour runtime, but an epic the likes of which horror rarely receives presents itself beautifully. When traveling to Sweden with her boyfriend and his group of college friends, Dani audiences quickly realize that something far more sinister is afoot here and that no one can be trusted. Nothing is scarier than seemingly everyone out to get you, and in this brilliant paranoid thriller, everyone is.

Released : 2019
Directed by : Ari Aster

Cabin Fever

Released : 2002

I Spit on Your Grave

Sometimes, isolation doesn't truly mean you are alone, and I Spit on Your Grave showcased this in spine-chilling effect as one of the vilest, most disturbing, and shocking horror films of all time . A hybrid of revenge and tourist horror films, I Spit on Your Grave is not an easy watch, but one that will leave a resounding impact on audiences. The hunted becomes the hunter in this chilling and ultra-violent film of violating the wrong woman.

Directed by : Steven R. Monroe

The stereotypical tourist horror movie has dumb characters that do dumb things that the audience can relish in seeing them get just desserts, and there is no finer example of this than Turristas . A film that relishes in swiftly and vengefully dishing out justice to those who continuously break the rules, Turistas showcases that just because you are guests in a far away land, that doesn't mean you can do whatever you want and is the ultimate warning for those who think they can.

Directed by : John Stockwell

Akin to the massive horror hit The Descent, The Cave also follows a group of individuals who travel into a remote undisturbed underground ecosystem, but instead of seeking thrills, this group is seeking science. On the hunt for a new species that is rumored to be dwelling deep under the world, this may not be a vacation, but the group of biologists is undoubtedly tourists in this strange new world, and the deeper they explore, the most they realize exactly how far out of there element they are.

Directed by : Bruce Hunt

The Descent Part 2

Directed by : Jon Harris

Directed by : Christopher Smith

Black Water

Directed by : David Nerlich, Andrew Traucki

Directed by : Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa

Directed by : Chris Kentis

Directed by : Toby Wilkins

Directed by : Abel Ferry

Directed by : Roar Uthaug

Directed by : Andrew Traucki

Directed by : Jordan Peele

Snakes on a Plane

Directed by : David R. Ellis

Released : 1977
Directed by : Peter Yates

Released : 2022
Directed by : Ti West

A Lonely Place to Die

Directed by : Julian Gilbey

Fear Island

Directed by : Michael Storey

Endangered Species

Released : 2021
Directed by : M.J. Bassett

Directed by : Brad Anderson

Race with the Devil

Released : 1975
Directed by : Jack Starrett

He's Out There

Released : 2018
Directed by : Quinn Lasher

Long Weekend

Released : 1978
Directed by : Colin Eggleston

Directed by : Taylor Chien

Released : 2020
Directed by : Dave Franco

Infinity Pool

Released : 2023
Directed by : Brandon Cronenberg

Directed by : Ferdinando Cito Filomarino

And Soon the Darkness

Directed by : Marcos Efron

The Last Voyage of the Demeter

Directed by : André Øvredal

Berlin Syndrome

Released : 2017
Directed by : Cate Shortland

Directed by : M. Night Shyamalan

Timber Falls

Directed by : Tony Giglio

Kill Theory

Directed by : Chris Moore

Directed by : Edward Anderson

Rattlesnake

Directed by : Zak Hilditch

Directed by : Kaare Andrews

Directed by : Michael Goi

Released : 2012
Directed by : Ben Wheatley

Released : 2024
Directed by : Michael Leavy
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The best horror movies in every subgenre of horror. Whether it's evil dolls, terrible vacations, or anything in between, we've got a list for it.

'The Adam Project' & 9 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix

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No matter the time period, time travel movies have always been popular. Whether it is the latest Ryan Reynolds and Netflix collaboration The Adam Project or the sci-fi action masterpiece The Terminator , time travel fans are spoiled for choice. Netflix in particular has plenty of great movies in the genre worth visiting, and some of the best time travel movies on Netflix will have you watching them over and over again.

In Netflix time travel movie The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays a fighter pilot from the future, who crash lands in the present and meets his 12-year-old self. Together they must save the world in a journey that harkens back to Amblin classics from the 1980s while featuring some great needle drops.

Time travel stories have always been a popular narrative choice, with the highest-grossing film of all time, Avengers: Endgame , fitting in the genre. Videogames such as Mortal Kombat 11 also use time travel to great effect. But with The Adam Project being a Netflix original, there are more time travel movies on Netflix to watch after seeing Reynolds quip his way through another memorable performance.

Updated on May 28, 2023, by Ty Weinert:

10 'naked' (2017).

Rob ( Marlon Wayans ) is about to marry the girl of his dreams, Megan ( Regina Hall ). But after a night out with his best friend results in Rob waking up naked in an elevator, he must race to the altar to make it in time. Failing that, Rob wakes up again in the elevator, realizing he is trapped in a time loop and must relive the hour over and over again.

Working like a mix of The Hangover and Groundhog Day , Naked will appeal to anyone who enjoyed those screwball comedies. While it is not one of the best time loop movies , it still offers some laughs and is a good enough way to kill an afternoon on the couch.

Watch on Netflix

9 'Captain Nova' (2021)

Like The Adam Project , Captain Nova follows a fighter pilot who is sent back in time to stop a catastrophe. Nova ( Kika Van De Vijver ) finds herself transformed into her younger self due to her journey through time, however, making it hard for adults to take her seriously as she warns them of the dangers to come.

Hailing from the Netherlands, Captain Nova makes for a nice change from the American movies that dominate the time travel genre on Netflix. Due to its protagonist's youthful transformation, Captain Nova is a kid-friendly take on the formula and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

8 'See You Yesterday' (2019)

Produced by legendary director Spike Lee , See You Yesterday follows two teenage scientists, who are attempting to create a time machine. After one of their older brothers is killed in a police shooting, the pair activate their machine to travel to the past and save him.

While still following the conventions of time travel movies, See You Yesterday stands out with a plot that focuses on relevant social issues. By bringing light to matters that are still plaguing society four years after release, the film is a unique choice within the time travel Netflix catalog.

7 'In the Shadow of the Moon' (2019)

Beginning in 1988, In the Shadow of the Moon follows Thomas Lockhart ( Boyd Holbrook ), a police officer determined to become a detective. When his city is plagued by a serial killer, Lockhart begins investigating, eventually discovering the killer comes back every nine years. As the case deepens, time travel eventually becomes a factor.

In the Shadow of the Moon feels like a callback to the detective thrillers of the '90s, like Se7en . While it does tend to lose focus as more outrageous plot points are introduced, In the Shadow of the Moon remains a solid choice for anyone looking to discover their next crime obsession.

6 'Synchronic' (2019)

Another quality entry in acclaimed duo Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson 's trippy shared universe , Synchronic stars Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan as paramedics and lifelong friends. After a new drug sweeps their city, resulting in the deaths of its users, the pair investigates after Dornan's daughter goes missing.

The film delves into time travel in ways that will not be spoiled here, but needless to say Synchronic is a trippy film with a central mystery that unravels over time. Both leads excel in their roles and share great chemistry, with Mackie, in particular, delivering a fantastic performance that shows what he can offer when given more meaty roles outside the MCU.

5 'ARQ' (2016)

Waking up to intruders breaking into his home, an engineer ( Robbie Amell ) finds himself trapped within a time loop. With each death sending him back to the start of the invasion, he works to defeat his pursuers and escape with his lover ( Rachael Taylor ).

ARQ works as a sci-fi spin on films such as Happy Death Day , with the audience learning new information alongside the protagonist with each subsequent loop and eventual death. While not as charming as Happy Death Day , ARQ still offers an enjoyable take on the genre.

4 'When We First Met' (2018)

When We First Met follows Adam DeVine , of Workaholics fame, as he repeatedly goes back in time to try and win over the girl of his dreams ( Alexandra Daddario ). Being a romantic comedy, the film stands apart from other time travel movies that focus on more serious consequences.

While We First Met does not offer much new to the genre, though DeVine gives an admirable performance to help carry the film. Fans of his stand-up or the aforementioned Workaholics should have a good time watching his numerous attempts to escape the hellish nightmare called "the friend zone."

3 'Long Story Short' (2021)

Waking up the morning after his wedding to discover that his life is jumping forward in time every few minutes, Teddy ( Rafe Spall ) is forced to use his dwindling time to stay with the woman he loves. With every jump causing them to drift further apart, time is running out for the bumbling lead.

Like When We First Met , Long Story Short uses time travel in a romantic comedy , albeit in a more urgent way. The Australian film was directed by Josh Lawson , known to audiences as Kano, the best part of the recent Mortal Kombat film.

2 'The Adam Project' (2022)

When fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) travels from 2050 to 2012, he is forced to work together with his 12-year-old self in order to get back home and save his deceased wife Laura ( Zoe Saldana ). The two Adams end up going on a journey full of heart and humor as they travel through time.

The latest in the long line of big-budget blockbusters on Netflix, The Adam Project is one of the best free movies you can access on the service. Reynolds is always a charming lead, and along with Saldana, they are supported by a winning cast that includes Mark Ruffalo , Jennifer Garner , and Catherine Keener .

1 'Mirage' (2018)

When Vera ( Adriana Ugarte ) and her family move into a new home, they discover that a boy died there thirty years ago. Finding a way to communicate with the boy in the past, Vera warns him of his death and saves his life, only to change the flow of time in the process.

As the best time travel movie Netflix has to offer, Mirage is a compelling mystery thriller from Spain. As more circumstances of the boy's death emerge, greater narrative threads are pulled into this time-bending journey, with Ugarte delivering a great performance as the central character.

NEXT: The Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made, Ranked

The Adam Project (2022)

The Scariest Travel Horror Movies Of All Time

Holidays and trips are generally supposed to be fun-filled occasions when a person and their friends or family get to enjoy fresh scenery away from the monotony of home. But since horror movies' favorite thing to do is subvert the expectations of what should happen when everything is going smoothly, when travel goes wrong in a genre movie, it goes fully into a lower circle of hell for everyone involved. Where relaxation might have originally been the name of the travel game, everyone's plans must quickly shift from tourist/traveler to survival mode as they battle supernatural and/or human monsters, often to the death.

Travel horror movies have spectacularly high body counts as the protagonists struggle to stay alive in the added stress of an unfamiliar or foreign land they must navigate along with whatever fresh horror the story brings into their orbit. From family reunions gone wrong, road trips run off-road, the spooky side of international relocation, plane crashes, and even research voyages abroad that end in murder and mayhem, these are the scariest travel horror movies of all time.

Don't Look Now

Based on Daphne DuMaurier's chilling novel of the same name, Don't Look Now follows John and Laura Baxter after the drowning death of their young daughter Christine in the pond next to their English country home. Overwhelmed by grief and post-traumatic stress, the Baxters send their son to boarding school in London and the couple retreats to Venice, where John will be helping restore an ancient church. While enjoying a canal-side meal, the Baxters meet Heather and Wendy; Heather claims to be psychic, and has messages for the Baxters from Christine. Heather says Christine's spirit has been following them around.

Told in a phantasmagorical style that weaves a variety of enigmatic imagery throughout the movie, Don't Look Now sees John become obsessed with a child's figure he sees running around Venice in the same red raincoat his daughter used to wear. Time also becomes slippery as John's grief plays tricks on his mind, all the while reports of a serial killer roaming Venice adds another menacing backdrop to this lush, haunting, and shocking installment of travel horror.

When Adelaide was a little girl she went with her family to Santa Cruz, California on vacation. While there, she wandered off and encountered a doppelgänger who assaulted her, and the experience left her temporarily mute.

Decades later, Adelaide returns to Santa Cruz with her husband Gabe and their two children Zora and Jason, even against Adelaide's better judgment and her terrible premonition that little girl she once saw was out to hurt her. When a family appears on their doorstep, looking just like them, Adelaide's nightmare turns into her family's too, as the violent interlopers terrorize and torture the family.

As it turns out, there is an entire world of people living underground who share a soul with their identical twins above, and they have surfaced to reclaim lives that were taken from them in this ghastly experiment. As our heroes battle their Tethereds, the truth of Adelaide's shocking past is finally revealed in a terrifying and heartbreaking climax, securing Us as one of the scariest travel films ever.

Death Proof

As if airports aren't uncomfortable enough, in Quentin Tarantino 's grindhouse film Death Proof , an airport is the hunting ground for a serial killer named Stuntman Mike who chooses his female victims in the parking lot. The first half tells the story of Austin DJ Jungle Julia, Shanna, and their visiting friend Arlene, who meet Stuntman Mike at local bar. Arlene notices Mike's creepy muscle car with an aggressive skull and lightning bolt design on its hood and suspects he's been following them. As the night winds down, Mike claims that his stunt car is death proof, but only for the person driving it, as he vehicular murders Pam to go on to crash his car into Shanna's, brutally killing the group of women and somehow surviving.

In the next chunk of Death Proof , Stuntman Mike targets a group of stunt women in Lebanon, Tennessee who've just picked up their friend Zoe Bell (playing herself) visiting from New Zealand. Zoe's plan is to play ship's mast on a white Dodge Challenger, which just happens to be available for sale locally. With Bell performing her own stunts on the hood of the car, Death Proof is an adrenaline-fueled exercise in terror as the women fight to survive their encounter with one of the screen's most unusual serial killers.

An American Werewolf in London

"Stay off the moors" are the very simple instructions that American tourists David and Jack receive while backpacking through Scotland. But the two men stray off the road and find themselves lost in the swamps and summarily attacked by what they thought was a wolf. Jack is killed on the spot and David badly mauled, waking up days later in a London hospital being tended by a beautiful nurse named Alex who invites him into her home. Unfortunately for David, he finds out the hard way that it wasn't a wolf that attacked him — it was a werewolf , and now he's turned into one too, terrorizing London and brutalizing its citizens.

While there are definitely comedic elements to An American Werewolf in London thanks to director John Landis' dark sense of humor, make no mistake that this movie is absolutely horrifying. David is haunted by the ghosts of his victims as well as Jack, whose body decomposes throughout the film, and it also features one of the best and most painful-looking werewolf transformations in horror history. The ending is as tragic as it is heart-wrenching.

After her sister stages a murder-suicide that includes their parents, a traumatized Dani decides to go to along with her anthropologist boyfriend Christian and his classmates to Sweden for thesis research. While the scenery is beautiful and lush, drenched in light as Sweden's summers only have a few hours of darkness each night, Dani and company quickly sense that not everything is as idyllic as it appears on the surface. This foreboding kicks into overdrive when the group is invited to witness a suicide ceremony that takes the lives of the two oldest members of the community.

Is it the steady stream of hallucinogens that the visitors are drinking or is something more sinister going on as one by one, the foreigners disappear from the village until only Dani and Christian remain? Midsommar is a technicolor nightmare that ends as horrifically as it started, making this one of the creepiest travel horror movies of all time.

Paxton and Josh are quintessential "ugly Americans" backpacking across Europe via train, behaving badly and not feeling even remotely responsible to act any other way. On their travels, they meet a guy who tells them they should go to Bratislava, Slovakia because women there are famously beautiful with liberal sexual inhibitions. But after a night of wild partying with said women, first their Icelandic friend Oli goes missing, then Josh and a Japanese tourist named Yuki.

When Paxton is kidnapped, we quickly realize that tourists are being bought and sold on the dark web in order to be tortured and killed by their purchasers. The monsters in Hostel are very human, and while many find the film more gory than scary, it certainly made a lot of people reconsider their backpacking trips across Europe for years after the film came out.

Fifteen years ago, Loretta broke off contact with her parents after she eloped with her professor, a union her folks disapproved of that ended in a violent altercation between the three of them. But now Loretta's kids Tyler and Becca are curious about their family, and Loretta arranges for them to take the train and stay with Nana and PopPop for a week while Loretta goes on a cruise with her new boyfriend. Having never even seen a photo of their grandparents, Tyler and Becca have no idea what to expect, but they certainly don't expect to see Nana running around naked at night and projectile vomiting, or PopPop's weird behavior and strangely menacing stories. There's also a strange smell coming from the basement which the kids have been told is mold, but turns out to be far from it.

By the end, everyone's holiday's were ruined and the body count reaches five, quite a feat for a film with a small cast of just eight people. In classic M. Night Shyamalan style, the twist in The Visit is hard to see coming and is sufficiently scary to have made this one of the most disturbing travel horror movies of all time.

Karen Davis is just a regular American exchange student in Japan sent on a simple task to take care of a housebound American living locally. But what Karen doesn't know is that Emma's house is haunted by the horrifying specter Kayako, who was murdered by her husband along with their child and even their pet in a fit of his jealous rage. Her restless spirit turned into a demonic entity due to the violence of Kayako's death, and this entity now comes with a curse that falls on anyone who enters her dwelling.

All of Karen's best attempts to defeat Kayako fail, and in the end this American in a Tokyo suburb finds herself fully enmeshed in Kayako's terrible story. Filled to the brim with effective and disturbing jump scares as well as a truly creepy story based on the original Japanese film Ju-On , The Grudge will make you think twice about that exchange program, or going anywhere at all outside the safety of your own curse-free home.

After a shipwreck that finds Jenn washed ashore along with her badly injured friend Brad on a deserted island, she is further horrified to find the graves of a family long dead buried on the island. Using her wits, Jenn cobbles together what she can of their belongings to try and save Brad, but it's already too late. She buries him along with the family and waits for rescue. But after night falls, she sees and hears a monstrous creature coming out of the water and onto land. It devours what was left of Brad's body.

Sweetheart features a powerhouse performance by Kiersey Clemons as Jenn battles not just the aquatic monster that has a taste for human flesh, but also the strange circumstances that led to the shipwreck in the first place. When her boyfriend Lucas and frenemy Mia show up on the island, their erratic and abusive behavior is as terrifying as the creature who has been terrorizing Jenn for days. Sweetheart features both human and supernatural monsters on the remote island, securing its place as one of the more unique (and scariest) travel horror movies of all time.

The Descent

As extreme sports enthusiasts, Sarah and her friends meet every year in a different place around the world to tackle whatever the local physical feat would be, from rock climbing to white water rafting. But after a terrible car accident in Scotland kills Sarah's husband and daughter, the next time the friends meet in North Carolina to spelunk Appalachian caves is a melancholy reunion for a still-grieving Sarah who is also suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. While cave diving deep through a narrow corridor — The Descent is a claustrophobic's nightmare come to life — a cave-in blocks the group of women, who soon find that their group leader Juno has taken them into an unknown cave system with no apparent way out as they continue down, down, down.

As if the enclosed spaces weren't already terrifying enough, the women are quickly set upon by a group of flesh-eating humanoid monsters who have adapted perfectly to cave living. As the women use their considerable skills to find their way out, their friendships are put to the test as much as their physical abilities and primal survival modes. The European ending is one of the grimmest you'll ever see, but even the American version with a sole survivor remains a most terrifying example of travel horror.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

While road tripping, Sally, her brother Franklin, and their friends make the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker between towns. The hitchhiker is an odd duck and creeps the group out even before he pulls out a razor and cuts Franklin, forcing the group to kick him out of the car. Reeling from the strange encounter, they continue on their trip with one detour to a local swimming hole that ends up being their next big mistake.

The pond is next to the Sawyer home, which houses a demented family of torture murderers who also like to eat their victims, and it's not long before Leatherface and his chainsaw are after Sally and her friends. Tobe Hooper's brutal Texas Chain Saw Massacre is so scary particularly because of the banal settings of a road trip and back-country Texas that become the backdrop to some of the most disturbing imagery ever put to screen.

You're Next

When Erin travels with her boyfriend Crispian Davison to his family reunion at their huge vacation estate in suburban Missouri, she's nervous about meeting his wealthy family for the first time, especially since she didn't grow up as a person of means. When things begin getting tense at the first group dinner, Erin thinks it's just family drama playing out — until an arrow flies through the dormer window, killing Aimee Davison's boyfriend Tariq and wounding the older Davison brother, Drake.

All of their cellphones go dead and soon a group of intruders wearing animal masks breaches the mansion and brutally stalks and kills Davison family members one by one. As Erin uses her skills from a traumatic survivalist childhood to outwit the killers, she discovers that Crispian has his own terrible secrets, which have turned him and his brother Felix into the worst kind of human monsters. Family reunions are always complicated in one way or another as dysfunctional family dynamics can rise to the surface. But in You're Next , these tensions turn deadly, making us all wonder about skipping our own.

Tara and her friends travel to Ireland from the U.S. to visit with their local buddy Jack to explore the Irish countryside as well as its natural abundance of magic mushrooms for a different kind of trip entirely. Jack warns them of the difference between psilocybin mushrooms and the dangerous death's bell mushroom that can provoke serious psychosis. Tara gets confused, though, and accidentally pops a death's bell, prompting a seizure.

On their jaunt through the glorious moss-covered woods they come upon an abandoned building that Jack later tells them was a children's home until the head monk in charge went mad and killed a bunch of people. Already having consumed their fair share of hallucinogenic mushrooms, Tara starts having even more disturbing visions of her own that might be premonitions about her friends' murders at the hand of said monk.

But as the body count rises and the menacing monk along with his various familiars sets an unsettling scene in such a lush surrounding, we find out that nothing is quite what it has seemed, nor is Tara who we think she is. Shrooms is a cautionary tale about following simple instructions when visiting a foreign land. Your life could totally depend on it.

Jessie Burlingame and her friends are on their way to a hiking and camping trip in the West Virginia hills when their tires suddenly go flat. As they investigate, they realize that the road has been booby-trapped and their concern shifts to who might be targeting them. In the process, they connect with a medical student named Chris who'd been sent down the same wrong turn as Jessie, Carly, Scott, Evan, and Francine as the attacks on the group escalate. While the group fights for survival, they discover their stalkers are a group of inbred cannibal killers who enjoy playing terribly with their food before murdering and cooking the folks they entrap off that beaten path.

Wrong Turn features a solid hat-tip to Stephen King 's Gerald's Game character Jessie Burlingame, and Jessie in the movie is even handcuffed to a bed just as she is in King's story. While the quality of the many sequels to Wrong Turn quickly devolved, the original is taut and suspenseful with sufficiently terrifying human monsters to make it one of the scariest travel horror movies of all time.

After a robbery gone wrong takes Rob's life while his friend Luke witnesses the incident, Rob's four best friends decide to voyage to Sweden in his honor. Against the backdrop of this terrible trauma as well as the lush Swedish landscape (which is actually the Carpathian Mountains of Romania), the four friends honor Rob's memory until Dom badly injures his knee and can't walk. The group decides to cut through the forest in the hopes of getting back to civilization faster, but they soon find a number of disturbing elements including gutted animals and strange little objects everywhere.

Tensions in the group rise after they find a cabin filled with esoteric objects and paintings that seem to have a hypnotic effect on the group, among other things. Luke soon realizes they are being stalked by something massive and inhuman in the woods as his friends are snatched one by one, triggering his trauma of Rob's murder too. By the third act of The Ritual , the folk horror aspects are fully revealed as Luke must make a choice for his own life and redemption. This violent and grotesque tale of a memorial holiday gone totally off the rails should really make you just want to stay home.

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The Scariest Travel Horror Movies Of All Time
12 Time-Travel/Time Loop Horror Movies That Are Too Damn Good!
The Scariest Travel Horror Movies Of All Time
The 20 Best Time Travel Movies Ever
The 17 Scariest Time Travel Movies of All Time
The 20+ Best Horror Movies About Time Travel

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COMMENTS

The Best Horror Movies About Time Travel
Some good horror movies with time traveling include Mine Games, Time Lapse, and Insidious 2, the sequel to the Blumhouse hit from 2010. We've included a few debatable entries like Donnie Darko, so just know that before seeing the scary time travel movies below.
Time Travel Horror Movies
A list of movies that involve time travel and horror elements, created by a user on IMDb. See the titles, ratings, genres, summaries and cast of each movie, and discuss them with other fans.
The 17 Scariest Time Travel Movies of All Time
If you're looking for horror movies that use time travel as a device, this list offers some suggestions. From zombie Borg to evil Ash clones, these films explore the terrifying possibilities of temporal non-linearity.
Doing the Time Warp Again: 10 Mind-Bending Time Travel Horror Movies
Explore the twisty, mind-bending nature of time travel in these horror movies, from loops and parallel realities to quantum physics and Chaos Theory. See how time travel affects characters ...
The 16 Best Time Loop Horror Movies, Ranked
If you are looking for a time killer movie, check out these horror films that use time loops as a terrifying premise. From Groundhog Day to Dead End, these movies explore the horror of being ...
5 Horror Movies That Involve Time Travel
Haunter. While Abigail Breslin's best-known horror movie is likely Zombieland, she starred in another spooky ghost story that involved time travel and time loops. In Haunter, Breslin plays a ghost ...
Underrated Time-Travel Horror Movies
Event Horizon is a sci-fi horror film starring Sam Neill. The film is set in 2047 and follows a crew of astronauts carrying out a rescue mission. Their goal is to ascertain the status of the Event Horizon, a spaceship that went missing, then inexplicably appeared in orbit around Neptune.. The Event Horizon used black holes to travel through wormholes in space, but it did far more than that ...
The 32 greatest time travel movies
A list of the best time travel movies ever made, from classics like The Time Machine and Back to the Future to modern gems like Safety Not Guaranteed and Primer. Whether you want to explore the ...
10 Horror Movies Involving Time-Travel
The Final Girls. The Final Girls Official Trailer 1 (2015) - Nina Dobrev, Adam Devine Movie HD. The Final Girls not only explores the idea of time-travel, it also explores the concept of being able to travel into the world of B-horror movies. Main character, Max, is transported, along with a group of her friends, back to the time and place of ...
The 25 Best Time Travel Movies of All Time, Ranked
8.5 on IMDb — 93% on RT. Watch on Amazon. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain. Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi (2h 49m) 8.7 on IMDb — 73% on RT. Watch on Amazon. Time travel films are easier to mess up than get right. Fortunately, these movies show how amazing they can be when done well.
The Time-Travel Slasher Film Totally Killer Is Exactly That
A teenager travels back to 1987 to stop a masked killer who killed her mom's friends. The film blends time travel, horror, and whodunit genres, with references to Back to the Future and Scream.
12 Time-Travel/Time Loop Horror Movies That Are Too Damn Good!
We bet you're mad you don't have a hoverboard yet, huh. Time-travel movies are as old as time itself; well, not exactly, but you get our point. For as long a...
25 Cool Time Loop Movies, Ranked
A list of sci-fi movies that feature characters reliving the same day or event over and over again. From comedies to thrillers, these movies explore the concept of time loop in various genres and settings.
The 50+ Best Time Loop Movies
Explore the list of the most fascinating time loop movies that have captivated audiences and critics alike. From sci-fi thrillers to comedies, these films explore the mystery of time and fate through repeated experiences and daring storytelling.
Advanced search
Movie TV Movie Horror Keyword: "time-travel" See results. Search filters Expand all. Title name. ... A single mistake in the past, by a time travel company in the future, has devastating and unforeseen consequences. Votes 20,351. 43. Tell Me How I Die. 2016 1h 47m Not Rated. 5.0 (5.2K) Rate.
The 23 best time travel movies of all time
A list of 23 films that explore the concept of time travel in various ways, from sci-fi thrillers to romantic comedies. Find out which classics made the cut, from Back to the Future to La Jetée ...
'Totally Killer'
The time-traveling horror flick is Scream meets Back to the Future. The film's outlandish setting offers a fresh take on the time travel and horror genre. The film's outlandish setting offers a ...
The Most Underrated Time Travel Movies You Need To Watch
Discover seven sci-fi films that explore the concept of time travel in different ways, from thrillers to comedies. Learn about the plots, cast, and reviews of these hidden gems that deserve more ...
Horror films based on time/time travel : r/horror
I'm looking for films where the horror comes from the altered passage of time, it can be time travel or anything else. Examples: Time Trap. Cube 2: Hypercube. Triangle. Coherence. The Endless. Donnie Darko has some horror elements. I like to imagine the events of Coherence cause the events of Donnie Darko.
The Best Vacation Horror Movies, Ranked By Fans
Find out which horror films about travel gone wrong made the list of the best vacation horror movies, according to Ranker Film voters. From cannibals to sharks to mutants, these movies will make you afraid to leave your house.
10 Best Time Travel Movies on Netflix
Looking for a time travel movie on Netflix? Check out this list of 10 recommendations, from The Adam Project to The Terminator. Whether you want comedy, action, sci-fi, or drama, there is a time ...
The Scariest Travel Horror Movies Of All Time
If you're looking for some chills and thrills on your next trip, check out these movies that feature travel gone wrong in the most horrifying ways. From serial killers, werewolves, doppelgängers ...

Doing the Time Warp Again: 10 Mind-Bending Time Travel Horror Movies

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The 32 greatest time travel movies

32. The Time Machine (1960)

31. Timecop (1994)

30. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

29. Déjà Vu (2006)

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28. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

27. Donnie Darko (2001)

26. Star Trek (2009)

25. Midnight in Paris (2011)

24. X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

23. When We First Met (2018)

22. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

21. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

20. Synchronic (2020)

19. Click (2006)

18. Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

17. Kate & Leopold (2001)

16. About Time (2013)

15. Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

14. Looper (2012)

13. See You Yesterday (2019)

12. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

11. Time Bandits (1981)

10. Primer (2004)

9. Time After Time (1979)

8. Somewhere in Time (1980)

7. 12 Monkeys (1995)

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

5. Source Code (2011)

4. Tenet (2020)

3. Your Name (2016)

2. The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

1. The Back to the Future Trilogy (1984-1989)

Most Popular

The 25 Best Time Travel Movies of All Time, Ranked

25. Project Almanac (2015)

24. ARQ (2016)

23. Click (2006)

22. Time Lapse (2014)

21. The Endless (2017)

20. The Adam Project (2022)

19. Primer (2004)

18. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

17. Triangle (2009)

16. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

15. Timecrimes (2007)

14. Palm Springs (2020)

13. Predestination (2014)

12. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

11. About Time (2013)

10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

9. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

8. The Man From Earth (2007)

7. Arrival (2016)

6. 12 Monkeys (1995)

5. Donnie Darko (2001)

4. Groundhog Day (1993)

3. Your Name (2016)

2. Back to the Future (1985)

1. Interstellar (2014)

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10 TV Shows With Time Travel That Actually Makes Sense

25 River (2023)

24 Mondays: See You 'This' Week! (2022)

23 Meet Cute (2022)