15 Cool Time Loop Movies, Ranked (According To IMDb)
Time loop movies can revolve around lots of different stories and genres. Here are some of the best, ranked by their IMDb scores.
The "time loop" has become a popular time travel movie premise. Usually 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. More recently, the popular TV show Russian Doll employed a time loop premise and its influence in sci-fi movies shows no signs of fading away anytime soon.
Updated on June 25th, 2021 by Mark Birrell: 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 ones to recommend to fans of any of those things. The best time loop movies according to the scores on IMDb show just how versatile the idea is, featuring a lot of action and horror as well as theoretical science and metaphorical drama. Whether they're older or newer, some of the best movies featuring the time loop idea are impressing film fans the world over and can be found on many of the biggest streaming services.
15 Christmas Every Day (1996) - 6.4
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. Christmas Every Day revolves around Billy, a selfish teenager who's forced to relive Christmas every day until he understands its true meaning.
The film premiered on The Family Channel in 1996 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, though streaming availability of the movie remains intermittent.
14 Before I Fall (2017) - 6.5
● Available on Netflix
Based on the YA book, 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.
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.
13 The Endless (2017) - 6.5
● Available on Prime Video
The Endless expands on time loop ideas featured in an earlier movie from directors, producers, and lead actors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. The story features a signature blend of sci-fi horror and indie dramedy and 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, and while the setup for all the dark revelations that the two discover is fairly clear-cut, the movie is still engagingly surprising and original throughout.
12 The Final Girls (2015) - 6.6
● Available on Showtime
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 over and over, and having 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 and its various tropes, as well as making clever use of the time loop concept.
11 Happy Death Day (2017) - 6.6
● Available on Fubo TV
Blumhouse's hit Happy Death Day revolves around a college student who keeps reliving the day a serial killer murdered her. Trapped in a time loop, she must try to figure out who is the person killing her.
The movie was a huge box office hit, grossing $125 million worldwide off a $4.8 million budget. Happy Death Day received mostly positive reviews for its time loop spin on the slasher genre and spawned a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, in 2019.
10 Boss Level (2021) - 6.9
● Available on Hulu
As the title suggests, Boss Level is inspired by the gleeful destruction of video games, particularly retro shoot 'em ups. 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.
9 Triangle (2009) - 6.9
● Available on YouTube, Tubi, Vudu, Pluto TV, and Prime Video
A fun 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.
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.
8 Primer (2004) - 6.9
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
A micro-budgeted masterpiece, Shane Carruth's 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 do it 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 also. It's a fascinating watch for genre fans and provides perhaps the most hypothetically accurate time travel movie ever made.
7 Timcrimes (2007) - 7.2
● Available on Tubi, Vudu, Pluto TV, and Prime Video
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 movie's smart plotting and down-to-earth style.
6 Palm Springs (2020) - 7.4
● Available on Hulu
Palm Springs takes the time loop concept into the romantic-comedy category when a bridesmaid, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), finds herself stuck in a time loop on the day of her sister's wedding, where another guest, Nyles (Andy Samberg) has already been reliving the day for a very long time. While stuck in the loop, they fall in love. However, while Sarah wants to find a way out of the loop, Nyles wants to stay.
Critics praised the film for its performances and for using the time loop concept as a metaphor for relationships and marriage.
5 Looper (2012) - 7.4
● Available on Starz
In a dystopian future, victims are sent back through time from an even worse future to be disposed of in their past. At the heart of this elaborate system of mob execution lies the titular "Loopers", hitmen who are bound to their fate by the knowledge that they too will one day be sent back in time to be killed and forgotten forever.
Writer and director Rian Johnson wove an excitingly original sci-fi story with this thriller about a Looper who loses his older self in the past and must track them down. It's a movie that clearly cares more about the emotional impact of the story than it does scientific accuracy, even on a theoretical level. But that's never something that holds it back and sci-fi fans instantly took to it.
4 Predestination (2014) - 7.5
● Available on Tubi
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 amongst the biggest time loop hits 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.
3 Source Code (2011) - 7.5
● Available on Showtime
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.
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's a grippingly stylish take on the time loop idea, with the 8-minute window keeping the story moving along–quite fittingly–like a locomotive.
2 Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) - 7.9
● Available for purchase on Prime Video
Based on the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill, Edge of Tomorrow revolves around an alien invasion wherein a cowardly public relations officer (Tom Cruise) is killed in battle, only to relive the same day and battle repeatedly. The movie received positive reviews from critics, but the box office was considered lukewarm.
When released on home media, the movie's tagline "Live. Die. Repeat." was rebranded as the movie's title, leading to some confusion. However, the title in the movie itself remains the same. Despite its mediocre box office, home media sales were very good and talk of a sequel has persisted for years.
1 Groundhog Day (1993) - 8.0
● Available on Starz
The benchmark by which all time-loop movies are judged, Groundhog Day stars Bill Murray stars as Phil Connors, a weatherman who finds himself reliving Groundhog Day again and again. In living the day over and over, he ultimately becomes a better person.
Over time, audiences have found many philosophical and spiritual aspects to the movie. Notably, its exploration of the five stages of grief, Buddhist teachings, and many Catholics view Phil's time loop as purgatory and that he can only be freed by embracing selflessness. Whatever the intention, audiences will be viewing Groundhog Day over and over again for years to come.
NEXT: 10 Best Movies & Shows About Time Travel, Ranked
Next 10 MCU Love Interests, Ranked By Bravery
