Of all the subgenres in modern cinema, time loop movies are one of the most consistently enjoyable. By taking a specific sci-fi idea and weaving an entire story around it, many specific niches have been carved into modern movies, but few have proven as innovative — and as underrated — as those about time loops. Time travel movies are relatively commonplace, but taking the specific notion of a day that keeps repeating itself is decidedly rarer, and it frequently delivers truly excellent stories.
Interestingly, time loop movies seem to blend brilliantly with many other genres. Romantic comedies, drama, and horror all work perfectly alongside a time loop premise, and creative filmmakers have often managed to give us truly excellent and innovative stories that fit within the relatively restrictive confines of the setting of a single day. Just as we might sometimes forget they’re sci-fi movies, the following are all examples of amazing time loop stories that are painfully underrated, despite their unique charm and singular rewatchability.
Happy Death Day is hailed by some as one of the best modern slasher movies, but outside of horror audiences, it rarely gets the recognition it deserves. It follows college student Tree as she is targeted by a masked killer on her birthday, restarting the day every time she’s killed and trying to puzzle out the identity of the murderer. Its use of the time loop plot device allows Happy Death Day to be comedic as well as violent and scary, expertly blending horror and comedy while also making excellent use of the light sci-fi time loop element. This allows Happy Death Day to transcend any single genre, making it one of the most exciting movies of recent years that feels distinctly fresh even while using familiar tropes. Its college campus setting, sharp and witty dialogue, and deceptively in-depth exploration of the time loop format are amazing, but sadly, it’s too often dismissed as just another slasher movie with a vague sci-fi gimmick.
Palm Springs is more than just another time travel movie that deserves a sequel. Perhaps the most heartwarming time loop movie since Groundhog Day first created the movie subgenre, the 2020 romantic comedy simply doesn’t get the flowers it deserves. It stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Miloti as two people trapped inside a time loop at a wedding in the titular desert resort. The pair’s relationship with one another and the manner in which they interact with the time loop mechanics both help make Palm Springs incredibly unique, lending it an air of tragic, comedic charm that very few films would be able to pull off. Even though it was generally successful with critics and audiences, it has been largely forgotten in the years since its release. However, when it comes to time loop movies, there really aren’t many out there that are both as touching and as overlooked as Palm Springs.
While Meet Cute might sound like the name of a classic rom-com movie, it doesn’t really paint an accurate picture of the 2022 film. It stars Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson as two singles who meet and head out on a single night of whirlwind romance, only to reveal that one of them is in a time loop, and it’s not their first attempt at the date. Slowly, Meet Cute begins to unravel many of the adorable rom-com coincidences that initially seemed charming, and turns them into something much darker. At points, Meet Cute borders on the downright sinister, and ultimately delivers a complex and touching story that is nothing at all like what its name or synopsis seem to suggest. Despite incredibly strong writing and great performances from both Cuoco and Davidson, Meet Cute isn’t a particularly well-known movie, and it’s probably because of the title. After all, the Venn diagram of fans of rom-coms and complex metaphysical sci-fi movies that attempt to shine a light on the hypocrisies of the human condition doesn’t have much crossover, but it really does a disservice to this great and underrated time loop film.
2009 British film Triangle is far from a traditional time loop movie, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why it’s often forgotten or ignored by wider audiences. It follows Jess, a single mother who embarks on a boat trip with a group of friends, only to be inexplicably drawn into a mind-bending time loop that seems to doom them to die on repeat. Reportedly, the screenplay was at least partly based on the Greek mythological figure Sisyphus, who was cursed to repeatedly push a boulder up a hill without ever reaching the top. As well as being a criminally underrated ’00s movie, Triangle is an inventive take on the idea of a time loop, displaying its version of the phenomenon more as a temporal maze than a simple day repeating itself. Despite its intriguing narrative ideas and a performance from a very young Liam Hemsworth, Triangle is a time-loop horror that doesn’t often get mentioned even among fans of the genre.
There are many great sci-fi action movies that don’t get enough love, and 2020’s Boss Level is undeniably one of them. Joe Carnahan’s movie follows Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo), a retired Delta Force soldier who finds himself stuck in a time loop where he is hunted by various assassins. Any movie that puts Frank Grillo at the center of its action sequences is already on the right track, but Boss Level uses the sci-fi idea to deliver some exceptional action, all while Roy works to resolve the central mystery of who is targeting him and why. It’s a movie that applies an engaging action veneer to a simple sci-fi premise, making expert use of both genres in the process. While Boss Level might not be the most original movie out there, it’s remarkably well-made and entertaining, and it’s genuinely baffling that it hasn’t secured a much bigger audience considering its near-universal appeal.
