The 5 Best Time Loop Films That Aren't 'Groundhog Day'
There's no denying it: Groundhog Day created and perfected the time loop movie—like the filmmakers had their own infinite loop to get it just right. But that doesn't mean there aren't other loops worth watching, again and again.
From slashers, to rom-coms, to sci-fi thrill rides, these brilliant time loop movies each take the concept in new directions. Sure, I'll always lift Groundhog Day 's Punxsutawney Phil high overhead to the top of the pack, but these alternate takes deserve a spot in the time-looping hall of fame as well.
Run Lola Run
Lola has only 20 minutes to save her boyfriend, for which she needs to get her hands on 100,000 marks. Run Lola Run isn't a conventional time-loop movie, where the protagonist knows they're in a loop and wants to find a way out of it. Instead, the film shows us three alternate versions of what could have happened in a 20-minute period, as if the main character didn't realize they were looping through them again and again.
The result for us viewers is similar, though, making this a good way to show off the different approaches filmmakers have had to time loop concepts.
Happy Death Day
Most time loop stories repeat the loop whenever the protagonist dies. This makes it the perfect device to use for a gnarly slasher film, which is just what happens in Happy Death Day .
In this time-looping horror film, Tree keeps reliving her birthday, which is also the day she was murdered by a mask-wearing maniac. No matter how she changes the events of the day, the murderer keeps finding her.
It's a brilliant way to twist the knife on the time-loop format, taking advantage of the fact that your protagonist can die at the hands of a creepy stalker at any time, without the whole film grinding to a halt. If you enjoy it, be sure to check out the sequel as well, Happy Death Day 2U , or some of the best horror films on Netflix .
Source Code
Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a military pilot who finds himself inside another man's body aboard a passenger train that's about to be blown up by a terrorist attack. Upon failing to stop the attack, he awakens in a strange chamber, where his superiors explain that they're using the "source code"—a computer simulation built from the collective memory of all the deceased passengers—to replay the last eight minutes before the explosion.
It's Gyllenhaal's task to keep entering this simulation and identify the terrorist so they can stop future attacks. However, each loop in the simulation makes it harder for him to watch all those train passengers die. Despite being told that he's living inside a software program and he can't change the past, he still fights to try to save them, learning more about his own situation in the source code along the way.
Palm Springs
Of all the films on this list, Palm Springs swings closest to Groundhog Day . It's an utterly charming rom-com that dusts the darkness of a time-loop concept with light humor. However, it adds just enough new elements to the idea—and executes them all so well—I'm happy to place it so high on this list.
You see, unlike Groundhog Day , which leaves Phil alone in his infinite time loop, Palm Springs revels in what would happen if multiple people found themselves in the same loop, stuck together for eternity. It's a simple twist on the concept, but it breathes new life into it at the same time.
It's also worth noting, this film came out—and I watched it—during the COVID lockdown, so its timing couldn't have been more perfect considering the world was stuck in its own strange timeline with every day looping into the next as if it were one long day.
Edge of Tomorrow
It's not often we see Tom Cruise playing an inept coward , but that's just the character we get at the beginning of Edge of Tomorrow , in which Earth is under attack by ruthless alien monsters. Something about this alien race catches Cruise in a time loop, getting slaughtered by the creatures again and again. His only way out is to train with a legendary warrior, played by Emily Blunt, to overcome the alien invasion and, hopefully, the source of his looping.
As expected, we get our usual heroic Cruise affair by the end of the film, but it's oh so cathartic having watched him scrape and struggle through the dirt and against his character flaws to get there. This should be little more than a schlocky action film, but it's gripping, thrilling, and endlessly rewatchable.
Groundhog Day is always going to be the king of time-looping movies, but that doesn't mean it should be the only one you ever watch. Although every film on this list owes its existence to Groundhog Day in one form or another, they all do something different with the idea, and they're all worth watching time and time again.
