A Glean movie guide
Mind-Bending Paradoxes & Dark Loops
Everything is connected.
Atmospheric sci-fi thrillers for fans of the complex, somber world of 'Dark'.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Predestination
A somber, identity-warping thriller built on a series of inescapable bootstrap paradoxes.
Predestination chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost.
- 02
Primer
An uncompromisingly complex look at the technical and ethical breakdown caused by a DIY time machine.
A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.
- 03
Mirage
A haunting mystery where a woman must navigate a shifted reality to save a boy across two decades.
A desperate photographer who suffers from a degenerative eye disease and a husband who wants to kill his dying wife, plot to recover her life insurance.
- 04
Timecrimes
A masterclass in deterministic logic where every attempt to fix the past only cements a dark future.
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
- 05
12 Monkeys
A gritty, non-linear journey through a dystopian future and the tragic inevitability of fate.
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
- 06
Triangle
A recursive nightmare on a deserted ocean liner that explores the desperation of breaking a cycle.
When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong.
- 07
Coherence
A low-budget, high-concept puzzle that uses quantum theory to fuel a tense psychological breakdown.
Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.
- 08
Donnie Darko
A moody cult classic blending teenage angst with a complex, philosophical take on tangent universes.
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
- 09
The Call
A dark, high-stakes thriller where a phone call across time leads to a deadly game of cat and mouse.
In the fall of 1987, a group of small-town friends must survive the night in the home of a sinister couple after a tragic accident occurs. Needing only to make a single phone call, the request seems horribly ordinary until they realize that this call could change their life…or end it.
- 10
Arrival
A cerebral and emotionally resonant exploration of how language can fundamentally alter our perception of time.
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.