A Glean movie guide
Stuck on Repeat: The Best Time Loop Movies
Break the cycle.
From hilarious comedies to mind-bending thrillers, these loops are worth reliving.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Groundhog Day
The definitive comedy that set the standard for the entire time-loop subgenre.
A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.
- 02
Edge of Tomorrow
A high-octane sci-fi where every death is a chance to perfect the ultimate battle strategy.
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
- 03
Palm Springs
A refreshingly cynical and hilarious take on finding meaning within an infinite loop.
When carefree Nyles and reluctant maid of honor Sarah have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, things get complicated when they find themselves unable to escape the venue, themselves, or each other.
- 04
Source Code
A tense, high-stakes thriller that uses an eight-minute window to solve a deadly mystery.
When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
- 05
Happy Death Day
A clever slasher that blends horror and humor as a student tries to outrun her own murder.
Caught in a bizarre and terrifying time warp, college student Tree finds herself repeatedly reliving the day of her murder, ultimately realizing that she must identify the killer and the reason for her death before her chances of survival run out.
- 06
Triangle
A haunting psychological puzzle that traps its characters in a recursive, ocean-bound nightmare.
When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong.
- 07
Timecrimes
A masterfully constructed thriller where every attempt to fix the past only tightens the loop.
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.
- 08
Primer
The ultimate challenge for sci-fi fans, renowned for its uncompromisingly complex logic.
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.
- 09
Predestination
A mind-bending journey through identity and fate centered on a massive, self-contained paradox.
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.
- 10
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
A charming, inventive indie about a cafe owner whose TV sees exactly two minutes into the future.
A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.
- 11
Boss Level
A stylized, action-packed ride that treats the time loop like a relentless video game 'respawn'.
A former special forces agent is trapped in a time loop and relives his death over and over again. To escape the terrible situation, he must track down those responsible and stop them.
- 12
The Endless
A slow-burn cosmic horror that explores the terrifying reality of being trapped in localized cycles.
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group's beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.