Most people can count the "best" time-travel movies on one hand (Memento, Back to the Future, Primer, et al), but it's such a sturdy and adaptable subgenre that there's a whole slew of films no one has ever heard of. Though the concept is always ripe for reinvention and most filmmakers are able to bring something fresh to it, to make a time-travel movie make narrative sense is the real trick.
From romances to action comedies and everything in between, time-travel movies come in many shapes and sizes. Below, we list ten great one people have probably never seen that are absolutely worth their time.
10 The Time Machine (1960)
Based on H.G. Wells' most famous novel, this schlocky, candy-colored adventure stars Rod Taylor as a scientist who builds the eponymous contraption. When he accidentally travels thousands of years into the future, he experiences a post-apocalyptic return to nature in which a race of submissive humanoids called Eloi are fed on like cattle by the subterranean Morlocks.
Though it doesn't have the emotional punch of the source novel, this ambitious '60s sci-fi yarn is a classic of its era.
9 Time After Time (1979)
This charming bit of meta-narrative fluff stars Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells, who has actually built the time machine he would famously write about. But, before he can put it to use, the real-life Jack The Ripper (David Warner) uses it to evade capture by Scotland Yard. Chasing The Ripper all the way to the year 1979, Wells teams up with bank teller, Amy (Mary Steenburgen) who, despite disbelieving his wild story, finds herself falling for his 19th century charms.
This impishly clever, underseen time travel lark makes for a breezy time, carried as it is by three great performances and a fun central concept.
8 Somewhere in Time (1980)
Christopher Reeve stars as a playwright entranced with a long dead woman in this passionate time-hopping romance. Richard Collier (Reeve) finds his seaside vacation of writing and repose disturbed by his obsession with a photograph of Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour) a stage actress who was popular in the previous century. When his friend posits that hypnosis is the key to travelling through time, Richard actually manages to make it so. Upon meeting, the two form an instant romantic connection, but their relationship is threatened by Elise's manager (Christopher Plummer) who cruelly and jealously plots to separate them.
Though a bit creaky and moth-eaten, this film about the power of love to echo through the ages is hard to resist.
7 Time Bandits (1981)
Six dwarfs take a young man on an unbelievable adventure in this visionary fantasy from Terry Gilliam. Having made off with a mystical map that belongs to the "Supreme Being" (Ralph Richardson), the six little men grab Kevin (Craig Warnock) and he joins them on a treasure-seeking journey through famous eras of history. In their travels, they meet up with Agamemmnon (Sean Connery), Napoleon (Ian Holm) and Robin Hood (John Cleese), while doing everything they can to outrun the Supreme Being.
Boasting a childlike sense of wonder and some unforgettable effects, Time Bandits is a time travel movie with that signature Gilliam touch.
6 Timecrimes (2007)
Hector (Karra Elejalde) spots a woman being assaulted in a forest. Attempting to intervene, he finds himself attacked by a severely bandaged man before fleeing the scene. Eventually, he comes upon the workshop of a scientist who allows him to go back in time and observe the situation he just lived through from afar. But can he keep himself from getting involved?
Taking cues from convoluted narratives like Memento, Nacho Vigalondo's watertight thriller is as devilishly complex as it is creepy.
5 Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
Journalism intern Darius (Aubrey Plaza), finds her interest peeked when she spots an ad in the classifieds from a man who is looking for a partner to time-travel with. Intent on debunking the story, she meets up with Kenneth (Mark Duplass) who put the ad out. As they form a relationship, Darius becomes increasingly uncertain whether Kenneth is just delusional or whether he's actually built a working time machine.
Moving and hilarious in equal measure, Safety Not Guaranteed is an indie rom-com that utilizes a strong concept to powerful effect.
4 About Time (2013)
The men of the Lake family have a secret: they can all travel through time. When twenty-something Time (Domnhall Gleeson) discovers this fact, he decides to use it to his advantage. When he meets the perfect girl, Mary (Rachel McAdams) he wins her over, but as life goes on and gets more complicated, he realizes that even his powers can't stop cruel fate from knocking someone down once in awhile.
From Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Four Weddings And A Funeral), one could be forgiven for rejecting About Time's sentimental bombast, but for those receptive to its charms, it's a wistful, feel-good treat.
3 Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
In this futuristic thriller, William Cage (Tom Cruise) and Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) are soldiers contending with an alien invasion. When he's killed on the battlefield, Cage is gobsmacked to find himself revived in an earlier time. Cage convinces Vrataski that he's stuck in a time loop and resolves to keep dying over and over until he can discover the key to overcoming the alien horde.
One of Cruise's better non-Mission Impossible projects in recent years, Edge of Tomorrow is like Starship Troopers meets Groundhog Day, and is even more of a blast than that description would lead one to believe.
2 Mega Time Squad (2018)
Smalltime crook John (Anton Tennet) runs afoul of his own gang and the Chinese-triad when he botches a robbery and pinches a mystical time-travel device. Ignorant of the power of what absconded with, John begins tampering with his own timeline, teaming up with earlier versions of himself, to right his wrong and create a better life for himself
The time travel aspects of Tim van Dammen's Kiwi comedy might not quite hold together upon inspection, but this unabashedly silly, gag-filled caper is a total charmer.
1 The Wave (2019)
Bloodsucking insurance lawyer, Frank (Justin Long) is tempted out of his home by a friend to spend a night partying celebrating his pending promotion, only to be drugged with a substance that warps his perception of reality and time, itself. As he tries to get back on track and pick up the pieces of his life, Frank discovers that there may be more to life than endless work and promotions.
Time-travel movies about the beauty of human existence are a dime a dozen, but Gille Klabin's unexpectedly moving The Wave actually gets viewers to believe in the message.
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