Time travel is one of the most popular subgenres in science fiction, but there are a few amazing time travel movies that most viewers haven’t even heard of. With their farfetched premises, time travel movies often explore the past and future, while analyzing how characters respond to the ability to manipulate events.

Unlike other sci-fi subgenres, time travel isn’t very restrictive, so there have been plenty of crossovers with comedy, horror, and action. There’s a lot of emotional weight to be plumbed from a time travel story, and while some are fun and fanciful, most explore complex ideas like grief and the inevitability of change.

However, many time travel movies can be quite complicated, and that isn’t always the most appealing prospect for a general audience. Occasionally, a great time travel film is dismissed as mindless sci-fi, while others simply get pᴀssed over in favor of more popular films. Regardless, the hidden gems of the time travel genre are always worth taking a look at.

10

Aporia (2023)

2023’s independent thriller Aporia is not like most time travel movies, and it doesn’t feature a person shifting in time. Instead, it concerns a device which allows someone to kill another person in the past, thus preventing another death. This premise alone was enough to make it a fascinating concept, but it’s what happens afterward that’s so compelling.

Judy Greer stars in the film, and she does a lot of the emotional heavy-lifting as she first plays a grieving widow, then a woman struggling to cope with the new timeline she created. Most time travel movies have a moralistic slant, but Aporia explores the repercussions of its time meddling to the fullest.

9

Time After Time (1979)

Time travel movies are complicated enough on their own, but 1979’s Time After Time adds even more wrinkles to the story. Malcolm McDowell plays a fictional version of real-life author H.G. Wells who builds a time machine that is hijacked by Jack the Ripper. As laughable as the plot sounds, Time After Time is actually pretty compelling.

McDowell is brilliant, and David Warner was expertly cast in the villainous role as the notorious historical killer. The fact that their showdown takes place in the modern year of 1979 makes things even more interesting, and it’s neat to see the two time periods clash. It’s hardly the cleverest movie scientifically, but it compensates with high entertainment value.

8

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Safety Not Guaranteed is about as far from a conventional time travel movie as possible, but it makes for a clever addition to the genre. The mumblecore-adjacent comedy is low in the stakes department, but has interesting characters and a quirky indie vibe. In fact, it’s mostly about the characters and their motivations for wanting to go back in time.

With a cast headlined by the likes of Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplᴀss, Safety Not Guaranteed eschews the clichés of time travel even down to casting. It’s an unambitious film, but it’s the sort of character-driven dramedy that doesn’t get made much anymore. The 2012 movie is perfect for the film lover who has already seen the time travel classics.

7

Predestination (2014)

Time travel movies can be quite simple, or they can be very complex, and 2014’s Predestination certainly falls in the latter category. The Ethan Hawke vehicle has many of the classic tropes of the genre with a time-travelling agent who prevents disasters going rogue in the timestream. Despite its use of cliches, Predestination is anything but run-of-the-mill.

The тιтle comes from the plot’s predestination paradox (a frequent issue in time travel stories), but the film is actually more about the concept of failure and idenтιтy. Naturally, there are a heap of twists and turns throughout the sci-fi adventure, and it requires additional viewings to really hone in on the fine details.

6

Primer (2004)

The shoestring budget and experimental inspirations for Primer are overcome by its unique approach to time travel and keen eye for scientific detail. The movie’s time travel is explained in excruciating detail so that it sounds quite plausible, and it introduces real stakes that also seem like they might actually happen.

With only two characters, the movie is able to hyperfocus on its science, and the dialogue is impenetrable to those without a deeper understanding of engineering and physics. Nevertheless, it often feels like a tense thriller as each new unforeseen consequence builds on the next. Few films have made time travel seem as realistic and frightening as Primer.

5

Timecrimes (2007)

While it lacks many of the bells and whistles of more expensive time travel movies, Timecrimes is the kind of film that uses the sci-fi concept to do so much more. Essentially a causal loop story, the events of the film happen in a mixed-up order, with each version of the character making things happen at various points in time.

It features elements reminiscent of the slasher genre, but it’s also quite funny in a dark way. The international sci-fi movie may look cheap, but it puts money in the right places and makes many clever creative decisions to overcome its budgetary restraints. The time travel itself is simple, but it becomes mind-bending once events begin to loop and overlap.

4

The Final Countdown (1980)

Moral dilemmas are often at the heart of great time travel stories, and the 1980 war film, The Final Countdown, poses one of the biggest dilemmas of all. The story concerns a modern American warship accidentally traveling back to the days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, and they are faced with the decision of altering history or not.

The movie’s moral issue is handled with grave seriousness, even if the time travel itself is flimsy at best. For most of its running time, The Final Countdown is more of a tense war thriller than a sci-fi film, but it’s good enough in all of its disparate genres to remain entertaining.

3

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

Though it isn’t often celebrated among Francis Ford Coppola’s best movies, Peggy Sue Got Married is an artful take on the time travel concept. Instead of having convoluted science, the movie instead allows a character to shift fantastically back to her high school days, where she can make changes to avoid her miserable future life.

Time travel is certainly part of the story, but it’s really about dreams and disillusionment, and especially the dangers of nostalgia. Nicolas Cage gives one of his best early performances, and it’s surprisingly emotional for a film with such a silly concept.

2

Time Bandits (1981)

Terry Gilliam was the master of the underrated gem in the 1980s, and Time Bandits brings his signature playful charm to the time travel genre. Essentially a childhood adventure story wrapped in a time travel framework, Time Bandits uses time travel as a setup for what is really a journey through one boy’s imagination.

Several real-life historical figures appear, but most of the historical elements are played for laughs and silly humor. The production design is over-the-top and absurd, and each era is well-represented on screen through lavish costumes and exciting set pieces. Time Bandits was too clever for its own good in the ’80s, but is a cult classic now.

1

I’ll Never Forget You (1951)

It’s hard to believe that time travel movies date all the way back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, but 1951’s I’ll Never Forget You is one such example. Tyrone Power plays a scientist who is zapped back to the 1700s where he falls in love. One thing the movie does excellently is balance its science fiction and its romance.

With an uncharacteristically dark ending, the movie explores the consequences of time travel from an emotional standpoint and not the usual moralistic speculation about changing the timeline. It also cleverly uses color and black and white pH๏τography to illustrate the differences between the modern day and the past.