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Time travel has fascinated movie goers, capturing our minds and hearts with their gripping tales of sci-fi adventures, but not all of them kept our attention for so long. For as long as this subgenre has existed in the mid-20th century, time travel has become an incredible form of storytelling, and brings some of cinema’s most beloved classics today, like The Terminator, Back to the Future, and most recently Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie. Yet, like with so many other genres, it’s not without a few forgotten gems.
There are plenty of notable time travel movies that have transcended decades to become some of the most revered in movie history, and then there are ones that time somewhat forgot. Today, let’s look at those forgotten, underrated time-traveling movies that film lovers need to check out. These aren’t the most iconic or trailblazing, and some don’t really do much to advance the subgenre, but they’re perfect nonetheless and are more than capable of keeping your attention from start to finish.
‘The Time Machine’ (2002)
H. G. Wells‘ landmark 1895 science fiction novella The Time Machine laid the groundwork for what this subgenre can achieve in cinema. A story that truly popularized this iconic idea in the first place, it has been the inspiration for many time travel movies for decades and has even been adapted to film several times, most notably in the 1960 classic starring Rod Taylor. But, for this first entry on the list, we have the 2002 Hollywood blockbuster retelling, starring Oscar nominee Guy Pearce.
This extravagant, A-List star-led mainstream adaptation of Wells’ work tried in every way to outshine the ’60s classic and push the novella more into the spotlight with bigger effects and modern spectacles, but failed to capture what made the story so unique and inspiring, ultimately becoming a footnote in a long list of forgotten early 2000s remakes. But, where there are so many of those poor attempts that failed to even get mentioned today, 2002’s The Time Machine actually has a lot more going for it than rehashing ideas. The effects, though nothing special, still hold up greatly, and the make-up was impressive, securing this film’s only Oscar nomination. The story is surprisingly well-paced and easier to follow, and there’s no looking past the fact that the action still tries to keep your attention. It’s flawed and highly overshadowed by its 1960 predecessor, but it is still worthy of anyone’s time.
‘Project Almanac’ (2015)
One of the most sadly overlooked found footage films of the 2010s, 2015’s Project Almanac is a unique delight, packing time-traveling thrills with a hand-held film style that is made for viewers to feel part of the story. At its center is a fascinating character drama of young teens meddling with time travel after coming across a mysterious device in a friend’s basement. It becomes even deeper and complex once the teens slowly realize there are some points in the past that they were never meant to change.
Though mixed upon release, Project Almanac made a solid showing at the early January box office, before sadly being swept under the rug as months turned into years. It’s a shame, truly, as it handles its found footage premise effectively, unlike most other flops of this subgenre at the time, and it provides a decent bit of compelling themes that tackle the issues and moral dilemmas that come with messing up timelines. A hidden gem that could surprise any found-footage buffs, Project Almanac deserves a mention.
‘Primer’ (2004)
In this wildly creative independent sci-fi horror flick from 2004, Primer dares viewers to experience the dark side of using time travel in all its unpleasant outcomes. It’s a film generating much more buzz in the years since it initially failed to make an impact, giving newer audiences a chance to appreciate its brilliance and how it offers a different take on time travel that’s not as fun and adventurous as other films make it appear to be.
Primer may not have been a financial hit, but it was well-received at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and over the years, it slowly garnered much praise as an indie cult classic. It’s bleak, dark, highly thought-provoking, and evokes a sense of astonishment, making the viewer question the moral reasoning behind using time travel and the power it wields. It’s not your typical time travel movie at all, and it invites you to explore a character-driven psychological drama about its devastating consequences. Though not as well-known, Primer sure is a mind-bender no one should forget.
‘Triangle’ (2009)
Though not technically a complete time travel movie, 2009’s Triangle deserves a mention for how it uses this storytelling technique so creatively and terrifyingly. This Christopher Smith-directed psychological horror film is unlike any other on this list or in the subgenre’s history. It’s frighteningly deep and complex, using time manipulation and, more specifically, a time loop scenario to deliver intense, unforgettable horror.
At its center is an interesting premise of a group of yacht friends encountering mind-blowing terror as they’re stuck in an endless cycle of twisted violence. It’s full of shocking turns and unexpected reveals that plague the mind and fill you with dread that no one can predict coming. Though a critical hit, Triangle sank at the box office and was ultimately brushed aside for years until it garnered more traction in recent memory. It’s sharp, intelligent, intense, and welcomingly startling. No doubt, this is a time travel movie everyone needs to see.
‘The Butterfly Effect’ (2004)
What if you could change everything about your past, but had to face any horrible unintended consequences that come with it? That’s what faces the main character in Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber‘s highly underrated 2004 sci-fi thriller The Butterfly Effect. It explores the dangers of time travel in detail, following a man, played by Ashton Kutcher, who has an ability to travel through time to fix his past mistakes as a kid, only to find that every change he makes to improve his life only leads to disastrous results in the present.
It’s not your typical feel-good, thrilling time-traveling exploration in the slightest sense. The Butterfly Effect strips any glorification away from hard truths and moral questioning, making you wonder what the point of looking to the past is to fix the present. Its imagery gets bold, shocking, featuring a solid dramatic performance by the then comedic heartthrob Ashton Kutcher, and it deals with heavy subject matter too tense to even mention on this list. Overall, it’s a surprisingly thought-provoking and complex story that, unfortunately, wasn’t well-received at first, but is slowly gaining attention with age and is worthy of anyone’s time.
‘Timecrimes’ (2007)
Truly, you’ll never experience anything quite like 2007’s Timecrimes ever again in the cinema. This unique Spanish sci-fi thriller is a powerful blend of slasher horror and time-traveling mystery, all roped into one mind-boggling, compelling story. It’s a tale of bizarre murders and mysterious killers, all centering around a vacationing couple that are put through a series of strange events and adventures when they come across a bandaged-up attacker.
This is how you make time travel scary, as it provides audiences with unusual, confusing storytelling to deeply unnerve them, and uses time-traveling as a way to baffle them further into never fully wrapping their heads around the story. Like many international horror films, Timecrimes didn’t make much of a huge splash with English-speaking audiences at the time, but time is what made this film into a re-evaluated masterpiece.
‘Source Code’ (2011)
Its Hitchcockian-style thrills meet time-traveling action in this tense action cult favorite, 2011’s Source Code. The story follows Jake Gyllenhaal as a US Army Captain forced into a secret military operation to repeat the same eight minutes aboard an explosive-rigged train to thwart a bomber’s terrorist act before it even happens.
A film with an intriguing premise like this, combined with the perfect cast, excellent pace, and nail-biting suspense, makes a film destined to be one of the greats, but it doesn’t get brought up as much today as it should, instead being considered near forgotten or underappreciated, mostly for not having a lasting impact on audiences. Despite not lingering in the minds of most viewers, Source Code is still a noteworthy entry in the time travel subgenre that brings us nonstop excitement and creativity, creating fun that should be remembered more.
‘Frequency’ (2000)
Finally, hardly any time travel movie has been the subject of debate quite as much as 2000’s Frequency. This takes the concept of time travel in a different direction not by having characters physically travel through time with devices or other means, but by communication. Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel lead in this, at times, touching story of a father/son bond spanning across decades as a police detective discovers one night with his old radio during a solar storm that he can communicate with his deceased firefighting father in the past and warn him to avoid his impending death and other tragedies.
It combines mystery, sci-fi, thriller, and heartwarming family drama all into one fascinating, one-of-a-kind tale. Frequency thinks outside the box when it comes to telling a time-traveling adventure, and can amaze anyone with how fresh and different it is. Too different it might have seemed at first, because the movie was well received and did fine at the box office but became overshadowed by other more exciting films that defined this concept. Overall, Frequency is absolutely perfect and deserves attention, even if not many people seem to remember it.
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Daniel Boyer
Almontather Rassoul
