PrimerMovies like Primer
- Key Features:
- Time travel, Low budget, Independent film, Complex plot, Scientific discovery, Ethical dilemma, Reality bending, Technological innovation, Consequences, Experimentation, Cerebral, Paranoia, Existential crisis, Cause and effect, Betrayal, Obsession, Unreliable narrator
- Tone:
- serious, restrained, suspense-driven
- Target Audience:
- Sci-fi enthusiasts, Indie film aficionados, Cerebral thrillers, Tech-savvy viewers
- Emotional Arc:
- Intrigue → Confusion → Dread
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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.
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Research scientists experimenting with time warps are accidentally propelled forward into an unbearable future.

A daring physicist travels into the past to stop a mysterious woman from stealing his invention. But once there, he uncovers a surprising truth about the machine, the woman, and his own fractured reality.

A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.

Three friends discover a mysterious machine that takes pictures 24 hours into the future and conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop.

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.

A scientist plots a bank robbery based around his newest invention -- a time travel gadget that will send its user 10 minutes into the past. Everything goes according to plan, until he encounters a group of thieves who've planned their heist for the same day.

A group of scientists are experimenting with time travel, and they manage to send one of their group ahead in time one hour. But when he comes back, he tells them that they’ll all be dead within the next hour unless they shut the machine down.

Since losing her husband, Sophie has struggled to manage grief, a full-time job, and parenting her devastated daughter, but when a former physicist reveals a secret time-bending machine, Sophie will be faced with an impossible choice.

Until now, Zak Gibbs' greatest challenge has been to find a way to buy a car. But when he discovers an odd wristwatch amidst his father's various inventions and slips it on -- something very strange happens. The world around him seems to come to a stop, everything and everybody frozen in time. Zak quickly learns how to manipulate the device and he and his quick-witted and beautiful new friend, Francesca, start to have some real fun.

Tom Merrick gets caught up in a time-traveling conspiracy and must set the timeline right before it is irrevocably altered.

A group of young Miskatonic University scientists invent a time machine, only to learn that they are being manipulated by mysterious, unseen forces from another dimension.

When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.

A group of students become trapped inside a mysterious cave where they discover time passes differently underground than on the surface.

Scientist turned Entrepreneur Dr. Sethuraman tries to safeguard his newly invented time travel device from falling into the hands of his Evil Twin Brother Aathreya.

In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination.

In order to escape the police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.

Called in to recover evidence in the aftermath of a horrific explosion on a New Orleans ferry, Federal agent Doug Carlin gets pulled away from the scene and taken to a top-secret government lab that uses a time-shifting surveillance device to help prevent crime.

A man afflicted with clairvoyance tries to change his fate when a series of events leads to a vision of his own imminent murder.

A psychiatrist makes multiple trips through time to save a woman that was murdered by her brutal husband.

A young man struggles to access sublimated childhood memories. He finds a technique that allows him to travel back into the past, to occupy his childhood body and change history. However, he soon finds that every change he makes has unexpected consequences.

Follows three social outcasts -- two geeks and a cynic -- as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub.

A depressed housewife who learns her husband was killed in a car accident the day previously, awakens the next morning to find him alive and well at home, and then awakens the day after to a world in which he is still dead.

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.

A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.

In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.

Hoping to alter the events of the past, a 19th century inventor instead travels 800,000 years into the future, where he finds mankind divided into two warring races.

Oxford PhD student Ana finds herself unable to build new memories, following an experiment to generate and travel through a wormhole. The story follows her increasingly desperate efforts to understand what happened, and to find out who—or what—is behind the rising horror in her life.

Stillman, a heartbroken physics student, builds a time machine when his girlfriend breaks up with him. Going back in time, he attempts to save their relationship by fixing every mistake he made—while dragging his best friend along in the process.

On the most important day of his young life, a high school senior is forced to relive his failed attempt at losing his virginity over and over again, until he gets it right.

As two teen prodigies try to master the art of time travel, a tragic police shooting sends them on a series of dangerous trips to the past.

A particle physicist grieving over the loss of her husband in a car crash uses a revolutionary machine to bring him back, with dire consequences for her family.

A teenager is stuck in a time loop that is not quite the same each time. She must uncover the truth but her actions have consequences for herself and others.

A small, wealthy family in New York City gets progressively torn apart by secrets, lies, and the theft that orchestrates all of it.

Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.

A teen in 2024 accidentally time-travels to 2003, days before a masked killer murders her sister. Can she change the past without destroying the future?

Vivien, an accomplished student with a passion for physics, and Roy, a troubled young man, are involved in an accident that forces them to reclaim their lives one minute at the time.

A wildly inventive deconstruction of the romantic comedy built around the question: What would you do if you could travel to your loved ones’ past, heal their traumas, fix their problems, and change them into the perfect partner?

In 2025, a scientist on the verge of making a major discovery related to time travel is suddenly put in peril when a rival kidnaps her young son and demands a hefty ransom: her entire research.

A small-town criminal finds an ancient Chinese time-travel device that can help him pull off a heist and start a new life-but he may not survive the consequences of tampering with time. The Castle meets Looper, Mega Time Squad is a study in high-meets-low, combining elements of the sci-fi, the crime thriller and the comedy to make a comedy heist film with a time-traveling twist.

Ren Amari is the driven inventor of a revolutionary new drug. OtherLife expands the brain's sense of time and creates virtual reality directly in the user's mind. With OtherLife, mere seconds in real life feel like hours or days of exciting adventures. As Ren and her colleagues race around the clock to launch OtherLife, the government muscles in to use the drugs as a radical solution to prison overcrowding. They will create virtual cells where criminals serve long sentences in just minutes of real time. When Ren resists, she finds herself an unwilling guinea pig trapped in a prison cell in her mind. She must escape before she descends into madness, and then regain control of OtherLife before others suffer the same fate.

Helen tries to cope with the recent death of her husband, a scientist who killed himself right when he was on the verge of successfully completing the invention of a time machine. One day, she receives a phone call, and a voice suspiciously resembling her own voice warns her that she’s in danger. Is it possible Helen has time travelled? And what could have led her to do something like that?

When Billie finds herself reliving different versions of the same first date, she must break out of a series of loops created by her manipulative ex-girlfriend.

Disaster strikes as a specialised team of investigators struggle to find out the truth about a strange monolith which sends out an intercontinental signal.

Husband and wife Nora and Héctor's scientific breakthrough lets them time travel from 1966 to 2025. As Héctor struggles, Nora thrives—but at what cost?

After his girlfriend, Julie, and two best friends are killed in a tragic auto accident, Nick struggles to cope with his loss and grief. Suffering from migraine-like seizures, Nick soon discovers that he has the power to change the past via his memories. However, his time-traveling attempts to alter the past and save his one true love have unexpected and dire consequences.

Frank Allen, a professional speaker who lectures on time management has a perfectly ordered and scheduled life, down to the minute. When his wife sets his clock forward 10 minutes as a joke, his day is thrown off. Deciding that his strictly ordered life has done him little good, he begins to make multiple choice index cards, choosing one at random and doing what is written on the card.

A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.

Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.

The Flash finds himself in a war-torn alternate timeline and teams up with alternate versions of his fellow heroes to restore the timeline.

After a night out of partying and left behind by her friends, Ava wakes up and sneaks back home only to find that she's already safe in bed. But that's not Ava - it's someone who looks just like her. A time-traveling fugitive has stolen Ava's body, her identity, and her life. What's more -- she's not alone. There are others, hiding in the past, secretly living among us, plotting to alter the future. Without her body, Ava is a virtual ghost, silent and invisible to the world. And, so far as she knows, she's the only one who can stop them and put the timeline back on course.

Nick and Janine live in bliss until her ex warps time to try to tear them apart by using Nick's old girlfriend. As Nick's memories and reality disappear, he must decide what he's willing to sacrifice to save -- or let go of -- everything he loves.

When a couple decides to adopt a stray cat their perspective on life changes radically, literally altering the course of time and space and testing their faith in each other and themselves.

The story revolves around a man trying to uncover the mysterious death of his girlfriend and save an innocent man from the death chamber in the process, by using his unique power to time travel. However in attempting to do this, he also frees a spiteful serial-killer.

Lyle Swann is a successful off-road racer who mistakenly gets sent back in time 100 years. When a band of outlaws robs Swann of his motorcycle, he's forced to outfox the gangsters and give in to the seductions of a gorgeous local lady. With only his smarts and a map from an Exxon station, Lyle must try to make it out of the Old West alive and find a way back to modern times.

When three high-school friends invent a time-machine, they decide to use it to go back in time and prevent other youngsters from making humiliating mistakes.

A girl who lives in a secluded house with her father and her dog finds a mysterious black cube in the woods with the ability to change the past.

A time traveling cop, Jack Deth, from the future is taken back to the past to be given the task of destroying the Trancer program before it has a chance to get out of control, sending the world into a state of chaos and war.

A group of young friends make an incomprehensible discovery in an abandoned mine, but the more they try to change the future, the more they seal their fate.

A fighter pilot travels back in time to save the future world from environmental disaster, but a side-effect turns her young again and no-one takes her seriously.

When a billionaire gives a group of young scientists unlimited resources to study the science of matter transfer, the scientists unlock the secrets of time travel. But they soon find out that the project is backed by a militant extremist group, and the billionaire plans to go back in time and prove that Jesus never rose from the dead.

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.

Eight strangers awaken with no memory, in a puzzling cube-shaped room where the laws of physics do not always apply.

A unique behind-the-scenes access to NASA’s ambitious mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, following a team of engineers and scientists as they take the next giant leap in our quest to understand the universe.

Four brilliant university students are forced to confront themselves in terrifying ways when their Quantum Physics experiment leads to an entangled parallel existence that leaves them questioning who they are and what is real.

In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest struggle to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who suddenly comes into a fortune of time finds himself on the run from a corrupt police force known as the "time keepers".

Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling "winnings." But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm.

A young boy and his dog, who happens to have a genius-level IQ, spring into action when their time-machine is stolen and moments in history begin to be changed.

12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as perplexed as he is that he hasn't aged. When a NASA scientist discovers a UFO nearby, David gets the chance to unravel the mystery and recover the life he lost.

Before they can complete renovations on their new inn, a father and daughter are visited by a woman seeking immediate lodging for her strange group of travelers.

After the first manned mission to Mars ends in a deadly crash, mission controller Mackenzie 'Mack' Wilson assists an artificial intelligence system, A.R.T.I. Their investigation uncovers a mysterious object under the surface of Mars that could change the future of our planet as we know it.

Vincent, a young Parisian uncomfortable with his appearance, installs a brain chip named Reality+ which allows users to see themselves and fellow users with their dream body. However, Reality+ only works over 12-hour intervals, proving infuriating for Vincent as he falls for Stella, another user.

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel.

Kowalski works for a car delivery service, and takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to drive from Colorado to San Francisco. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours.

When a chance encounter brings together the cynical Dell and the quick-witted Kimberly, the stage is set for a tempestuous love affair that unfolds like a puzzle. As the film zigzags back and forth in time — from a meteor shower in LA, to an encounter in a Paris hotel room, to a fateful phone call — an unforgettable portrait of a relationship emerges.

Teddy wakes up the morning after his wedding to discover that he's jumped forward a year in his life to his first anniversary. Trapped in an endless cycle of time jumps, transported another year ahead every few minutes, he is faced with a race against time as his life crumbles around him.

When a clock lands on Mater's engine, he travels back in time to 1909 where he meets Stanley, an ambitious young car on his way to California. With the help of Lightning McQueen, Mater alters history by convincing Stanley to stay and build Radiator Springs. Stanley meets Lizzie and they commemorate the opening of the new courthouse with their wedding.

Two teenagers trapped in an endless time loop set out to find all the tiny things that make that one day perfect.

During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.

Frikke, a 14-year-old boy, discovers a sinister computer game that uses real children from his neighbourhood as players. In a race against time Frikke must find the evil creator of this horrible game.

Marco is married to a gorgeous woman, has a child and a great job. Everything seems perfect, at least until his wife of 25 years announces that she has another man and wants a separation. Marco is forced to leave home.

In 2004, an officer for a security agency that regulates time travel must fend for his life against a shady politician who has a tie to his past.

Zero is a brilliant scientist. However, 20 years ago, he was publicly humiliated when he lost Helena, the love of his life. One day, an accidental experience with one of his inventions causes him to travel back in time to 1991. Having taken the opportunity to change history, Zero returns to own time to find totally changed.

The Borg, a relentless race of cyborgs, are on a direct course for Earth. Violating orders to stay away from the battle, Captain Picard and the crew of the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise E pursue the Borg back in time to prevent the invaders from changing Federation history and assimilating the galaxy.

Diagnosed with a black hole growing inside her chest and stuck in a loop reliving the last five days of her life, a 55-year-old wife and mother from Miami, Florida decides to solve time travel in order to go back and be the person she always intended to be.

Four young outsiders teleport to a dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire.

A man trying to get home to his dog becomes stuck in a time loop that forces him to relive a deadly run-in with a cop.

An investigator seeking the cause of an airline disaster discovers the involvement of an organisation of time travellers from a future Earth irreparably polluted who seek to rejuvenate the human race from those about to die in the past. Based on a novel by John Varley.

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.

A man sees the dark side of the time-manipulating biotech company he works for when a crushing debt forces his wife to give up 40 years of her own life.

At the University of Chicago, a research team that includes brilliant student machinist Eddie Kasalivich experiences a breakthrough: a stable form of fusion that may lead to a waste-free energy source. However, a private company wants to exploit the technology, so Kasalivich and physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair are framed for murder, and the fusion device is stolen. On the run from the FBI, they must recover the technology and exonerate themselves.

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

A young woman from the future forces a local gunman to help her stop an impending alien invasion which will wipe out the human race.

On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer genius. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness – only to find himself in a waking nightmare.

A service which creates holographic projections of late family members allows an elderly woman to spend time with a younger version of her deceased husband.

Jane is the subject of a twisted science experiment where she is placed in a parallel world and is forced to find a way to either alter her reality or be stuck in a time-loop, destined to repeat the same test over and over again, with no memory of her doing it before. But with each 'reset' she starts to retain fragments of memory. With clues pointing to the mysterious Wytness Quantum Research Centre, she tries to find a way out. (The film was shot entirely on an iPhone during the UK’s first lockdown.)

Six young computer hackers sent to work on a derelict space freighter, are forced to match wits with a vengeful artificial intelligence that would kill to be human.

Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.

