It’s a trope defined by one film, but like all fascinating tropes used so many other TV shows, films, and video games, the time loop has become a storytelling tool used by countless creators in the service of unique stories.
And like any tool, what makes them fascinating is they can be used in different ways. The list below focuses onGroundhog Day-esque narratives where each repetition resets everything — at least at the beginning, though for many of these narratives things eventually change from loop to loop. (This is why you won’t find time travel narratives likeTerminatororLooperon this list.) But even with such restrictive criteria, there are still plenty of great stories told about what it’s like when you have the opportunity/curse to relive the same period of time, over and over again. Our favorites are below.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - “Life Serial” (TV)
In Season 6 ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy’s (Sarah Michelle Gellar) feeling a bit adrift after that whole coming-back-from-death thing, and it doesn’t help that there are three pesky dudes trying to take over Sunnydale. In the episode “Life Serial,” said dudes put Buffy through a series of trials, one of which includes a magic spell that causes her to repeat the same customer interaction at the Magic Shop over and over again. Almost as good as the execution of this sequence is the hat tip to narratives that have come before (and you’d better believe also appear on this list):
Andrew: I just hope she solves it faster than Data did on the ep ofTNGwhere the Enterprise kept blowing up.
Warren: Or Mulder, in thatX-Fileswhere the bank kept exploding.
Andrew: Scully wants me so bad.
It’s admittedly only one aspect of this episode, but fun enough to merit inclusion here. -Liz Shannon Miller
Community - “Remedial Chaos Theory” (TV)
Community’s best concept episode is less of a time loop and more of a time tree, branching off into six different scenarios spawned from the very same moment. We’re still including it here because A) It’s one of the best sitcom episodes of all time, and B) There are no rules, life is chaos, watch the episode. Directed byJeff Melmanand written byChris McKenna, “Remedial Chaos Theory” sees Jeff (Joel McHale) toss a dice during Troy (Donald Glover) and Abed’s (Danny Pudi) housewarming party, creating six extremely different timelines. Some are perfectly okay. Some feature Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) having a mini pie-fueled breakdown, others early sparks fly between Troy and Britta (Gillian Jacobs), others still see Pierce (Chevy Chase) get shot by Annie’s (Alison Brie) hidden gun and dying. It’s a beautiful piece of work that subtly illustrates everyone’s integral role in this found family, but also it features Troy losing his larynx because he tries to eat a flaming troll doll. Community—like life, like time—always had layers. -Vinnie Mancuso
Edge of Tomorrow (Film)
Tom Cruiserarely dies in his films, even while personally performing truly death-defying stunts, so there’s something weirdly satisfying aboutEdge ofTomorrow, a movie exclusively devoted to watching him die, over and over again. Cruise plays a PR man winds up as an infantryman on the front lines of an alien invasion. During the battle, he’s doused in the blood of a special alien and forced to relive the day endlessly. Based on a Japanese “light novel” and notoriously difficult to adapt (at least eight screenwriters took a stab at the story),Edge ofTomorrowworks largely because of the chemistry between Cruise and an equally committedEmily Blunt, who plays a warrior who was stuck in a similar loop but broke free, and the perverse joy of all the inventive ways that directorDoug Limanruthlessly murders the world’s biggest movie star. (Also the monsters are really weird and creepy.) Edge of Tomorrow loses momentum towards the end, when Cruise escapes his loop (and the dearly departedBill Paxtonleaves the movie altogether), but chances are you’re having so much fun you hardly even notice. Liman, Cruise, and screenwriterChristopher McQuarriehave all hinted that a second installment is on the way, but with two moreMission: Impossiblemovies on the way from McQ and Cruise, it might be a while before we can watch him die again. –Drew Taylor
The Endless (Film)
If you have not seenThe Endless, kindly get the hell out of here, go watch it, and then come back because I can’t really get into what makes this one such a special entry here without going full-spoilers. Filmmakers and starsJustin BensonandAaron Moorheadtook the world they built with their debut filmResolutionand expanded it in their 2018 semi-sequel, which starred the duo as bickering brothers and former cultists who reunite with their old cult members in search of answers and discover the horrifying truth hiding in the mountains where they live. In short, it’s a Lovecraftian god-monster who gets its jollies by trapping people in nightmarish and deadly time loops, seemingly just for its amusement.
As this list demonstrates, the time loop is a very familiar genre convention, but usually, it’s used a framing device for the entire story. InThe Endless, we see all kinds of time loops, little bubbles of suffering checkered across otherwise unremarkable desert terrain, each a self-contained story in its own right. There’s an arsenal of evocative and horrific imagery in the film, but none more effective and bone-chilling than the old-timey soldier who gets only seconds between each brutal end, the artifacts surrounding him serving as a brutal reminder of how long he’s been stuck in his hell. Benson and Moorhead bring a fascinating approach to a familiar genre by incorporating it as an element to a larger world wherein you might find a strange and powerful red flower growing on mountains, where small totems point to the cracks between realities, and where any unfortunate soul wandering the land might just get stuck repeating their worst nightmare for eternity. –Haleigh Foutch
Palm Springs (Film)
Palm Springsis kind of a perfect time loop movie. The film puts a twist on the time loop formula by starting withAndy Samberg’s character having already been stuck in the loop for a very, very long time. The day he’s reliving over and over again is at a wedding in Palm Springs, and one night the bride’s sister accidentally gets sucked into the time loop with him. Understandably, she’s pissed. But the film constantly surprises, as it not only delivers as a hilarious time loop comedy, but also as a sweet and endearing romantic comedy with a complex female lead who’s allowed to be just as goofy, fallible, and imperfect as the male lead. The film also touches on notions of existential dread and nihilism, but at heart it’s a film about how existence is meaningless without other people. And that’s, uh, kind of relevant right now. -Adam Chitwood
Groundhog Day (Film)
Groundhog Dayis a classic for a reason. Yes, it’s the touchstone most people use for a “time loop” because of how clearly the film relays the mechanics of how a time loop works. But it also endures because it dares to dig a little deeper. DirectorHarold Ramisand starBill Murrayfamously clashed while making this movie over the correct balance between comedy and philosophy (Murray pushed for the story to get more introspective), and it’s this creative push-and-pull that really creates the perfect balance.Groundhog Dayis uproariously funny, but it’s also poignant and sad as Murray’s character exhausts his selfishness and begins empathizing with people other than himself. Just because the day resets doesn’t mean the kid who falls out of the tree doesn’t get hurt, or the homeless man doesn’t die. Phil Conners begins to care about other people, time loop be damned. And I think that’s a big reason why this movie is still so beloved. -Adam Chitwood
Happy Death Day (Film)
Originally devised ten years earlier as a starring vehicle forMegan Fox(produced byMichael Bay, no less),Happy Death Daywas concocted as a subversive of classic slasher movie tropes by comic book writerScott Lobdell. While the project languished in development hell (a different kind of purgatory-style time loop) it caught the eye ofChristopher Landon, a veteran of theParanormal Activityseries, who streamlined the story and amped up the goofiness. The time loop in question befalls Tree (a super charmingJessica Rothe), a bitchy college student who is forced to uncover the truth about her own murder – on her birthday, no less. The concept of a victim having to relive the same day over and over again until they solve their own murder is an ingenious one. And it allows Landon and his collaborators to indulge in all sorts of romantic comedy tropes alongside the scary stuff (Tree, of course, grows as a person and falls in love). Equal parts funny and thrilling,Happy Death Dayfeels like a modern classic of sorts, one whose success isn’t merely reliant on the gimmick of the time loop structure. A sequel,Happy Death Day 2U, released last year (and also totally amazing) doubles down on the time travel mechanics and offers different, even stranger charms. Landon has repeatedly teased a third film; we’d give anything to live this franchise again (and again and again). –Drew Taylor
The Incredible Shrinking Wknd (Film)
I caught this one atNorth Bend Film Festin 2019 and despite a modest budget and familiar setup, it’s really stuck with me.The Incredible Shrinking Wkndfinds a young woman trapped in a terrible time loop during a weekend retreat with her friends that always ends with her boyfriend dumping her (and usually a pretty gnarly hangover to go with it.) But there’s a twist! Each time the loop repeats, it gets a little bit shorter (hence, the “shrinking” part of the title). It’s a simple but effective caveat to the familiar time loop rules, each new repeat bringing the thematic focus and human truths she’s struggling to reach closer and closer into focus. The film also indulges a pretty nifty cinematic trick that took me several loops to catch onto. Credit to the performances for being so engaging in a rather lowkey but high-concept affair. –Haleigh Foutch
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Video Game)
How do you topThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, arguably the greatest title in theLegend of Zeldafranchise? That’s the question Nintendo found themselves asking in the wake of the success ofOoT, the first of the franchise to go 3D on the then-current N64. Game directorsEiji AonumaandYoshiaki Koizumi, along with EPsShigeru MiyamotoandHiroshi Yamauchi, found themselves rather short on time if they wanted to capitalize on that success as soon as possible with a direct sequel. It turns out that time wasn’t just their enemy, but their ally as well. That idea served as the core of the story that would becomeThe Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
Created and brought to market in just two years, the sequel is set in an alternate reality to the one gamers experienced inOoT. Now in Termina, Link must save this parallel world and its inhabitants from a cataclysmic collision with a falling moon. And the player has only three in-game days to do it, translating to less than an hour of real-world game time. The catch here is, that’s not enough time for you to succeed. The genius stroke from the creative team — no doubt inspired by their own clever shortcuts to getting the game made under a time crunch — was to introduce beefed-up time-controlling mechanics set within a repeating three-day cycle. If Link manages to reset the clock and return to the morning of the first day, the player’s progress will be (mostly) saved; if not, well, the moon destroys Termina.
This clever mechanic really opens up the story, allowing Link an almost god-like prescience of future events, like the paths certain NPCs take and where to find them to solve their individual quests. It also introduces thatGroundhog Dayfeel to the gamers who experience the same things over and over again while trying to figure out how to break the loop the proper way. (And I’d imagine it’s a heck of a game for speedrunners to master.) So whileMajora’s Maskabsolutely deserves its cult status for a brilliant use of time in the narrative, the control over it, and the much-more-magical masks and lore than its predecessor, the most satisfying part of playing the game is in breaking that time loop and watching as a new day dawns. -Dave Trumbore
Legends of Tomorrow - “Here I Go Again” (TV)
“It was only a matter of time before we did one of these,” Nate Heywood (Nick Zano) says as soon as he learns the Waverider is caught in a time loop and buddy, the enthusiasm is warranted. The most delightful corner of the Arrowverse known asLegends of Tomorroweffortlessly plows through at least 15 genres per season, so it’s no surprise its season 3 take on the time loop — ”Here I Go Again” directed byBen Bray, written byRay Utarnachitt&Morgan Faust— nails every trick and trope while still feeling as refreshing as ever. After uploading new tech into the Legends’ ship, newcomer Zari (Tala Ashe) finds herself trapped in an endless repeat that always ends with the Waverider exploding, killing everyone on board. Like most ofLegends of Tomorrow, “Here I Go Again” manages to be both consistently hilarious and surprisingly moving, but it’s also a clever way of initiating Zari on to the team in a single hour; because she’s forced to work together with each member again and again (and again), she gets a lifetime’s worth of their best traits without them even knowing. A definite highlight in a show that’s filled with truly insane highlights, as well as, in a grand display of irony, just an endlessly rewatchable episode of television. -Vinnie Mancuso
