Film

Timecrimes

Name: Timecrimes
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller
Released: 2007
Cast: Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga, Nacho Vigalondo, Juan Inciarte

Timecrimes is a lean, ingeniously plotted Spanish thriller about one disastrous hour that loops back on itself. Karra Elejalde plays a bewildered everyman who becomes both cause and victim of his own accident, and the film tightens its logic screw by screw until dread outpaces confusion. Cheap, clever, and unnervingly claustrophobic — for anyone who wants time travel with genuine stakes and zero fat.

TMDb rating

7.0

If you liked this

Primer2004

The ur-text of low-budget time-loop paranoia: two engineers build a machine and immediately regret it. Same DIY ingenuity and refusal to hand-hold, just colder and more clinical.

But Deliberately opaque — you may need a diagram and a second viewing to work out who's when.

Coherence2014

A dinner party fractures into parallel timelines after a comet passes overhead; same shoestring budget and creeping sense that ordinary decisions are becoming irreversible.

But The dialogue-heavy, handheld style can feel more like a theatre exercise than a thriller.

Triangle2009

A woman on a yacht trip gets trapped in a repeating nightmare that unravels with the same escalating, self-inflicted logic as Timecrimes. Genuinely unsettling structure.

But Grimmer and more violent, with a twist some viewers find overworked.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

La Jetée1962

Timecrimes is built on the same paradox at this film's core — a man trapped by a loop he's already lived, doomed the moment he steps into it.

Told almost entirely in still photographs with narration, this 28-minute French short invented the modern time-travel-as-fate template that Timecrimes still runs on, decades later.

But No dialogue-driven scenes, no chase, no comfort — a slow, mournful photo-essay rather than a conventional thriller.

Predestination2014

Ethan Hawke stars in a moody, paradox-heavy time travel thriller that pushes the 'you are your own cause' idea even further, with a properly startling final act.

But Slow-burn and talky for its first half; the payoff demands patience.

Looper2012

A slicker, star-studded take on the same problem — what happens when future you and present you have to deal with each other. Confident, propulsive filmmaking.

But Bigger budget means fewer rough edges, and less of the homemade dread Timecrimes runs on.

Donnie Darko2001

Loops, fate, and a protagonist slowly realizing he's trapped inside a mechanism he doesn't understand — that queasy inevitability will feel very familiar.

But More teen-angst mythology than tight thriller; the cult appeal is mood as much as plot.

Source Code2011

A soldier relives the same eight minutes to prevent a disaster, tightening a loop-within-a-loop structure into a punchy studio thriller.

But Hollywood polish smooths over the moral messiness that makes Timecrimes so uncomfortable.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel2009no page yet

A scrappy British comedy that treats time-loop logic with genuine rigor while being extremely funny about it — a nice tonal palate cleanser.

But Broader and sillier; if you want dread rather than banter, it won't scratch the itch.

The Man from Earth2007no page yet

Same budget-conscious, one-idea-taken-seriously spirit — a single conversation instead of a chase, but the same pleasure of a premise interrogated to its logical end.

But No thriller mechanics at all; it's static, talky philosophy rather than suspense.

Groundhog Day1993

Both trap a man inside a compressed, repeating window of time where only his growing knowledge of events lets him change the outcome.

The same structural engine — relive, learn, adjust, repeat — rebuilt as a warm, hilarious comedy about becoming a decent person through sheer repetition.

But Zero body horror, zero dread; if you came for tension, this swaps it out entirely for charm.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time2006

Same premise — an ordinary person accidentally gains the ability to jump backward in time and immediately makes things worse — told as tender animation rather than adult paranoia.

A gorgeous, gentle Japanese animated film about a schoolgirl who discovers she can leap backward in time and recklessly burns through her chances — real warmth where Timecrimes has dread.

But Coming-of-age sweetness and school-life pacing are a world away from Timecrimes' claustrophobic menace.