feelsalike.comSign in
Primer poster

Movies that feel likePrimer (2004)

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.

If you loved Primer, the closest films we have are Predestination (2014), Paradise (2023) and Under the Skin (2014). All three share Primer's cerebral and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970).

🍅 72% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Shane Carruthcerebralcontemplativetense
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · MGM Plus

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

If Primer hit the spot, these will too

Predestination poster
Predestination
2014 · dir. Michael Spierig
🍅 84%★ 7.4science fiction · thriller

Two things both keep coming back to: time travel and time machine

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Primer

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.

Paradise poster
Paradise
2023 · dir. Boris Kunz
🍅 100%★ 6.3science fiction · thrillerNetflix

Cerebral where it counts, tense underneath

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

Under the Skin poster
Under the Skin
2014 · dir. Jonathan Glazer
🍅 83%★ 6.3thriller · science fiction · dramaNetflix

Science fiction built on stillness, twice over

A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.

Colossus: The Forbin Project poster
Colossus: The Forbin Project
1970 · dir. Joseph Sargent
🍅 90%★ 7.1science fiction · thriller

Both lean on ideas more than on thriller

The difference: 34 years apart, and the 1970s show

The U.S. has handed over control of its nuclear defense system to the Colossus supercomputer designed by scientist Dr. Charles Forbin. It soon becomes clear, that the now-sentient Colossus is far more intelligent than its creator realized—with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.

Timecrimes poster
Timecrimes
2007 · dir. Nacho Vigalondo
🍅 90%★ 7.1science fiction · thriller

Common ground: time travel

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.

Déjà Vu poster
Déjà Vu
2006 · dir. Tony Scott
🍅 55%★ 7.1action · thriller · science fiction

Tense drama in both cases

The difference: Sits closer to action than Primer does

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.

Brainstorm poster
Brainstorm
1983 · dir. Douglas Trumbull
🍅 57%★ 6.4science fiction · thriller

Science fiction with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.

Next poster
Next
2007 · dir. Lee Tamahori
🍅 28%★ 6.2action · science fiction · thriller

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

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.

The Flu poster
The Flu
2013 · dir. Kim Sung-soo
🍅 33%★ 6.6action · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Science fiction in the same key

A case of the flu quickly morphs into a pandemic. As the death toll mounts and the living panic, the government plans extreme measures to contain it.

Project Almanac poster
Project Almanac
2015 · dir. Dean Israelite
🍅 38%★ 6.4science fiction · thriller

Thriller approached the same way

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

Hollow Man poster
Hollow Man
2000 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 25%★ 5.9action · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Science fiction of the same temperament

Cocky researcher Sebastian Caine is working on a project to make living creatures invisible. Determined to achieve the ultimate breakthrough, Caine pushes his team to move to the next phase — using himself as the subject. The test is a success, but when the process can't be reversed and Caine seems doomed to future without flesh, he starts to turn increasingly dangerous.

The Andromeda Strain poster
The Andromeda Strain
1971 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 68%★ 7.2science fiction · thriller · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scrambles to a secure laboratory and tries first to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.

In the mood for more cerebral?

all cerebral movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Primer’s defining feeling.