SimilarScreen
Primer

Primer

What happens if it actually works?

20046.81h 17m

Overview

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.

Directed by Shane Carruth
Written by Shane Carruth
Produced by Shane Carruth
Box OfficeBudget: $7KRevenue: $545K

Top Cast

Shane Carruth

Shane Carruth

Aaron

David Sullivan

David Sullivan

Abe

Casey Gooden

Casey Gooden

Robert

Anand Upadhyaya

Anand Upadhyaya

Philip

C

Carrie Crawford

Kara

J

Jay Butler

Metalshop Worker

J

John Carruth

Man On Couch #1

J

Juan Tapia

Man On Couch #2

A

Ashley Warren

Hostess

S

Samantha Thomson

Rachel Granger

Themes & Keywords

distrustgaragemathematicsidentity crisistime traveltime machineparadoxmechanical engineeringdeterminism

About Primer

Primer is a science fiction, drama, thriller film released in 2004 exploring themes of distrust, garage, mathematics, identity crisis, time travel, time machine. Directed by Shane Carruth, it stars Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden. 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.

Movies Similar to Primer

Discover titles like Primer — ranked by similarity and community votes

We found 15 movies similar to Primer

If you enjoyed Primer, you'll love these handpicked recommendations. Each title below shares similar themes, tone, and storytelling style. Our algorithm analyzes genres, keywords, director filmography, and cast connections to find the closest matches. Whether you're looking for the same emotional depth, narrative structure, or visual style, these picks are curated to deliver the best viewing experience for fans of Primer.

Predestination
31% Match

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.

The Butterfly Effect 2
25% Match

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.

Twelve Monkeys
23% Match

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.

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations
23% Match

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.

2067
22% Match

2067(2020)

Movie5.4/10

A lowly utility worker is called to the future by a mysterious radio signal, he must leave his dying wife to embark on a journey that will force him to face his deepest fears in an attempt to change the fabric of reality and save humankind from its greatest environmental crisis yet.

Synchronicity
22% Match

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.

Aporia
22% Match

Aporia(2023)

Movie6.2/10

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.

Curvature
22% Match

Curvature(2017)

Movie4.9/10

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?

ARQ
21% Match

ARQ(2016)

Movie6.1/10

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.

Arrival
21% Match

Arrival(2016)

Movie7.6/10

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.

Cube
20% Match

Cube(1998)

Movie6.8/10

A group of strangers find themselves trapped in a maze-like prison. It soon becomes clear that each of them possesses the peculiar skills necessary to escape, if they don't wind up dead first.

Millennium
20% Match

Millennium(1989)

Movie5.4/10

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.

The Time Machine
20% Match

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.