Le Horla

English release: The Horla Literal: The What’s-Out-There

by Guy de Maupassant

A supernatural being—or possibly an alien, although probably not a time traveler—haunts the narrator’s house, driving him to possessed and murderous state.

— Michael Main

On dirait que l’air invisible est plein d’inconnaissables Puissances dont nous subissons le voisinage mystérieux.

One might almost say that the air, the invisible air, is full of unknowable Forces, whose mysterious presence we have to endure.

English

[ex=bare]“Le Horla” | The What’s-Out-There[/ex] by Guy de Maupassant, in Le Horla (G. Chamerot pour Paul Ollendorff, May 1887).

The House on the Borderland

Supernatural-story pioneer William Hope Hodgson was an inspiration for Lovecraft and later generations of writers. This novel of an Irish house that lay at the intersection of monstrous other dimensions seems to include time travel when the narrator witnesses and returns from a future the Earth is falling into the Sun while a second green star visits our solar system.

— Michael Main

Years appeared to pass, slowly. The earth had almost reached the center of the sun’s disk. The light from the Green Sun—as now it must be called—shone through the interstices, that gapped the mouldered walls of the old house, giving them the appearance of being wrapped in green flames. The Swine-creatures still crawled about the walls.

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson (Chapman and Hall, 1908).

Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle

The Silver Key

by H. P. Lovecraft

“The Silver Key” by H. P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales, January 1929.

Cthulhu Mythos

The Dreams in the Witch-House

by H. P. Lovecraft

“The Dreams in the Witch-House” by H. P. Lovecraft, Weird Tales, July 1933.

The Shadow Out of Time

by H. P. Lovecraft

During an economics lecture, Professor Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee’s body and mind are taken over by a being who can travel to any time and place of his choice, and during the next five years the being studies us, all of which Peaslee pieces together after his return.

Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi says that Lovecraft saw the movie Berkeley Square four times in 1933, and “its portrayal of a man of the 20th century who somehow merges his personality with that of his 18th-century ancestor” served as Lovecraft’s inspiration for this story.

The projected mind, in the body of the organism of the future, would then pose as a member of the race whose outward form it wore, learning as quickly as possible all that could be learned of the chosen age and its massed information and techniques.

“The Shadow Out of Time” by H. P. Lovecraft, Astounding, June 1936.

The Undead

by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna, directed by Roger Corman

The Undead by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna, directed by Roger Corman (premiered at an unknown movie theater, San Francisco, 14 February 1957).

Unusual Tales #47

The Unwelcome Guest

by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno

After a car accident, Steve Teller stumbles into a house that takes him from one time to another.

— Michael Main

Open up! I’ve had enough of this! Whatever crazy explanation there is, I want it now!

“The Unwelcome Guest” by Joe Gill [?] and Bill Molno, Unusual Tales #47 (Charlton Comics, November 1964).

Divine Madness

by Roger Zelazny

A man has seizures that reverse small portions of his life that he must then relive.

The door slammed open.

“Divine Madness” by Roger Zelazny, in Magazine of Horror, Summer 1966.

The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World

by Harlan Ellison

A pedestrian blood-and-guts version of Jack the Ripper is pulled from 1888 into a sterile city of the future where he promptly slays Hernon’s granddaughter, an occurrence that leaves the equally evil Hernon unrattled.

He had looked up as light flooded him in that other place. It had been soot silent in Spitalfields, but suddenly, without any sense of having moved or having been moved, he was flooded with light. And when he looked up he was in tht other place. Paused now, only a few minutes after the transfer, he leaned against the bright wall of the city, and recalled the light.

“The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World” by Harlan Ellison, in Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison (Doubleday, October 1967).

What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper

by Robert Silverberg

When all eleven families on Redford Crescent receive a newspaper from the middle of next week, the result is a hastily called neighborhood meeting and an assortment of get-rich-quick plans.

— Michael Main

Which sounds more fantastic? That someone would take the trouble of composing an entire fictional edition of the Times setting it in type printing it and having it delivered or that through some sort of fluke of the fourth dimension we’ve been allowed a peek at next week’s newspaper?

“What We Learned from This Morning’s Newspaper” by Robert Silverberg, in Infinity Four, edited by Robert Hoskins (Lancer Books, November 1972).

Life Trap

by Barrington J. Bayley

Marcus, an aspirant to the highest rank afforded to members of the Arcanum Temple, undergoes an experiment to determine what awaits us after death, and the answer certainly involves time in a macabre manner.

Although the secret of death has been imparted to the full membership of the Temple, not all have understood its import.

“Life Trap” by Barrington J. Bayley, in The Seed of Evil (Allison and Busby, November 1979).

A Touch of Petulance

by Ray Bradbury

On his way home on the train, Jonathan Hughes meets Jonathan Hughes + 20 years and receives a warning that his marriage to a lovely young bride will end in murder.

— Michael Main

Me, thought the young man. Why, that old man is. . . me.

“A Touch of Petulance” by Ray Bradbury, in Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley (The Viking Press, August 1980).

Clap Hands and Sing

by Orson Scott Card

Ancient Charlie sees a momentary vision of young Rachel, barely into her teens, and a moment with her that was never to be.

I’ve read other Card stories where he portrays the dark side of a character in realistic and frightening form that I could deal with, but for me, the seeming comfort that the character gets at the end is more disturbing than anything else Card has written.

He almost stops himself. Few things are left in his private catalog of sin, but surely this is one. He looks into himself and tries to find the will to resist his own desire solely because its fulfillment will hurt another person. He is out of practice—so far out of practice that he keeps losing track of the reason for resisting.

“Clap Hands and Sing” by Orson Scott Card, in The Best of Omni Science Fiction No. 3, edited by Ben Bova and Don Myrus (Omni Publications International Ltd., February 1982).

House

by Fred Decker and Ethan Wiley, directed by Steve Miner

House by Fred Decker and Ethan Wiley, directed by Steve Miner (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Victoria, Texas, 6 December 1985).

Jukebox

by Dean Wesley Smith

A jukebox in the Garden Lounge does more than make you remember the time of the song. It actually takes you to that time.

I’ve yet to find a good guide to these stories and where they can be obtained. The first story, “The Jukebox Man’ appeared in 1987 in a sister magazine to The Twilight Zone Magazine. Here’s a list of the other stories that I know of, although the only one I’ve read so far is “Jukebox Gifts’:

I had carefully typed onto labels the names of over sixty Christmas songs, then taped them next to the red buttons. Somewhere in this jukebox, I hoped there would be a special song for each man. A song that would trigger a memory and a ride into the past. My Christmas present to each of them.

“Jukebox” by Dean Wesley Smith, in Night Cry, Fall 1987.

Lightning

by Dean R. Koontz

Right from her birth, Laura Shane has had a quick wit, a fateful loss of those close to her, and a time-traveling guardian angel who is himself chased by his evil compatriots.

One of the things he had learned from the experiments in the institute was that reshaping fate was not always easy. Destiny struggled to reassert the pattern that was meant to be. Perhaps being molested and psychologically destroyed was such an immutable part of Laura’s fate that Stefan could not prevent it from happening sooner or later.

Lightning by Dean R. Koontz (Putnam, 1988).

Waxwork I

Waxwork

written and directed by Anthony Hickox

This first of the two Waxwork horror films has secondary worlds, but no time travel. Move along to Waxwork II.

— Michael Main

I hear you were having drinks with the butler the other night. Now, you know that sort of thing leads to anarchy.

Waxwork written and directed by Anthony Hickox (at movie theaters, USA, 17 June 1988).

Warlock I

Warlock

by David Twohy, directed by Steve Miner

A captured warlock in 1691 Massachusetts is thrown forward 300 years to Los Angeles with warlock-hunter Giles Redferne in hot pursuit. Twentieth century chase ensues with pretty nurse Kassandra aiding the hunter.

— Michael Main

A grand grimore? Here? Now?

Warlock by David Twohy, directed by Steve Miner (Cannes Film Festival, May 1989).

The Hemingway Hoax

by Joe Haldeman

Literature professor John Baird and conman Sylvester Castlemaine hatch a plan to get rich forging Hemingway’s lost stories, but before long, Baird is confronted by an apparent guardian of the many timelines in the form of Hemingway himself.

— Michael Main

I’m from the future and the past and other temporalities that you can’t comprehend. But all you need to know is that yiou must not write this Hemingway story. If you do, I or someone like me will have to kill you.

“The Hemingway Hoax” by Joe Haldeman, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1990.

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s04e06)

Touch of Petulance

by Ray Bradbury, directed by John Laing

A faithful adaptation of Bradbury’s 1980 story of a man who returns to his warn his younger self about the future course of his marriage.

— Michael Main

We are one, the same person: Jonathan Hughes.

The Ray Bradbury Theater (s04e06), “Touch of Petulance” by Ray Bradbury, directed by John Laing (USA Network, USA, 12 October 1990).

Jacob’s Ladder

by Bruce Joel Rubin, directed by Adrian Lyne

Vietnam War vet Jacob might be experiencing time travel and a couple of alternative universes where he lives with a different wife in 1975 New York or where his dead son Gabe is alive again. But a full explanation of the events is never given in the plot, and it seems more likely to be the result of a government drug experiment, or maybe passing through Hell, or—most likely— a moment-of-death experience.

— Michael Main

Eckhart saw Hell too. He said the only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away, but they’re not punishing you, he said, they’re freeing your soul. So the way he sees it, if you’re frightened of dying and . . . and you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. But if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth. It’s just a matter of how you look at it, that's all. So don’t worry, okay? Okay?

Jacob’s Ladder by Bruce Joel Rubin, directed by Adrian Lyne (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 29 October 1990).

Frankenstein Unbound

by Roger Corman and F. X. Feeney, directed by Roger Corman

Joe Buchanan invents a weapon that’s meant to be so terrible it will end war forever, but the weapon causes time rifts, one of which takes him (and his futuristic talking car, a.k.a. his electric carriage) back in time to where he meets Dr. Frankenstein (a standoffish man, but willing to talk science), Frankenstein’s monster (who is fascinated with the talking car), and Mary Wollstonecraft (a budding author).

The film did a good job of bringing Brian Aldiss’s book’s premise to the screen, with a better pace than the book, but the short dream sequences were ineffective for me and Dr. Frankenstein is more of a clichéd villain than in the book.

— Michael Main

Zero pollution, maximum ozone shield: Something tells me we’re not in New Los Angeles any more.

Frankenstein Unbound by Roger Corman and F. X. Feeney, directed by Roger Corman (at movie theaters, Uruguay, 1 November 1990).

Beasties

written and directed by Steven Paul Contreras

Beasties written and directed by Steven Paul Contreras (direct-to-video, USA, 1991).

天地玄門

Tian di xuan men English release: An Eternal Combat Literal: The mysterious spacetime gate

by 何东, directed by 叶成康

[ex=bare]天地玄門 | The mysterious spacetime gate | Tian di xuan men[/ex] by 何东, directed by 叶成康 (at movie theaters, Hong Kong, 5 January 1991).

Prey

by Graham Masterton

Prey by Graham Masterton (Mandarin, 1992).

Waxwork II

Waxwork II: Lost in Time

written and directed by Anthony Hickox

After the flaming climax at the end of Waxwork (which had no time travel that I could see), Mark and Sarah (a different actress) crawl home only to be followed by a disembodied hand that (before being garbage-disposaled into tiny pieces) hacks Sarah’s nearly evil stepfather to death. Nobody at Sarah’s subsequent trial for murder believes that story, so after listening to a movie of dead Patrick Macnee, they escape into a series of bad horror movie remakes from Frankenstein to Aliens.

Of course, all these movies are set in different times, but is there any actual time travel? The final scene gives a definitive answer, when Sarah meets James Westborn, after the verdict of her trial.

— Michael Main

We burned that place to the ground. Nothing could have got out.

Waxwork II: Lost in Time written and directed by Anthony Hickox (Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, March 1992).

Goosebumps 4

Say Cheese and Die!

by R. L. Stine

Say Cheese and Die! by R. L. Stine (Scholastic, April 1992).

Army of Darkness

by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi, directed by Sam Raimi

A Connecticut Yankee (or maybe a Michigan Yankee) in King Arthur's Court meets the Living Dead and their kin.

— Michael Main

This is my boom-stick. It’s a 12-guage, double barreled Remington—S-mart’s top-of-the-line. You’ll find them in the sporting goods department.

Army of Darkness by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi, directed by Sam Raimi (Sitges Film Festival, 9 October 1992).

Witches 1

Witches

by Kathryn Meyer Griffith

Witches by Kathryn Meyer Griffith (Zebra Books, January 1993).

Goosebumps 27

A Night in Terror Tower

by R. L. Stine

A Night in Terror Tower by R. L. Stine (Scholastic, 1995).

Goosebumps

by R. L. Stine

Tim was seven when the Goosebumps books first arrived, the perfect age to be creeped out by R.L. Stine (although Tim preferred the Animorphs). At least three of the original series had some time travel, as did many of the later Give Yourself Goosebumps books. Much of the time travel in those choose-your-own-adventure style of books occurred in alternative endings.

It must have been my wish, I thought.

My birthday wish.

After Tara tripped me and I fell on my cake, I wished I could go back in time and start my birthday all over again.

Somehow my wish came true.

Wow! I thought. This is kind of cool.

Goosebumps by R. L. Stine (January 1995).

The Langoliers

written and directed by Tom Holland

As in Stephen King’s novella of the same name, this two-night made-for-TV movie follows the ten people who find that they’re the only ones left on board a transcontinental flight. Even after they land, nobody else is on the ground. In order of importance, the movie is about (1) the characters, (2) horror, and (3) a little speculative fiction. In the end, the resolution (involving time) is the same as in the novella.

— Michael Main

I’ve been sitting here, running all these old stories through my head, you know: time warps, space warps, alien raiding parties. I mean, we really don’t know if there’s anything left down there, do we?

The Langoliers written and directed by Tom Holland (ABC-TV, USA, 14 May 1995).

Goosebumps

by Deborah Forte

R.L. Stine’s creepy kids’ books translated to TV, but for me, the pace on the small screen was always slow. A couple episodes had definite time travel, and some of the episodes were filmed in Bellevue, WA, where I went to junior high school, but I haven’t recognized any landmarks.

So Tara has never been born. I suppose there’s some way to go back in time to get her, right? I guess I probably ought to do that. And I will. . . one of these days.

Goosebumps by Deborah Forte (3 November 1995).

Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders

written and directed by Kenneth J. Berton

A grandfather tells his grandson two stories about Merlin coming to the present day to set up his mystical shop of wonders. Other than Merlin coming to the here-and-now, though, there’s no time traveling.

— Michael Main

Grandpa: You know, actually, that toy monkey reminds me of a story I once wrote for television. Let’s see, what was it? Of course: Merlin!
Grandkid: Merlin?
Grandpa: Merlin the sorcerer. Only it didn’t take place in the time with King Arthur. You see, Merlin used his powers to come to our time, to set up a shop of mystical wonders for all to see.

Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders written and directed by Kenneth J. Berton (direct-to-video, USA, 27 August 1996).

Event Horizon

by Philip Eisner, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Trapped aboard a ghost ship around Neptune, a rescue team runs into possible hallucinations (and possible other horrors) rooted in past regrets, but I’m officially calling this one as having no actual time travel™.

— Jeff Delgado

When she crossed over, she was just a ship, but when she came back, she was alive.

Event Horizon by Philip Eisner, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (at movie theaters, Canada and USA, 15 August 1997).

Is There Anybody There?

by Kim Newman

More horror than anything else, but amusing nevertheless as an internet stalker in 2001 communicates via a Ouija board with a psychic in 1923.

Always, he would leave memories to cherish; months later, he would check up on his net-pals—his score so far was five institutionalisations and two suicides—just to see that the experience was still vivid. He was determined to crawl into IRENE D’s skull and stay there, replicating like a virus, wiping her hard drive.

“Is There Anybody There?” by Kim Newman, in The New English Library Book of Internet Stories, Maxim Jakubowski (New English Library, November 2000).

Other People

by Neil Gaiman

The demon of this story carries out an exquisite torture of his victim. At the end, we do discover the victim’s fate, though I wondered what became of the demon. Time travel? I haven’t heard Gaiman talk of this story, but I like to think of it in that way because of the opening and closing quotes.

“Time is fluid here,” he told the new arrival.

“Other People” by Neil Gaiman, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October/November 2001.

Cube²: Hypercube

by Sean Hood, Ernie Barbarash, and Lauren McLaughlin, directed by Andrzej Sekula

A cast of ~~thousands~~ nine (it just seems like thousands) is trapped in the Cube, sometimes called the Tesseract, where time and space are distorted. Time travel may be involved, since we see at least two characters meet themselves, but it’s too surreal for me to know for sure.

— Michael Main

If any of these numbers are prime, then the room is trapped!

Cube²: Hypercube by Sean Hood, Ernie Barbarash, and Lauren McLaughlin, directed by Andrzej Sekula (München Fantasy Filmfest, 29 July 2002).

The Butterfly Effect I

The Butterfly Effect

written and directed by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress

Scary, dark, disturbing, sick and violent—but captivating—psychological thriller about how things keep going further and further astray when Evan tries to fix things by changing key moments involving the sociopaths and child molesters of his troubled childhood.

— Michael Main

Hey man, I’d think twice about what you’re doing. You could wake up a lot more fucked up than you are now.

The Butterfly Effect written and directed by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 17 January 2004).

The Jacket

by Massy Tadjedin, directed by John Maybury

Committed to the Alpine Grove asylum for a murder he didn’t commit, brain-damaged war veteran Jack Starks is subjected to sensory deprivation in a straightjacket, which sends him fifteen years into the future for several hours at a time where he meets the adult version of Jackie, a small girl whom he briefly met and was kind to shortly before being incarcerated. He learns from Jackie that back in the asylum he has only a few days to live, and together, he and Jackie try to figure out a way to escape that fate.

The story is loosely based on Jack London’s The Star Rover, although London’s protagonist travels through the stars and into past lives. Using future information to change the present was never part of London’s story.

— Michael Main

No, no you didn’t. Jack Starks did, and Jack Starks is dead. He’s dead. His body was found New Year’s Day, 1993, Alpine Grove. He’s dead.

The Jacket by Massy Tadjedin, directed by John Maybury (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 23 January 2005).

Camp Daze

by Draven Gonzalez, directed by Alex Pucci

Camp Daze by Draven Gonzalez, directed by Alex Pucci (direct-to-video, USA, 20 June 2005).

Scream Quietly

by Sheila Crosby

In 1849 England, Sophie’s abusive husband abuses her and beats their one-year-old son, so at the first opportunity, she and her son flee to a friend’s house where they are visited by apparent faeries.

They said they were not faeries, but men, “even as yourselne,” from the far distant future, and they were journeying in time! They were most astonished to hear this was the year of our Lord 1849, for they had believed themselves in 1343 and were in great fear of being burned as witches.

“Scream Quietly” by Sheila Crosby, in Farthing, July 2005.

Дневной дозор

Dnevnoy dozer English release: Day Watch Literal: Day watch

by Александр Талал, directed by Тиму́р Бекмамбе́тов

[ex=bare]Дневной дозор | Day watch | Dnevnoy dozor[/ex] by Александр Талал, directed by Тиму́р Бекмамбе́тов (at movie theaters, Russia and elsewhere, 1 January 2006).

Salvage

written and directed by Josh Crook and Jeff Crook

Salvage written and directed by Josh Crook and Jeff Crook (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 19 January 2006).

Dreamland

by Tom Willett, directed by Jason Matzner

Meghan and Dylan stop at a desert diner near Area 51 where they hear UFO and time travel stories. On the road again, their radio starts picking up Patsy Cline songs, they get separated, and Meghan has various scary encounters including one with a spooky 8-year-old girl and another with newspaper clippings about top secret time travel experiments in the 60s.

I watched to the end (where there is about five minutes of song that tries to explain it all), but I won’t claim to understand the movie. One reviewer says that the spooky girl was abducted and subjected to government time travel experiments, and that the movie is populated by characters who are only in her mind as she travels through time (possibly people from the clippings). If so, then perhaps Meghan is the little girl’s imaginings of her own older self.

— Michael Main

Don’t you get it? There’s no such thing as time, there’s no such thing as this place, and there’s no such thing as you. Meghan is a figment of her own imagination.

Dreamland by Tom Willett, directed by Jason Matzner (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 23 January 2006).

Thunder 2

Thunder of Time

by James F. David

Thunder of Time by James F. David (Forge, April 2006).

The Butterfly Effect II

The Butterfly Effect 2

by Michael D. Weiss, directed by John R. Leonetti

There’s this entire other version of my life without you. I went through this whole year of my life believing you were dead.

The Butterfly Effect 2 by Michael D. Weiss, directed by John R. Leonetti (at movie theaters, Israel, 10 August 2006).

Premonition

by Bill Kelly, directed by Mennan Yapo

In a troubled marriage, Linda Hansen finds herself skipping back and forth in time during a week that ends with one of her daughters scarred from running through a plate glass door and her husband dead in a car accident.

The title suggests that the things Linda sees are just premonitions, but to me they felt more like travel through time with no ability to alter events.

— Michael Main

I’m sorry to tell you this. Your husband was in a car accident. He died on the scene yesterday.

Premonition by Bill Kelly, directed by Mennan Yapo (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Los Angeles, 12 March 2007).

Discipline

by Paco Ahlgren

Ahlgren melds the multiverse, quantum mechanics, the mysticism of the East, horror worthy of Stephen King, a little “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for,” and the violence of addition into a skillfully woven story of young Douglas Cole: his dog dies, he loses his family and moves to Texas, his friend kills himself, and his girlfriend leaves him (though, admittedly, the dog came back to life), all before reaching a time-travel-infused turning point.

Many small things were just that little bit off for me, such as the initial introduction of the uncertainty principle.

Unfortunately, while I was becoming more adept at making the business decisions that repeatedly benefited my shareholders, I had also been informed by my mentors and closest friends that the proliferating global acts of terrorism—along with the economic catastrophe which had ended only a few years earlier—had been engineered by a power-hungry madman whose sole objective was to become a diety, thereby ruling the entirety of space and time.

Discipline by Paco Ahlgren (Greenleaf Book Group, July 2007).

Afghan Knights

by Christine Stringer, directed by Allan Harmon

To me, the unexplained aspects of this mercenaries-must-rescue-somebody movie feel like ghosts or other paranormal activity, so I’ll say there’s no actual time travel.

— Michael Main

There’s somethin’ here we can’t fight!

Afghan Knights by Christine Stringer, directed by Allan Harmon (direct-to-video, USA, 31 July 2007).

Unholy

by Sam Freeman, directed by Daryl Goldberg

After Martha’s witnesses her daughter kill herself, she seeks answers in Nazis, government cover-ups, occultism and (fortunately) time travel.

— Michael Main

Kraus’s experiments dealt with the evolution of warfare, what is referred to as the unholy trinity: time travel, invisibility, and mind control! Many believe, to this day, the experiments continue to exist using unwilling subjects.

Unholy by Sam Freeman, directed by Daryl Goldberg (direct-to-video, USA, 4 September 2007).

Hirsute

written and directed by A. J. Bond

Some guy invents a time machine and uses it to go back in time to make a 14-minute, half-hairy, half-gory, half-funny film.

— Michael Main

If I can make this work, I’ll just come back here right . . . right now: seven forty-two P.M., Friday, June 13, 2008.

Hirsute written and directed by A. J. Bond (Toronto International Film Festival, 9 September 2007).

Chemical Wedding

by Bruce Dickinson and Julian Doyle, directed by Julian Doyle

Chemical Wedding by Bruce Dickinson and Julian Doyle, directed by Julian Doyle (Sci-Fi London, 4 May 2008).

Hell’s Underground 2

The Demon Assassin

by Alan Gibbons

The Demon Assassin by Alan Gibbons (Orion, July 2008).

The Butterfly Effect III

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations

by Holly Brix, directed by Seth Grossman

Lots of blood and gore in this third of the butterfly horror movies, wherein Sam Reide uses his time travel ability to pose as a psychic for police, all of which is fine until he breaks the rules to try to prevent the murder of his first girlfriend.

— Michael Main

There’s two big rules: You never jump back to alter your own past, and you never jump unsupervised.

The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations by Holly Brix, directed by Seth Grossman (After Dark Horrorfest, showings across the USA, 9 January 2009).

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre

|pending byline|

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, produced by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, does audio dramatizations of Lovecraft’ stories including a nice 77-minute production of “The Shadow Out of Time.”

Tales of intrigue, adventure, and the mysterious occult that will stir your imagination and make your very blood run cold. This is Dark Adventure Radio Theatre, with your host Chester Langfield. Today’s episode: H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Out of Time!

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre |pending byline| (27 October 2009).

The Hollows 1

The Hollows

by Ben Larken

The Hollows by Ben Larken (LL-Publications, November 2009).

The 7 Habits of Highly Infective People

by William Todd Rose

The 7 Habits of Highly Infective People by William Todd Rose (CreateSpace, August 2010).

Conditional Perfect

by Jason Palmer

Like all the other yahoo teens, Paitin and his buddies head to an alternate past for a Friday night of violent hunting whomever they happen to spot from their hovercrafts. But unlike the others, Paitin plans to stay behind to be with unReal Sandra.

Paitin shook his head. Civics 101: conditional perfects are neither citizens nor their ancestors. Therefore, they are not real.

“Conditional Perfect” by Jason Palmer, in Timelines: Stories Inspired by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, edited by J. W. Schnarr (Northern Frights Publishing, September 2010).

Altitude

by Paul A. Birkett, directed by Kaare Andrews

Sara, whose parents died in a small-plane crash when she was a child, now has her pilot’s license and is taking a group of friends to a concert in a small plane. One of the group is her boyfriend, Bruce, who has the power to make weird 1950s comic book stories come true. After this set-up, we get a nice dose of in-flight mechanical failure, horrific monsters, wing-walking heroics, and a piece of time travel that certainly could have come from anE.C. comic. The most horrific monster, though, is Sara’s best friend’s jerky boyfriend who—you’re not gonna believe this!—destroys an actual 1950s comic book!

— Michael Main

Aren’t you listening? I made these things come true just by thinking about them!

Altitude by Paul A. Birkett, directed by Kaare Andrews (Vancouver International Film Festival, 3 October 2010).

All Souls Trilogy 1

A Discovery of Witches

by Deborah Harkness

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (De Boekerij, 2011).

Sound of My Voice

by Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, directed by Zal Batmanglij

Sound of My Voice by Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling, directed by Zal Batmanglij (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 24 January 2011).

Detention

by Joseph Kahn and Mark Palermo, directed by Joseph Kahn

Detention by Joseph Kahn and Mark Palermo, directed by Joseph Kahn (South by Southwest Film Festival, 13 March 2011).

Miss Peregrine 1

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books, June 2011).

Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver

by William Butler and Muffy Bolding, directed by William Butler

This girl is an absolute megolithic throwback.

Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver by William Butler and Muffy Bolding, directed by William Butler (direct-to-video, USA, 13 September 2011).

Repeaters

by Arne Olsen, directed by Carl Bessai

Recovering addicts Kyle, Sonia, and Mike are caught in a time loop in a day away from the recovery facility when they are supposed to make amends with those they hurt; a wild spree ensues on the first few loops, and then one of them spirals off into ever-increasing violence.

— Michael Main

Sonia: Doesn’t part of you wonder if maybe he’s right? I mean, every good thing we do gets erased; every bad thing we do gets erased. What does it really matter what we do?
Kyle: I guess. . . I just need for it to matter.

Repeaters by Arne Olsen, directed by Carl Bessai (Toronto International Film Festival, 13 September 2011).

The Shadow Out of Time

written and directed by Richard Svensson and Daniel Lenneér

A short adaptation of Lovecraft’s story, but just narration over video and some still-shot animation with no dramatization (not that the story was particularly dramatic to begin with).

— Michael Main

his is the story of the nightmare that took hold of my life.

The Shadow Out of Time written and directed by Richard Svensson and Daniel Lenneér (Youtube: Bluworm Channel, 30 March 2012).

7 Below

by Kevin Carraway and Lawrence Sara, directed by Kevin Carraway

7 Below by Kevin Carraway and Lawrence Sara, directed by Kevin Carraway (direct-to-video, USA, 17 April 2012).

Mine Games

by Ross McQueen, Richard Gray, and Michele Gray, directed by Richard Gray

Mine Games by Ross McQueen, Richard Gray, and Michele Gray, directed by Richard Gray (Melbourne International Film Festival, 16 August 2012).

from 3’s a Shroud

The Time Traveller’s Knife

written and directed by Andy Edwards

The Time Traveller’s Knife is the middle of three segments in the anthology film 3’s a Shroud. The four young girls in the short film are hunted in a pub by a mysterious killer on Halloween after hours—and then one of the girls discovers she can travel back through time. Can she warn herself and the others whilst evading the masked monster . . . ?

— Michael Main

The Time Traveller’s Knife written and directed by Andy Edwards (British Horror Film Festival, London, 13 October 2012).

John Dies at the End

written and directed by Don Coscarelli

Dave’s friend John takes a psychedelic drug (given to him by Bob Marley—no, not that Bob Marley) that endows him with a distorted sense of time and pitches him into an interdimensional battle with leech monsters. It’s possible that there’s time travel, too, or at least a time telephone.

— Michael Main

You know what I think? You’re going to be getting phone calls from me for, like, the next eight or nine years, all from tonight.

John Dies at the End written and directed by Don Coscarelli (Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, 23 January 2013).

Тайна Перевал Дятлова

Tayna Pereval Dyatlova English release: The Dyatlov Pass Incident Literal: The mystery of Dyatlov Pass

by Vikram Weet, directed by Renny Harlin

[ex=bare]Тайна Перевал Дятлова | The mystery of Dyatlov Pass | Tayna Pereval Dyatlova[/ex] by Vikram Weet, directed by Renny Harlin (at movie theaters, Russia and elsewhere, 28 February 2013).

Haunter

by Brian King, directed by Vincenzo Natali

Haunter by Brian King, directed by Vincenzo Natali (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas, 9 March 2013).

Eternity and the Devil

by Larry Hodges

Dr. Virgil Nordlinger makes a deal with the devil in which Nordlinger will formulate the Grand Unified Theory of physics, live on this Earth for another fifty years, and spend the rest of eternity in hell.

After solving GUT, I moved on to temporal studies.

“Eternity and the Devil” by Larry Hodges, in The Haunts and Horrors Megapack, edited by John Betancourt et al., Wildside Press LLC, September 2013 [e-book].

Insidious 2

Insidious: Chapter 2

by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan

The first scene goes back to the time of Josh (the dad in Insidious) as a boy when he was possessed by a woman in white. The movie then returns to the present day, just after a possessed Josh murdered the exorcist who had treated him as a child, and gives a horrific, supernatural explanation of it all—including time travel via a demon world of non-linear time.

— Michael Main

I, uh, digitized the actual footage taken from the night. I, uh, cropped and lightened the image.

Insidious: Chapter 2 by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan (at movie theaters, USA etc., 13 September 2013).

Paranormal Activity #5

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones

written and directed by Christopher Landon

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones written and directed by Christopher Landon (at movie theaters, France and elsewhere, 1 January 2014).

Thinking Speed

written and directed by Lisa Menzel

Thinking Speed written and directed by Lisa Menzel (Reelhouse, 21 June 2014).

The Final Girls

by M. A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson

The Final Girls by M. A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson (Panic Fest, Kansas City, Missouri, 30 January 2015).

The Diabolical

by Alistair Legrand and Luke Harvis, directed by Alistair Legrand

The Diabolical by Alistair Legrand and Luke Harvis, directed by Alistair Legrand (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas, 16 March 2015).

Infini

by Shane Abbess and Brian Cachia, directed by Abbess

Infini by Shane Abbess and Brian Cachia, directed by Abbess (Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, 11 April 2015).

Soldiers of the Damned

by Mark Nuttall, directed by Nigel Horne

Soldiers of the Damned by Mark Nuttall, directed by Nigel Horne (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Manchester, England, 8 August 2015).

RWD

by Adam Hartley and Matt Stuertz, directed by Adam Hartley

RWD by Adam Hartley and Matt Stuertz, directed by Adam Hartley, Arizona Underground Film Festival, Tucson, Arizona, 25 September 2015.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

by Jason Pagan et al. , directed by Gregory Plotkin

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension by Jason Pagan et al. , directed by Gregory Plotkin (premiered at an unknown movie theater, Paris, 20 October 2015).

Big Game

by Alex Laybourne

Big Game by Alex Laybourne (Severed Press, December 2015).

11.22.63

by Bridget Carpenter

When Stephen King’s book was first announced, I felt skeptical: After all, could even Stephen King breath new life into the most worn-out time travel trope of all? Yet he came through, not by adding anything new to the save JFK lore, but by blending in a unique brand of horror and producing a captivating page turner. So when Hulu announced that they’d make an eight-part miniseries of the book, I looked forward to its release. Never have I been so disappointed with an adaptation of a book. The acting is admirable, but the characters and plot have been flattened, presumably based on Hulu’s assumptions about what their viewers want.

You’re going to feel apart from other people. That doesn’t go away.

11.22.63 by Bridget Carpenter (15 February 2016).

Weird Stories Gone Wrong 3

Carter and the Curious Maze

by Philippa Dowding

Carter and the Curious Maze by Philippa Dowding (Dundurn Press, August 2016).

Eloise

by Christopher Borrelli, directed by Robert Legato

Eloise by Christopher Borrelli, directed by Robert Legato (at movie theaters, Indonesia, 28 December 2016).

The Endless

by Justin Benson, directed by Benson and Aaron Moorhead

The Endless by Justin Benson, directed by Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Tribeca Film Festival, New York City, 21 April 2017).

The Vault

by Dan Bush and Conal Byrne, directed by Dan Bush

Note to self: When robbing a bank vault where a botched robbery some 35 years earlier ended with fires and dead hostages, it can be hard to distinguish time travelers from ghosts or mere undead. But I’m placing my bets on no real time travel.

— Michael Main

You’re saying you saw this man, but he’s not showing up on any of the bank cameras.

The Vault by Dan Bush and Conal Byrne, directed by Dan Bush (at movie theaters, USA, 1 September 2017).

Happy Death Day

by Scott Lobdell, directed by Christopher Landon

Happy Death Day by Scott Lobdell, directed by Christopher Landon (Haifa International Film Festival, 7 October 2017).

Time Will Tell

by Michiel Richards and Sander Offenberg, directed by Tonnie Dinjens

Time Will Tell by Michiel Richards and Sander Offenberg, directed by Tonnie Dinjens (Noordelijk Film Fest, Leeuwarden, Netherlands, mid-November 2017).

Creeped Out (s01e05)

A Boy Called Red

by Bede Blake and Robert Butler, directed by Steve Hughes

After his parents break up, Vincent visits his Dad’s childhood home where Auntie Jeanne encourages him to explore—without even putting that cursed well off limits, the very well where Dad lost his best friend back in the summer of ’85!

— Inmate Jan

When your dad was younger, he had a best friend, a boy called Red. Red disappeared down that well.

Creeped Out (s01e05), “A Boy Called Red” by Bede Blake and Robert Butler, directed by Steve Hughes (CBBC-TV, UK, 28 November 2017).

Tock

by Mike Murphy

Jake lies shivering iin bed while someone—it’a hard to say who—falls endlessly down the stairs.

— Michael Main

He clutched his blankets, waiting for the inevitable.

The dusty mantle clock hadn’t peeped since Aunt Beryl. . .

English

“Tock” by Mike Murphy, in Chronos: An Anthology of Time Drabbles, edited by Eric S. Fomley (Shacklebound Books, August 2018).

Happy Death Day, Book 1

Happy Death Day

by Aaron Hartzler

Happy Death Day by Aaron Hartzler, in Happy Death Day / Happy Death Day 2U (Anchor BooksApril 1980, February 2019).

Happy Death Day, Book 2

Happy Death Day 2U

by Aaron Hartzler

Happy Death Day 2U by Aaron Hartzler, in Happy Death Day / Happy Death Day 2U (Anchor BooksSeptember 2018, February 2019).

The Other Emily

by Dean R. Koontz

A decade after David Thorne’s wife goes missing on a solo trip to northern California, her exact duplicate shows up—without having aged a day and claiming not to be Emily—at a bar in one of David’s favorite restaurants.

— Michael Main

Equally in the grip of dread and amazement, David Thorne began to awaken to a previously unthought-of truth, the ramifications of which were devastating and numberless.

The Other Emily by Dean R. Koontz (Thomas and Mercer, March 2021).