Horror films have to play a difficult game of obfuscation in order to pull off the big reactions. Since fear is so hard to reliably inspire in varied audiences, sometimes a traditionally scary situation needs some extra tricks from the film's overall universe to come across.
There are loads of movies about time or space travel, but the scary films that obscure their temporal or spatial truths to trick the audience are something else entirely. Playing with setting on that grand scale is a big gambit. It runs the risk of invalidating the entire narrative or making an audience feel cheated when the credits roll in. Despite the risk, some films use tricks of time and space to create gold that could take a few watches to truly enjoy.
The Endless
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are the new up-and-coming duo when it comes to intelligent horror. The pair will soon be even better known for directing a couple of episodes of Moon Knight, but their personal films are something very special. Benson and Moorhead directed, edited, and starred in this film together, while Benson wrote the script and Moorhead handled the cinematography.
The Endless is the duo's third feature film, and it's a deeply personal journey of Lovecraftian proportions. The plot concerns a pair of brothers raised in a strange society. One of them seems to remember a doomsday cult while the other recalls a peaceful commune. After years away, the brothers return to their old stomping ground to find countless strange occurrences and supernatural oddities. Time is a big theme of the film, but once it gets where it's going, its real threat becomes terrifying on a cosmic scale. Jump in on Benson and Moorhead before they really blow up to find some instant classics of modern horror.
Primer
This is the film people refer to when they are explaining the difficulties of time travel films. However, this time, the problem isn't paradoxes or imprecise logic, but the opposite. Writer/director Shane Carruth is a former engineer and science fan who felt no desire to dumb down his time travel journey for an audience who had trouble understanding. This results in a method of time travel that requires a helpful diagram to figure out, one so crucial to the plot that it's the second image on the film's Wikipedia page.
Primer is about two men who stumble upon the esoteric secret behind time travel with a device ominously called the box. It's an indie film made on an infinitesimal budget, but Primer's clever writing, intense moral battle, and identifiable characters make it a solid intricate thriller. The film blends sci-fi with psychology to create a thoughtful yet human horror experience.
Blair Witch
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Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett's 2016 remake or reboot of the classic found-footage franchise was heavily panned and deeply unsuccessful upon release. Despite that, most would agree it's still only the second-worst film in the woebegone horror trilogy. Wisely disregarding Book of Shadows, the 2016 film attempts something of a reimagining of the original entry. This doesn't fully work, but Barrett and Wingard add a couple of interesting ideas to the mix. One of the most central tricks the movie is working with comes near the end of its runtime.
The generic teens who wind up in the accursed forest are lured there by a mysterious video. In the film's third act, the video is revealed to be the product of a causal loop. A time paradox that places the film's narrative within a sort of enclosed time loop. This odd effect of the Black Hills Forest is an interesting narrative tool that uses the setting to shift the meaning. The film doesn't work out as a whole, but this trick stands out.
Synchronic
Another Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead production, their 2019 follow-up to The Endless is a cleverly constructed dive into powerful idiosyncrasy. Anthony Mackie of MCU fame and Jamie Dornan, best known for the 50 Shades franchise, star as a pair of paramedics. A series of mysterious deaths occur in relation to a bizarre new designer drug, leading one of them to begin experimenting with the substance.
The eponymous Synchronic has effects that let a user journey through time. The narrative is packed with twists and turns that keep the main characters all over non-linear time. It's a wild ride and the audience is better off going in with as little information as possible. Benson and Moorhead deliver yet again.
Jacob's Ladder
Adrian Lyne's 1990 psychological nightmare about war, death, drugs, and the breakdown of the human mind is one of those films that is improved exponentially the less the audience knows. The tale of Jacob Singer, an American soldier who fought in the Vietnam War, only to be racked with strange vision upon returning is harrowing and misleading.
The film is reminiscent of Slaughterhouse-Five, but it also serves as the inspiration for such foundational works of horror as the Silent Hill franchise. Jacob'sLadder is an absolute must-see.