Time travel stories have been prevalent in human culture since before science fiction was even a thing, so it stands to reason that these tales of temporal confusion are practically a genre in and of themselves. And out of all the time travel narratives that have inspired filmmakers over the years, my personal favorite has to be the Groundhog Day time loop – a formula that has only recently been coopted by other genres.

Of course, long before movies like Happy Death Day dared to explore the darker implications of repeating the same day ad nauseum, it was Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow that first applied this kind of narrative to more serious subject matter. And with the film still finding new fans after over a decade later – not to mention an upcoming anime adaptation of the light novel which inspired its screenplay – today I’d like to look back on a surprisingly disturbing take on time loops that I think might also appeal to horror fans.

Originally published in 2004, Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s sci-fi light novel All You Need is Kill was already a hit long before its big-budget adaptation was greenlit. Inspired by online gamers commenting on how repeated virtual deaths allowed for self improvement, as well as Sakurazaka’s repeated viewings of Groundhog Day, the novel follows a rookie soldier who finds himself trapped in a time loop during a war against invading extraterrestrials. An inexperienced combatant, Keiji Kiriya decides to take advantage of his multiple “lives” in order to become an alien-killing machine.

This action-packed sci-fi yarn almost immediately sparked interest in Hollywood, with a spec script by Dante Harper making onto the Blacklist and being sold for a whopping $3 million dollars only a year after the book was released in North America. This screenplay would then be rewritten by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth when Doug Liman came onboard the project, though he later had Christopher McQuarrie revise it once again as his vision evolved. Further alterations were made once Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt joined the cast, though the frequent rewrites led to production starting before the team had an ending in place, with Liman working alongside McQuarrie to come up with a suitable climax for the action-packed story while they were already filming.

In the finished film, which was released in early summer of 2014, we follow military public affairs officer Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) as he’s invited to cover humanity’s United Defense Force in their battle against seemingly unbeatable alien invaders known as “Mimics.” After attempting to blackmail his way out of joining the fight, Cage is demoted to infantry and sent to the frontlines, where an incident with an Alpha Mimic variant leaves him trapped in a repeating time loop where he must endure the same day again and again. His only hope of escaping the loop lies with Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt) – AKA The Full Metal Bitch – an experienced soldier who was previously trapped in a hellish loop herself.

SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?

From the stellar cast to the veteran director – not to mention the unique source material – Edge of Tomorrow had everything going for it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how good your movie is if you don’t advertise it correctly, which is why the film ended up underperforming at the box office despite raking in twice its production budget (movie math can be weird). For starters, the misguided marketing campaign attempted to appeal to as broad an audience as humanly possible, with most promos glossing over the flick’s creative take on time loops in order to avoid confusing casual viewers. The studio also disliked the fact that the film originally had the word “kill” in the title while also disapproving of Liman’s suggestion of Live Die Repeat, leading to many fans of Sakurazaka’s book not even realizing that this was an adaptation.

As if that wasn’t enough, Warner Bros was worried that the 2014 World Cup might interfere with the movie industry, which is why they made last-minute adjustments to the release schedule in certain soccer-loving countries. I actually had no idea that Edge of Tomorrow was already out back when I first saw it on opening night here in Brazil, and I only decided to buy a ticket because I had already seen everything else that was playing. However, like many others at the time, I ended up being blown away by a $170 million blockbuster that came out of left field like an indie darling destined to become a cult classic.

Of course, there were plenty of hints that this was going to be a great movie. The cast alone was already worth the price of admission, with Blunt effortlessly playing a haunted badass alongside smaller yet equally memorable roles brought to life by stars like Bill Paxton and even Brendan Gleeson. That being said, Cruise really stands out here by allowing us the rare opportunity to view him evolve in real time from a selfish and somewhat unlikable leading man to a more traditional hero figure like you might expect from his other projects.

This genuinely compelling character arc grounds an experience that could easily have been muddled by its own narrative complexity. In fact, even the film’s blockbuster romance makes more sense than what you usually see in Hollywood due to the sheer amount of time that our leads are implied to have spent together. I actually appreciate how the script respects the viewer’s intelligence by assuming that they’re aware of the characters’ continued development during off-screen loops, with the filmmakers avoiding unnecessary repetition whenever possible despite the flick’s premise.

Lastly, I’m also a huge fan of Edge of Tomorrow’s grounded approach to sci-fi visuals. From the bulky exoskeletons to the amorphous alien designs (not to mention how they made Rita wield a giant anime sword fashioned from a broken helicopter blade), this apocalyptic vision of the near-future may not be quite as flashy as its source material, but it’s still a fascinating and eerily believable take on imagery that we usually only see in video games and anime. It’s also especially impressive when you consider the surprising amount of practical stunt-work and special effects that were used to bring this war-torn world to life.

AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJCENT?

The original Groundhog Day had its fair share of disturbing moments, with Bill Murray’s increasingly desperate suicides hinting at the underlying tragedy of his predicament from a darkly humorous point of view, but Edge of Tomorrow takes this concept one step further by having Tom Cruise be actively murdered onscreen for 113 minutes.

The film may not be as dark as the story that inspired it (especially where the ending is concerned), but it’s clear that this tortuous time loop is still rooted in human suffering. Hell, the movie even delves into existential horror at times, especially when Rita repeatedly insists on ending Cage’s life early whenever he’s injured despite each subsequent death slowly inching them towards definitive annihilation by the enemy.

The Mimics themselves are also an undeniably Lovecraftian presence, with their ever-shifting bodies looking like a biomechanical take on shoggoths and their all-knowing Omega variants feeling a lot like time-travelling Elder Gods. My only real gripe with these creatures is the fact that they exclusively appear through CGI, though even that is used to great effect during moments like Cage’s first death where an Alpha’s acidic blood pours over his terrified face.

Edge of Tomorrow may not be a traditionally scary experience, with Cruise himself describing the flick’s morbid elements as more of a darkly humorous version of what you might see in a Wile E. Coyote cartoon rather than an ultra serious contemplation of human mortality, but I still appreciate how Liman still allows this PG-13-rated film to venture into horrific territory in order to make the overall experience more impactful.

And while I’ll certainly be watching Kenichiro Akimoto’s upcoming anime retelling of Sakurazaka’s original novel, I’ll always have a soft spot for that time Tom Cruise died 26 times in the same movie.