Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Brutal
- tense
- explosive
- darkly comic
- cult movie night
- 1990s genre marathon
What critics said
Critics found the film energetic and inventive within a pulpy low-budget science-fiction thriller framework, while noting overbearing performances and compromised exploitation-film choices.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Karen returns minutes before the violent confrontation and repeatedly attempts to alter its outcome as cycles recur.
Karen's interventions repeatedly make the unfolding violence worse rather than simply erasing it.
Illegal computer-chip sales, marital suspicion, a serial killer threat, and time travel are fused into one escalating thriller premise.
The film combines explosive action, black comedy, far-fetched science fiction, and a vaguely plausible crime thriller.
Films like Retroactive, and why
12 Monkeys
Shared low-budget science fiction premise, escalating action, dark humor, and repeated attempts to alter an imminent catastrophe.
Looper
Shared time-loop structure, crime-thriller tension, fatalistic causality, and increasingly complex efforts to prevent violence.
Tremors
Shared pulpy science fiction, action-driven plotting, crime elements, and a scrappy cult-film sensibility.
The Butterfly Effect
Shared retroactive causality, violent thriller mechanics, and a protagonist trying to rewrite a disastrous chain of events.
Movie Details
- Director
- Louis Morneau
- Release Date
- 1997-02-21
- Runtime
- 91 min
- Rating
- 6.1 / 10 (217)
Cast
- Jim Belushi
- Kylie Travis
- Shannon Whirry
- Frank Whaley
- Jesse Borrego
- M. Emmet Walsh
- Roger Clinton Jr.
- Sherman Howard
- Guy Boyd
- Robbie Thibaut Jr.
Common questions
- What is Retroactive about?
- A desperate woman repeatedly rewinds a violent roadside nightmare, only to find that every attempt to save lives reshapes the danger.
- What is Retroactive like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Retroactive as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Retroactive violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Retroactive as brutal.
- What did critics think of Retroactive?
- Critics found the film energetic and inventive within a pulpy low-budget science-fiction thriller framework, while noting overbearing performances and compromised exploitation-film choices.
- Which films are like Retroactive?
- Films with a similar feel include 12 Monkeys, Looper, Tremors, and The Butterfly Effect.
- How long is Retroactive?
- Retroactive runs 91 minutes.
