10 Greatest Directorial Debut Sci-Fi Movies
6. Primer
If there is such a thing as a DIY movie then there is no better example than the cerebral time-travel film Primer (2004). Made on a ridiculously small budget of just $7000, Shane Carruth not only directed this mind-bending movie, but also wrote, produced, edited, and scored it.
As Carruth was a former engineer with a degree in mathematics, the film itself holds back no punches when it comes to its complexity, full to the brim of technical jargon and philosophical implications. The film centres around two engineers who accidentally invent a form of time-travel, an idea that Carruth himself said stems from the fact that most scientific discoveries are usually accidents themselves. This is further exemplified by the small-scale and mundane aesthetics of the film, which are in stark contrast to the typical neon lights and high-tech visuals of most science fiction.
The narrative and time-travel within the film are both so complex people have even gone out of their way to create diagrams to explain how everything works in the years since it's release. It might not be an overly accessible film, but it is certainly one of the most thought provoking and impressive directorial debuts of any genre.