Happy Death Day 2 U, Russian Doll give us time loops with a multiverse twist

Enlarge / (left) Natasha Lyonne as Nadia Vulvokov in Russian Doll. (right) Jessica Rothe as Theresa 'Tree' Gelbman in Happy Death Day 2 U. Both women find themselves caught in a time loop where they die over and over on their birthday. (credit: Netflix/Blumhouse Productions)
The time loop is pretty much a classic science fiction trope, thanks in large part to the enormous success of the 1993 film Groundhog Day. It's been used so often, in fact, that it's challenging to come up with a fresh take. But the Netflix series Russian Doll and the new film Happy Death Day 2 U manage to do just that, giving us time loops with a multiverse twist.
Wikipedia has amassed an impressive list of films featuring time loops: 49 so far, and that's not counting TV shows, like The X-Files episode 'Monday' (in turn referenced on a Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, 'Life Serial'). The earliest film dates back to 1933: Turn Back the Clock, in which a tobacconist named Joe is killed in a hit-and-run and wakes up 20 years earlier. But it's not a true time loop tale, having more in common with It's a Wonderful Life.
A 1987 Russian film, Zerkalo dlya geroya (Mirror for a Hero), does have a lot of the key elements in place. But the real original source material is probably Richard A. Lupoff's 1973 short story, '12:01 PM,' adapted into an Oscar-nominated short film in 1990 and a full-length feature in 1993—the same year Groundhog Day came out. (Lupoff definitely noticed the similarities and considered suing for plagiarism, but eventually dropped the idea.) It's pretty much been a sci-fi mainstay ever since.
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