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12:01

12:01 title card

Year - 1993
Studio - New Line Cinema
Stars - Jonathan Silverman, Helen Slater, Nicolas Surovy, Jeremy Piven, Martin Landau
Director - Jack Sholder
Writing Credits - Philip Morton (screenplay), Jonathan Heap (story), Richard Logoff (short story)
Music - Peter Rodgers Melnick

Synopsis

Barry Thomas (Jonathan Silverman) is a low-level employee in the human resources department of a high technology corporation. He is attracted to scientist Lisa Fredericks (Helen Slater), but is nervous about approaching her. One evening, as he is leaving the office building, he sees an assassin in a passing vehicle shoot Lisa in the chest. After describing the murder to the police, he gets drunk and stumbles home to bed.

When he awakens the next morning, everything that happened the previous day seems to repeat itself. Soon he realizes that he is in a time loop, with the same day re-starting every time the clock reaches 12:01 a.m., but that he alone is aware of the phenomenon. He knows that his company is testing a powerful, but controversial particle accelerator, and believes that it is somehow the cause of the time bounce. He attempts, without success, to convince project leader Dr. Thadius Moxley (Martin Landau) of his fears. Barry directs all of his energy to preventing Lisa's murder and, in the process, they fall in love.

12:01 poster

Although Barry and Lisa believe that Dr. Moxley's assistant, Robert Denk (Nicolas Surovy) is sabotaging the testing process, Moxley, himself, is revealed to be the perpetrator. In his determination to activate the faulty accelerator, he utilizes hired thugs to eliminate anyone who would stand in his way. As the final countdown approaches zero, Barry battles Moxley in hopes of deactivating the machine. Moxley is caught in the path of the machine's ray, and he is vaporized.

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Preview Clip

12:01 came out the same year as the definitive "time loop" movie, Groundhog Day. Other films that use this theme include Christmas Do-Over, Naken, and Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow, and A Christmas Wedding Date.