It is directed by Stewart Raffill, stars Michael Paré, Bobby Di Cicco, Kene Holliday and Nancy Allen and is based on the urban legend of the Philadelphia Experiment.

In 1943, United States Navy sailors David Herdeg (Paré) and Jim Parker (Di Cicco) are thrown forward in time to the year 1984 when a scientific experiment being performed aboard the USS Eldridge suffers a catastrophe.

The film follows the two men as they attempt to survive the future and race against time to put an end to the experiment that now threatens the fate of the entire world.

The film was released on August 3, 1984 by New World Pictures, and received mixed reviews from critics, but was a box office failure, only earning $8,103,330 against a budget of $9 million.

In 1943, United States Navy sailors David Herdeg and Jim Parker serve aboard destroyer escort USS Eldridge, docked in Philadelphia.

Startled by the appearance of an unfamiliar aircraft (a helicopter), they flee and Jim is nearly electrocuted by an electric fence.

As David and Allison leave, they see military police approaching and a high speed chase through Jim's ranch ensues.

The scientists are unable to shut down the experiment, which has created a vortex that is drawing matter into it and causes extremely unstable and severe weather.

Back in 1943, Longstreet and others watch the Eldridge reappear in Philadelphia, revealing crew members with severe burns, while others have been fused alive into the ship's hull.

The head of the studio agreed with Raffill's additions to the script, even though it was only three weeks before filming: "So, he asked if I had ever dictated a screenplay before.

Then he said, ‘Well, I’m gonna send someone to your house, a girl, every afternoon, and just dictate the story you told me and fill in the dialogue and we’ll make that.’ And I said, ‘Okay.’ So that's what I did.

[4] Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City and Wendover, Utah, Denver, Colorado, Santa Paula, California, and Charleston, South Carolina.