Synchronic: A Terrifying Tale [REVIEW]

The fourth film by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson is once again a fantastic horror film touching on existential themes which – although made with a bigger budget and a well-known cast – rejects the usual appeal typical of the genre in favor of a narrative serving a very personal story. Seemingly nothing new from the creators of Resolution, Spring, and The Endless, but one can sense a difference in Synchronic, stemming at least from an attempt to attract a new viewer who has neither seen nor heard of any of the aforementioned titles by the talented duo. At the same time, the way their new film is told once again strikes with an original approach to a topic that has been exploited in science fiction in every possible way. I don’t believe that, despite its commercial aspirations, this is a film for everyone, but fans of Moorhead and Benson’s work and sci-fi enthusiasts who value thought over action will find Synchronic a fascinating entertainment. The main characters are two New Orleans paramedics and best friends.

They happen upon a dark streak of victims of a new designer drug called Synchronic. In the very first scene, we witness almost mystical visions experienced by a couple of lovers, but the effects of this drug-induced fun often end in rather bloody deaths – not only in their case. And while it’s easy to understand that those under the influence of the drug might stab each other or accidentally set themselves on fire, it’s harder to explain the presence of a several-hundred-year-old Spanish gold coin next to one of the victims or a deformed saber stuck in the wall.

That’s exactly what Dennis and Steve (Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie) see when they arrive at the scene of the first call. Moorhead’s camera, who as always is also responsible for cinematography, moves from one room – where the victims lie – to another in one long take that beautifully builds a tense atmosphere. The pair’s subsequent calls bring to mind Bringing Out the Dead by Scorsese, with its endless parade of victims the protagonists attend to almost every night, and the intensity of the profession.

Through editing techniques, we observe how Steve’s work and personal life blend into one – emphasized by the fact that during the first call he is wearing party clothes. The execution here is top-notch, never serving empty visual effects, but the story, the characters, and the situation they find themselves in. What is that situation for Dennis and Steve? The former is a husband and father, a settled man, but because he started a family way too early, he’s a little envious of his friend’s wild lifestyle. He loves his wife and eighteen-year-old daughter, though he admits he wishes the former were as sexy as she was at the beginning of their relationship, and that he had a better connection with the latter.

Steve, on the other hand, is a lifelong bachelor who doesn’t say no to substances and sex, but secretly dreams of stability. Dornan and Mackie make a great duo, and it’s easy to believe in their friendship, probably because their characters aren’t just built on a stereotypical opposites dynamic. Especially once personal tragedies strike them both.

A further description of the plot would involve spoilers, which I want to avoid. Suffice it to say that Synchronic suddenly becomes not just a prop used to spice up a drama, but a narratively justified necessity. After taking the titular pill, the world changes beyond recognition, and what initially seemed like visions takes on a much more tangible and dangerous form. The filmmakers play with the possibilities offered by the drug, giving one of the main characters the chance to discover for himself the nature and workings of the pill. Some scenes reminded me of Ken Russell’s Altered States, others of Tony Scott’s Déjà Vu (probably also due to the setting in New Orleans), but Synchronic never becomes a rehash, instead processing its influences in its own way, along with the questions that underpinned other films.

Benson’s intelligently constructed script likes to juxtapose temporally distant scenes, presenting the past and present as planes existing side by side. In one of the early moments, we catch a glimpse of a writing on the wall: “Time is a lie” – which serves as a kind of preview of upcoming plot revelations, but there’s another intent behind it. One shouldn’t think of life in terms of what was or will be, but only what is. The past is within reach thanks to memories and oral accounts – the film is full of anecdotes exchanged by the characters, although this is not very cinematic and initially seems like a completely unnecessary narrative device.

The future, on the other hand, is death – something Dennis and Steve face almost daily. They know best that it is inevitable, and thus, thinking about it is pointless. Dennis’s line “The present is a miracle” may come off as banal, but thanks to the way the directing duo weaves their extraordinary story, this phrase resonates effortlessly. Moorhead and Benson once again serve up a mystery on the border of science fiction and horror, though their film is not as enigmatic as the recent The Endless.

Heavily expository, even borderline didactic dialogue is probably a method to make Synchronic more understandable for casual viewers, but it is factors like the accessibility of the narrative and the identification with the main characters that determined the film’s success. A film that impresses most on a purely emotional level, translating fantastic ideas into a truth about our existence.