Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Directors: Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, Umbrella Entertainment.
Set in New Orleans, this science fiction thriller follows two paramedics who begin to question their realities after coming across several bizarre deaths linked to a new designer drug called ‘Synchronic’.
On a domestic abuse call, they find a stabbing victim; the second call, a burn victim, is a completely burned body; the third call is a bite from a venomous snake that’s no longer found in the area; then there’s a call to a drug party where they find a dead boy; and during another call-out, a victim of a sword fight dies.
When the longtime best friends Steve Denube (Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker) and Dennis Donnally (Jamie Dorman, The Fall) are called to a series of bizarre and gruesome accidents, they chalk it up to a mysterious new drug found at the scene.
Steve, a ladies’ man, and Dennis a married father, are called out to a series of cases where people are either dead in strange circumstances or whose stories are incoherent.
However, they face distressing consequences. Firstly, Steve learns he has an untreatable brain tumour on his pineal gland and only has six months to live. Then
Dennis’ teenage daughter Brianna (Ally Ioannides, Into The Badlands) disappears. Under the stress of her disappearance, Dennis’s marriage deteriorates. Nevertheless, they go about their daily lives, responding to an increasing number of calls where a mystery drug appears responsible.
When they discover Brianna has taken Synchronic, a desperate rescue attempt sees travel back in time. Synchronic depicts a synthetic drug that allows the user to travel through time based on location, potentially allowing them to defy death.
It takes the long conversation between Steve and Dennis about life and death that forms the film’s rational as well as a touching highlight. It also makes for a good dispute against conceding to macabre fascination. This is a rare combination of action, horror and perhaps a bit of a paranormal mystery.
Mackie and Dornan deal surprisingly well with manifold storylines and emotional fallout on a number of levels.
Benson co-directs with his filmmaking partner Moorhead (The Endless, Resolution).
This film may not stir one’s emotions, but it’s one you should see at least once (especially in Blu-ray format) simply because it offers an exclusive take on consecutive travel.
