Synchronic
Directed by Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson
- horror
- science fiction
- thriller
The story
Two New Orleans paramedics' lives are ripped apart after encountering a series of horrific deaths linked to a designer drug with bizarre, otherworldly effects.
What it’s like
Gritty night streets in saturated neon, with humid New Orleans air pressing through every frame: sodium-orange streetlamps, the green-black gloom of the bayou, and sudden hot-pink and cobalt flares that feel like a wrong note in the mix. Handheld camerawork keeps the paramedics close and jittery in the ambulance and at the scenes, then loosens into eerie, slow-drifting shots when the strangeness takes over. The score is a low synth pulse with long stretches of ambient hum and sudden silence, so the dread arrives through sound before it arrives on screen. Mood: melancholy, uneasy, sun-bleached and sweaty, best watched late at night with the lights off. Pacing is measured, with long quiet beats between sharp shocks, and the emotional core is a close friendship strained by grief, drink and a loved one's fading health. Intensity is moderate to high: frequent drug-related deaths and bloody aftermath, some violence and a body-horror thread, but dread far more than gore, and no sexual content. Suits viewers who like sci-fi that stays grounded in human fallout, and who can handle grim, sorrowful stakes without wanting a tidy resolution.
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