Hard-drinking New Orleans EMT Steve (Anthony Mackie) is having a hard go of it. In addition to a recent brain terminal cancer diagnosis, his line of work keeps putting him face-to-face with a series of strange and horrific accidents, such as a guy run through with a ceremonial sword, a raving woman with an anachronistic snake bite, and a man found dismembered down an elevator shaft with a grin stretched across his face. A stark reminder of his impending demise, the series of grizzly deaths seem connected to a new designer drug called Synchronic, from which the new film from visionaries Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead takes its name.

Benson and Moorhead continue their fascination with the mechanics of time with a Lovecraftian tilt in Synchronic, a film that very much fits within their horror-tinged brand of trippy science fiction. From Resolution to Spring to The Endless and onto Synchronic, the creative duo continue their Swiss army knife approach to filmmaking, furthering their streak of writing, directing, producing, editing and filming the cinematography all by themselves. As a result, Synchronic is a singular vision that doesn’t feel compromised by competing perspectives and studio oversight. That vision is dark and uncompromising, filled with seedy characters and anti-heroes at the end of their rope and it is distinctly Benson and Moorhead.

Mackie does fine work in the pole position as the damaged Steve who discovers that the very drug which is driving victims to bizarre deaths has an insane side effect: time travel. Steve becomes embroiled in a temporal rescue mission when his best friend Dennis’ daughter goes missing, Synchronic ditching the squeamish Cronenbergian horrors of corporeal mutilation for a Zemeckis-like road trip through New Orleans history.
This opens the door for some visually arrested settings like alligator- and conquistador-infested swamps, ancestral bonfires, and frigid wooly mammoth stomping grounds. The highs and lows of Synchronic ingestion make for both the best and worst D.A.R.E. commercial of all time. In all honesty, I would be very tempted to indulge in this wacky intoxicant. Though Benson and Morehead’s script doesn’t necessarily shy away from the reality of a black man traveling back in time through America, neither do they necessarily take advantage of that element, instead offering up the kind of racial window dressings that audiences will expect without one-upping or tipping our expectations. (Spoiler: that Steve never learns a lesson and straps up with modern weaponry for his forays through time remains a persistent irritant. Get a gun!)

In some respects, Synchronic feels like an evolution for Benson and Moorhead, particularly in the front-of-camera talent. The duo have benefited from some uncannily strong performances before, namely Nadia Hilker’s mysterious turn in Spring, but thespian power has often been their shortcoming. The two have even turned to themselves for star power (as they did in The Endless) to mixed results.

Mackie is far and away the biggest leading man they’ve attached to any of their projects and his involvement alone speaks to their rising star within the industry. His co-star, Jamie Dorian, though recognizable for a very particular reason, isn’t quite up to snuff. After his turn here as conflicted family man Dennis, I remained unconvinced that the 50 Shades of Gray leading man/masochist is any good. He’s much more James Deen than James Dean and that shows in scenes that should reflect genuine emotion but instead feels flat and hamfisted.

To their credit, Benson and Moorhead though remain the true stars, propelling their otherworldly creative flair through every fingernail of the film and masterfully executing their vision of an awe-inspiring/horrific time travel odyssey. Though Synchronic does not directly intersect with their other filmography (like The Endless did with Resolution), it remains a wholly distinct and recognizable entry for them; entirely a part of their oeuvre and a further step towards their inevitable masterpiece.

In some regards, this most recent blending of horror and science fiction feels like a more mainstream effort. Despite some graphic imagery and the mind-bending set-up for their time traveling escapade, Synchronic is a measure less far-out than their often wackadoo prior efforts, though their commitment to the bizarre and ethereal remains an obsession that I’ll always up for.

CONCLUSION: Sci-fi indie filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead have done it again with the trippy, drug-fueled time travel experiment ‘Synchronic’, which benefits from a strong leading man and an arresting balance of body horror and temporal experimentation.