Film

Synchronic

Name: Synchronic
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
Released: 2020
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, Katie Aselton, Alexia Ioannides, Ramiz Monsef

Synchronic is a time-horror hybrid about two paramedics whose friendship fractures when a designer drug starts sending users careening through history—sometimes returning broken, sometimes not returning at all. It's got genuine dread, weird science, and the particular ache of watching someone you love slip away into something you can't follow. For people who want their sci-fi strange and their horror personal.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like science fiction that stays grounded in a sweaty, specific city and lets a strange premise unfold through a partnership's stubborn loyalty rather than spectacle.

Skip it if you want fast, escalating set pieces; this is mostly quiet, talky stretches broken by unsettling, gruesome moments, and its mood is melancholic more than thrilling.

What it asks of you: Running 102 minutes, it moves at a deliberate pace, with dark and bloody scenes, and it rewards patience and close attention to small details.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Arrival2016

A thoughtful, haunting science-fiction film about communication and sacrifice. Like Synchronic, it uses an extraordinary premise to explore grief and the limits of what we can save from slipping away.

But Deliberately paced and conceptual rather than thrilling. If you want constant momentum, this will feel slow.

The Invisible Man2020

Propulsive horror that uses a speculative premise to examine vulnerability and loss of control. Both films anchor wild concepts in the emotional reality of characters being hunted by something incomprehensible.

But Relentlessly tense and claustrophobic. Not a breather in sight, which some find exhausting rather than gripping.

Annihilation2018

Acid-bright sci-fi horror about a zone where the laws of nature bend sideways. Shares Synchronic's willingness to let cosmic wrongness be genuinely unsettling rather than just a plot device.

But Deliberately ambiguous ending. If you need clarity and resolution, you'll leave frustrated.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Synchronic

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Twelve Monkeys1995

Both use time distortion as a metaphor for powerlessness, and both ask whether knowing the future means you can actually change it—or if knowing condemns you to repeat it.

Terry Gilliam's fractured time-travel nightmare about a man sent backward to prevent apocalypse, only to discover he might be the cause. It's Synchronic's spiritual ancestor: baroque, emotionally raw, time as a trap rather than a tool.

But Deliberately disorienting visuals and narrative structure. Many find it beautiful; others find it incomprehensible or headache-inducing.

The Endless2017

Two former cult members return to their old retreat and discover time itself is broken there. Wildly inventive, emotionally earned, and it trusts the audience to keep up with strange logic.

But Low budget shows in the seams. The visual effects are functional rather than polished, which can pull you out if you need a slick production.

It Follows2015

A supernatural threat that hunts methodically, inexorably, and can't be reasoned with. Both films weaponize dread through relentless, unkillable pressure and the creeping certainty that escape might be impossible.

But Minimal plot, maximum atmosphere. Some find it repetitive; others find that repetition is the point.

Dark2017

A German miniseries about a town where time collapses in on itself. Synchronic's fractured temporal logic finds its full expression here—complex, interlocking, devastating in scope.

But Three seasons, dense mythology, demands rewatching to track timelines. Easy to feel lost, harder to feel satisfied if you're not committed.

Oxygen2021

A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no memory, fading oxygen, and the awful realization that escape might kill her. Claustrophobic, smart, and emotionally gutting in its final turns.

But Single-location thriller confined to one room. If you need visual variety or action set pieces, this will feel airless and repetitive.

The Platform2019

A Spanish sci-fi horror about a vertical prison where the rules change and empathy corrodes. Like Synchronic, it takes a conceptual hook and runs it into genuinely bleak territory without flinching.

But Graphically violent and nihilistic. The ending offers little comfort, and some sequences are deliberately repulsive.

The One I Love2014

A couple retreats to a house to save their marriage and discovers something wrong with the space itself. Quiet, unsettling, and deeply concerned with how relationships fracture under pressure.

But Indie production values and deliberately oblique storytelling. If you want clear answers about what's happening, you won't get them.

The Adam Project2022

Both explore the specific grief of trying to protect someone you love from a future they're already stepping into—and the realization that some outcomes can't be changed, only endured.

A man travels back in time to save his past self, only to discover the past is already corrupted. It's a blockbuster, yes, but it's genuinely interested in the emotional cost of trying to rewrite time, not just the logistics.

But Family film with Ryan Reynolds and a kid sidekick, which makes it far less strange and challenging than Synchronic's commitment to dread.