“Synchronic,” a science fiction horror film currently trending on Netflix, will put you on the edge of your seat. It stars Anthony Mackie, who plays Steve, and Jamie Dornan, who plays Dennis. The characters are life-long best friends who work as paramedics; they soon begin to discover bizarre deaths in New Orleans. All of these strange deaths have one common element and that is a drug called synchronic.

The movie is centered around the disappearance of Dennis’s daughter Brianna (played by Ally Ioannides). She mysteriously goes missing without a trace and only a wrapper of synchronic remains at the scene where she was last seen. Dennis and his wife both become distressed by her disappearance, and Steve, in a moment of empathy, drives to a smoke store to buy out all of the synchronic drugs.

When the maker of the drugs follows him home, Steve is told the truth about the drug: that not only was it put on the market faster than it should have been, but it also allows the one who takes it to travel back in time for seven minutes. Steve decides to take it for himself, and once he does, he is transported to a swampland, where he discovers that if he moves around his living room he can travel back to different places (as they all match up with a different geography location and time period). He begins to record his time travel, just in case something happens to him. As he begins to understand how this drug is used, he realizes that he can save Brianna.

This movie goes deeper than just the usage of the drug, as both of the main characters have to face personal issues on their ends. Steve battles with cancer and has to face the sad truth that his death could happen at any moment. While Dennis and his wife deal with a missing daughter, a new baby and marital complications make things more difficult. Steve also makes many hard decisions that put his friendship with Dennis in jeopardy as well as his own life. Without any spoilers the end will leave viewers at the edge of their seats.

Anthony Mackie did an incredible job acting in this movie. His character is very complicated, and must face the deaths of others everyday as a paramedic, yet he also knew his death was just around the corner. He immersed himself in this role as he understood the hardships that his character felt.

A note of caution: the first half of the movie is slow and the story line does not pick up until halfway through the film. Brianna’s character lacked depth and left the audience wanting more since most of the movie was centered around Steve and Dennis. 

This movie is one hour 43 minutes long. It is also rated R and features drug usage and violence. I do not recommend watching this movie if you are sensitive to any of these topics.

Although I am not a fan of horror movies, I do recommend “Synchronic” as it did have elements of horror and science fiction, the main character’s personal lives were well developed and the entire movie was full of suspense.