Movies
[Review] ‘Synchronicity’ is a Technically Impressive Sci-Fi Noir
Film noir is a film genre that is not as popular as it once was with mainstream audiences. Barring films like Sin City (which was released nearly 10 years ago) the genre hasn’t exactly enjoyed any box office success in recent years. Jacob Gentry is attempting to change that with his new sci-fi noir Synchronicity, a technically impressive film with a twisty plot that falls flat in terms of its characters.
In the future, physicist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight) performs a test run of his time machine to impress investor Klaus Meisner (Michael Ironside). After it supposedly fails, he meets Abby (Brianne Davis), whom he eventually comes to believe is on a mission to steal his research for the time machine and pass it off as her own. In an attempt to stop her, he uses himself as a human test subject and travels back in time himself to stop her from succeeding in her task.
I will confess that film noir is not exactly my favorite genre. I’ve never particularly warmed to it and to be honest, I find it all a little dull so I may not be the best person to review this film. That being said, Synchronicity is a very well-made film that should please fans of the genre.
The world that Gentry has constructed here is gorgeous for a film with such a low budget. It feels like it could belong in the same universe as Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Filmed with a bleak color palette of blues and grays, Synchronicity lends itself to the noir style. There is also no shortage of scenes featuring characters having a conversation in a dark room with rays of light from a blinded window hitting their face.
All of the actors dive into their roles with aplomb, with Michael Ironside chewing the scenery in the best way possible. As the possible femme fatale, Brianne Davis exudes a confident sexuality while also displaying the necessary amount of vulnerability. Chad McKnight, rejoining his The Signal co-star AJ Bowen on screen for the first time since 2007, proves to be a compelling lead. If only his character wasn’t so dense.
The character of Jim is the problem with Synchronicity. For being a physicist, he sure isn’t very smart. Throughout the course of the entire film, his revelations come long after the audience has already had theirs. This may just be a necessary evil of the genre, but it makes the film less engrossing than it should be. There really aren’t that many surprises in Synchronicity, barring one turn of events in the final act that may elicit a few gasps.
The film also gets bogged down in the romantic subplot between Jim and Abby, which slows the film down in places. Davis and McKnight have chemistry with each other, but their romance just isn’t that interesting which it hurts the film tremendously.
Overall Synchronicity is a beautiful film to look at and it has the technical merits to warrant a viewing, but it doesn’t really do anything new with the genre and it drags quite a bit in the middle. Still, die-hard fans of sci-fi or noir will find plenty of things to enjoy.
Synchronicity will be given a limited theatrical release along with VOD and iTunes on January 22, 2016.
This week kicked off with the release of hippo horror movie Hungry at home, and four more horror movies have arrived for at-home viewing as we head into the final weekend of June.
Here are the new horror movies that released on Friday, June 26, 2026!
The Halloween season can no longer be contained to the months of September and October, with “Summerween” becoming a thing in recent years. Essentially, it allows for Halloween to bleed into the warmer Summer months, and the first ever Summerween movie has arrived.
The Asylum released Summerween onto Digital outlets today.
In the film from writer/director Ryan Ebert, “On Summerween, a former circus clown escapes a mental institution to return to his abandoned mansion and hunt the teens partying there.”
Cole Chapleski, Chase Breithoff, Logan Roe, Sophia Sabol, and Clint Morrison star.
Director Ryan Ebert is the man behind a string of recent indie horrors we’ve covered, including Shark Side of the Moon, The Jolly Monkey, Jurassic Reborn, and Predator: Wastelands.
A witchy coming-of-age story from Dark Sky Films, Camp is now playing in select theaters.
Check your local listings to find a theater near you.
Camp is from writer-director Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, The Serpent’s Skin).
“Emily is the root cause of two devastating tragedies very early in her life, and she feels the weight of these accidents as though cursed. At her father’s suggestion, she takes a position at a summer camp for troubled youth to ease her guilt. When Emily arrives, she is welcomed by the other counselors, who accept her as she is and surround her with peace and forgiveness.
“As Emily begins to believe in a new kind of life, she starts to hear a voice whispering from deep in the woods — one that urges her to go home, and one that may be impossible to ignore.”
The film stars Zola Grimmer in her screen debut alongside Alice Wordsworth, Cherry Moore, Lea Rose Sebastianis (Castration Movie Part 1 & 2, In A Violent Nature), Ella Reece, Austyn Van de Kamp (This Too Shall Pass), Sophie Bawks-Smith (Honeycomb), Izza Jarvis, and Aiden Laudersmith.
Producers Tyler Perry and Jason Blum have joined forces for Peacock Original Strung.
The film is now streaming only on Peacock.
“A talented violinist takes a prestigious job as a music tutor for the gifted daughter of an influential and enigmatic family. As she becomes entangled in their opulent world, unsettling secrets begin to surface, forcing her to question her safety, her dreams, and even her sanity.”
Malcolm D. Lee (Scary Movie 5, Space Jam: A New Legacy) directs from a script written by Alan B. McElroy (Wrong Turn, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers).
Chloe Bailey (“Swarm“), Lynn Whitfield (Jaws: The Revenge), Lucien Laviscount (“Scream Queens”), Anna Diop (Us), Coco Jones (Vampires vs. the Bronx), Langley Kirkwood (“Banshee”), and Romy Woods star in Peacock’s Strung.
Produced by Diablo Cody, director Meredith Alloway’s Forbidden Fruits brought a new coven of witches to the big screen earlier this year, and it’s now streaming on Shudder.
Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Victoria Pedretti (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Alexandra Shipp (Tragedy Girls), Gabrielle Union (Breaking In), and Emma Chamberlain star in Forbidden Fruits, released by IFC and Shudder.
Free Eden employee Apple secretly runs a witchy femme cult in the basement of the mall store after hours. But when new hire Pumpkin challenges the group’s ‘girl boss’ ways, the women are forced to face their own poisons or succumb to a bloody fate.
“Forbidden Fruits grabbed me by the neck the very first time I read it,” Diablo Cody said. “It’s one of the craziest, most creative, beautifully bonkers projects I’ve ever worked on.”
Meagan Navarro writes in her review for Bloody Disgusting, “Forbidden Fruits may not necessarily forge new terrain in the teen satire space, but Alloway brings so much style and energy to her well-cast single-location stage play adaptation for the Gen Z crowd.”
The film is an adaptation of playwright Lily Houghton’s stage play Of the Women Came the Beginning of Sin and Through Her We All Die. Alloway and Houghton co-adapted.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by HUNGRY.
All aboard the swamp tour from hell – this hippo isn’t playing games…
HUNGRY is now available on Digital. Watch it now!
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