Jacob Gentry
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Connections, in both directions
Synchronicity has some superb inspirations - the intricately nested timelines of Primer , the dusty, DIY science fiction of Alien , the vintaged futuristic anywhere city of Blade Runner and Dark City - but it's also very much its own thing.
On par with films like Timecrimes, Predestination or even Primer to a degree, Synchronicity once again proves that you don’t need a huge budget to create a compelling cinematic experience.
Also, this isn’t like Primer and up its own ass; as technical as the jargon gets you will always be able to comprehend the gist of what is actually being explained or discussed.
Writer-director Jacob Gentry, who made the middle third of the underrated exquisite-corpse horror film The Signal , appears to have boned up on his Heinlein and Bradbury and Carruth, the last of whose Primer remains a blueprint for any hungry young filmmaker looking to blow minds on a budget.
Think of the cut-rate thrillers, from “Primer” to the Spanish “Time Crimes,” to say nothing of the scads of budget-conscious TV episodes and entire series that have managed something interesting in the genre without “Back to the Future” bucks.
Compared to Primer for instance, which was so exhaustively invested in the intricacies of time travel, Synchronicity is more often just long winded.
George Sluizer’s The Vanishing (1988, remade 1993) and David Fincher’s similarly Chicago-set Zodiac ( 2007) – both key cinematic reference points for the obsessiveness and paranoia of James’ quest – were notably made, or set, in what now seem historic periods.
As with George Sluizer’s The Vanishing (1993), grief and reason are overpowered by a need to know what happened to a loved one, and it’s a powerful force pushing James and viewers down a bleak and disturbing road.
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
Directed by John Erick Dowdle
influenced Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)
Visuals
For simplicity’s sake, below is a little vision board (of sorts) to help you visualize the tapes in question, including a photo from the unsolved Max Headroom Signal Hijacking of 1987 that inspired the film, a still from John Erick Dowdle’s The Poughkeepsie Tapes , and another from Milos Mitrovic & Conor Sweeney’s Homer_A (2017) .
There are camcorder moments that unsettle, almost as The Poughkeepsie Tapes accomplishes with its evidence footage, and yet clue-seeking thrills sell desired excitement short.
Zodiac (2007)
Directed by David Fincher
influenced Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)
Themes Visuals Plot
George Sluizer’s The Vanishing (1988, remade 1993) and David Fincher’s similarly Chicago-set Zodiac ( 2007) – both key cinematic reference points for the obsessiveness and paranoia of James’ quest – were notably made, or set, in what now seem historic periods.
For good measure, there’s also tips to David Fincher’s grimy worlds in “Seven” and “Zodiac,” reflected here with this film's Chicago environs.
Broadcast Signal Intrusion , a 2021 South by Southwest Midnighters debut directed by Jacob Gentry, fictionalizes that premise, in the guise of a “creepy tape” horror-thriller in the tradition of the Ring movies, folded into a desperate search for a serial killer, similar to David Fincher’s Zodiac .
While sometimes its own mystery ends up bogging down a bit of the film’s momentum, Broadcast Signal Intrusion is still a highly effective suspense-filled thriller that feels like Gentry tipping his hat to Zodiac as well as Brian De Palma, and yet, still sets out to do its own thing as well.
Synchronicity has some superb inspirations - the intricately nested timelines of Primer , the dusty, DIY science fiction of Alien , the vintaged futuristic anywhere city of Blade Runner and Dark City - but it's also very much its own thing.
The aesthetic feels like a mash-up of Blade Runner meets Dark City , giving this futuristic world a nice sense of timelessness to it.
Moments of James staring straight into his monitor and going frame by frame to study the footage will bring to mind moments of Ethan Hawke watching Super 8 footage in Sinister , where the film invites us to lean in and look for something that might not actually be there.
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
Directed by David Robert Mitchell
influenced Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)
Plot
Broadcast Signal Intrusion is a conspiracy thriller like David Robert Mitchell’s Under The Silver Lake (2018), where our protagonist appears as slippery and suspect as those involved in the plot that he is uncovering (or at least imagining), even as it becomes ever harder to pinpoint the borderline where his nightmares end and reality begins.
Director David Bruckner (“The Ritual”/”The Signal”) and writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski provide the needed jump scares for this supernatural thriller about a damsel in distress living in a haunted new house.
Written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (the team behind the memorable 2017 film Super Dark Times ) and directed by David Bruckner (part of the crew responsible for The Signal and V/H/S ), The Night House is simultaneously a haunted-house story and a mystery.
This is the latest from The Signal and The Ritual director David Bruckner, and it stars Hall as Beth, a woman we meet in mourning immediately following the suicide of her gorgeous and perfect husband Owen (Evan Jonigkeit, all of those things).
Bleeding out from the pens of Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (the duo behind nightmarish school shooting drama Super Dark Times), the script is given bleak focus by director David Bruckner (The Signal, V/H/S, and innovative creature feature The Ritual).
A considerable promotion in terms of scale and budget, Bruckner, best known from “The Signal” and directing shorts for the “V/H/S” anthology, settles into his groove with a bigger lens while still maintaining a clear line of focus.
Bruckner was one of three directors on 2007’s underrated mass-hysteria thriller “The Signal,” as well as solo helmer of good wilderness horror “The Ritual” a decade later and several strong omnibus contributions in between.
The Signal director David Bruckner's deft adaptation of Adam Nevill's acclaimed novel is an effective serving of woodland terror laced with psychological depth and eerie creature-feature spectacle, and proves old-school horror can be upgraded in a chillingly relevant way.
Beyond avoiding the whole found-footage device, David Bruckner ’s first solo directorial feature (he was one of three helmers on 2017’s excellent “The Signal”) benefits from solid atmospherics that elevate a not-particularly-original conceit about four men encountering possibly supernatural menace while hiking in Northern Sweden.
It’s directed by David Bruckner ( The Signal , 2007, and the “Amateur Night” segment in V/H/S , 2012) and co-written by Joe Barton and Adam Nevill.
The Ritual, a taut new film from director David Bruckner (The Signal, V/H/S), is recognisably related to such weird, wondrous classics of the form as The Wicker Man and The Blair Witch Project.
Director David Bruckner ( V/H/S , The Signal ) brings us this deeply allegorical tale of friendships.
How, you ask? Track back to 2007, when Bruckner teamed with Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry to dial-in their shared narrative The Signal (three directors, three “transmissions”).