Ultrasound, 2022.
Directed by Rob Schroeder.
Starring Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool, Tunde Adebimpe, Rainey Qualley, Chris Gartin, and Bob Stephenson.
SYNOPSIS:
After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives plus those of several random strangers.
There is a unique flavor of terrifying heads games to Ultrasound, albeit still shrouded in deliberate confusion and mind games that it feels unfair to viewers to dive into the story. Vaguely, it can be described as a tale of control involving and rotating characters, speaking to different methods and purposes for utilizing that power. There’s also something frighteningly believable about some of the tactics that go beyond standard gaslighting, which is already horrifying enough. Such things are amplified by the victims here already suffering from abuse in some form or another.
The prologue sets the stage effectively, as Glen (Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser) finds himself in the middle of nowhere driving home in the pouring rain, inadvertently running over some conspicuously placed spikes. Stranded, he comes across the home of the hospitable Art (Bob Stephenson), who lives with a partner around twice his age, Cyndi (Chelsea Lopez). There’s no way to get the car repaired so late at night, so the three casually bond over superficial chatter that soon turns into a conversation about depression. In the first of many jolting cuts, Cyndi is suddenly gone as if time has unknowingly slipped by Glen. Art says she is asleep, which leads to him allowing Glen to sleep in the bedroom with Cyndi and encouraging them to have sex. Glen reluctantly abides, where we also learn that Art was a high school teacher of Cyndi when she was 17 and that they married when she was 19.
Lest you think much of the plot has been spoiled, this is only the first 10 minutes of Ultrasound, a movie that consistently doles out shocking information redefining what viewers know and have seen up until that point. There are also subplots, such as a right-wing senator (Chris Gartin) attempting to cover up a secret relationship where his partner is pregnant. Speaking of pregnancy, there’s a lot of that going on in Ultrasound (which I suppose is not too surprising given the title), mixed in with trippy ultraviolet lighting. It’s not long before some characters find themselves as part of a psychological experiment, which leads to questioning what’s real and what’s not in blindsiding ways grounded in how high and deep the story goes.
Shannon (Breeda Wool) happens to be one of those therapists conducting bizarre interrogations on some of these characters. Without spoiling any of the reveals, hypnosis plays a large part in Ultrasound, but the mysteries go beyond that. It’s also apparent that Shannon might not be able to trust her superior (Tunde Adebimpe) and that she may have signed up to participate in the opposite of something humane and productive.
Directed by Rob Schroeder (and written by Conor Stechschulte adapting the graphic novel) Ultrasound doesn’t just juggle these storylines but frequently switches up who its main character is with calculated precision amid all this weirdness. The film is akin to looking into a funhouse for 100 minutes where control dynamics are shifted and unsettlingly used for nefarious purposes. Aspects of the game somewhat dip into clichéd territory during the third act, but not without leaving its distinct elements to ponder. It’s also not just about the bigger picture, as the performances and lives of these characters are equally worth investing in, even as the events that unfold become grosser by the minute. There are also more than enough disorienting yet entrancing visual tricks coupled with a loopy synthetic score, keeping in line with the central mind games. Go in blind, find yourself hypnotized, come away sufficiently baffled in a rewarding fashion.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
