Ultrasound

‘I got questions’ says one of the main characters in Rob Schroeder debut feature, and so will you after viewing this weird, deliberately disconcerting sci-fi epic; it’s a Twilight Zone number with a little Get Out conspiracy on the side. Inspired by a four-book comic called Generous Bosom by Conor Stechschulte, Ultrasound is a defiantly tricky little film that constantly keeps the audience on its toes; don’t expect sci-fi gadgets and action, but a more thoughtful questioning of reality, very much in tune with the gas-lighting era we live in.

So let’s start with some cold hard facts; Vincent Kartheiser plays Glen, a young man who is driving at night when his (futuristic-looking) car blows a tyre; is he already falling into a trap? Glen turns up at a remote shotgun shack, where he meets Art (Bob Stephenson) and his wife Cindi (Chelsea Lopez). In a scenario straight from a 70’s exploitation film, Art encourages Glen to sleep with his wife, then turns up on Glen’s doorstep with a video showing that Cindi is now pregnant. But all is not what it seems, and when Glen finds Cindi, he discovers that the reality he imagines doesn’t chime with the one he’s living in…

Ultrasound briefly fakes a move towards a child-abuse sub-plot, but that’s a deception; the goings-on featured here take a very different direction. There’s a hypnotist, a clinic, an experiment, and all sorts of strangeness. In fact, Glen may not be the main character here at all; scientist Shannon (Breeda Wool) is the one who shows most agency in trying to figure out what’s happened to Glen and Cindi…

We’re talking mind control, or mind-warping; The Manchurian Candidate is an obvious jumping-off point, but Ultrasound isn’t a retro-piece, but one that fits alongside films like Primer, Timecrimes or Transit in positing a future that doesn’t look that different from our current, unspectacular now, but has a few secrets up its sleeve. With no body-horror, gore or even effects, Schroeder does a remarkable job of maintaining grown-up narrative tension, and the pay-off is surprising satisfying…

Well acted and constructed, Ultrasound also gets a major lift from the performance of veteran Bon Stephenson as Art, who may be many things but is certainly a tricky foe to defeat. Art is messing with Glen ‘s head, and with ours too; if you like a smart sci-fi thriller in the manner of Coherence, then Ultrasound should answer enough questions to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Blue Finch Film Releasing presents Ultrasound on Digital Download from 20 June  2022.