Glen (Vincent Kartheiser) is driving home when his car runs over nails, leaving him stranded in the pouring rain. He happens upon the home of Art (Bob Stephenson) and Cyndi (Chelsea Lopez), who welcome him in and offer him a place to stay. As the night goes on, Glen is caught off-guard when Art suggests that Glen sleep with Cyndi. Reluctantly, Glen agrees to the odd proposition and after returning home the next day Art shows up and tells him that Cyndi is now pregnant. When Cyndi reaches out to him, Glen is plunged into a world where he can’t tell reality from fiction and he must try to figure out what is going on.
‘Ultrasound’ is an absolute mind-bender of a film from Rob Schroeder, which for the first thirty minutes made my head hurt so much I actually thought I hated the film. Thankfully it as the plot revealed itself and the twists unfolded, I found myself captivated (even though my head was still hurting) as Schroeder and writer Conor Stechschulte have created something unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
As the film relies so heavily on the element of surprise, I really don’t want to say anything further about the plot and that makes it incredibly difficult to review without being very vague. Suffice to say the initial scenario isn’t quite as straightforward as it seems and the revealing of what’s actually going on, which involves scientist Shannon (Breeda Wool), is mind-blowing. I had to stop myself several times from shouting out ‘WTF is going on?’ at the screen only for my mind to be blown just minutes later.
How the cast managed to pull this film off is beyond me. Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool and Bob Stephenson are all absolutely magnificent. Each of their characters has to adapt to the reality of the situation they’re in and they all sell it every single step of the way. Wool in particular, best-known for her role on the short-lived series ‘UNReal’, is a standout as her character Shannon winds up being key to unravelling the mindbending plot.
‘Ultrasound’ demands that you go along for the ride and I 100% recommend that you don’t try to work out what is going on. Instead just let the film reveal itself to you and you’ll be drawn into the very intricate, and complex, plot. ‘Ultrasound’ isn’t at all what I thought I was going to see and by the end I had so many questions and thoughts, I absolutely need to rewatch the film as soon as possible. I’m just gutted that now I know the story, it may not impact me in the same way the second time around.
Cast: Vincent Kartheiser, Chelsea Lopez, Breeda Wool, Tunde Adebimpe, Rainey Qualley Director: Rob Schroeder Writer: Conor Stechschulte Certificate: 18 Duration: 103 mins Released by: Lodger Film
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