Audiences can expect the unexpected with Rob Schroeder’s directorial debut, Ultrasound.
Something doesn’t feel right for Glen (Vincent Kartheiser). After attending a friend’s wedding, he gets a flat tire on a rainy night. Spotting a house nearby, he knocks on the door and is welcomed into the home of Art (Bob Stephenson) and Cyndi (Chelsea Lopez). They are very hospitable but strange. In fact, after swearing the nearest garage is too far to head to that night, Art offers Glen a night with Cyndi. For some reason, after some initial reluctance, Glenn takes him up on the offer. However, the next morning, he finds the house deserted and heads home extremely confused. Then there’s Katie (Rainey Qualley), who has a high-profile boyfriend (Chris Martin), and he needs to keep her a secret, going to great lengths to do so. In the same town, a research facility is priming a new addition to the team, Shannon (Breeda Wool), and she’s eager to get started on a top-secret project. What unfolds is a mind-bending experience of ethics gone off the rails.
To reveal more of Ultrasound’s plot would spoil far too good of a film. With understated but compelling performances from Wool, Lopez, and Kartheiser, and the feel of an absurdist Outer Limits episode that draws you in until the last frame, you’ll wonder whose truth can be trusted.
The film is based on a graphic novel called “Generous Bosom” by Conor Stechschulte, who wrote the film’s screenplay, and it’s now become a must-read for me. With such a complex plot, Schroeder, who produced the 2015 psychological thriller Sunchoke, did a fantastic job revealing moments slowly, keeping the audience just as confused as the characters in the film. That makes for an excellent psychological sci-fi that’s eerie and will most certainly make your skin crawl by the final credits.
Screening digitally in the US only June 16. Get tickets here.
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