It's a setup we've seen in many a thriller: X person's car breaks down outside Y villain's shady house, often in the pouring rain. X goes to Y for refuge. Terror ensues.
That's the basic blueprint, but Ultrasound, the beguiling directorial feature debut from Rob Schroeder — whose erstwhile credits are mostly shorts, and a bunch of Variety's Actors on Actors episodes — offers some fascinating, mind-boggling subversions. With the film releasing on March 11th after a strong Tribeca reception last year, Collider is delighted to exclusively release the first, devilish trailer for the upcoming psycho thriller.
What opens with the above setup soon takes a turn for the brain-scrambling, Momento style. Taking refuge after his car tire explodes, Vincent Kartheiser's character, Glen, is welcomed into the home of Art (Bob Stephenson), an unassuming dude who comes across as a regular Joe. A regular Joe who likes cuckoldry, that is: Art coerces Glen into sleeping with his much younger wife, and from then on, memories and reality overlap and entwine with one another, Glen desperately trying to work out which is which. It descends into a chaotic story, full of twists and turns.
Reviews out of Tribeca hailed it as a strong debut for Schroeder. Many agreed with the comparisons to Christopher Nolan, while others also highlighted a thematic and visual likeness to the works of Charlie Kaufman. Here's what one review had to say:
"Thoroughly transfixing but requiring patience from its audience, Ultrasound artistically evolves from a spooky I’m Thinking Of Ending Things-esque elliptical experiment into something resembling a Sundance version of Shock Corridor, operating on several wavelengths through close to low-budget Nolan level mesmerism."
Check out the creepy trailer below. Ultrasound releases in theaters and VOD on March 11. It stars Vincent Kartheiser, Rainey Qualley, Chelsea Lopez, Tunde Adebimpe, Breeda Wool, Mark Burnham, and Bob Stephenson, known for his many collaborations with David Fincher.
Here's the official synopsis for Ultrasound:
"Ultrasound is adapted from Conor Stechschulte’s acclaimed graphic novel Generous Bosom, and is a brilliantly constructed and meticulously detailed film about a man, who is stranded by two flat tires on a rainy night and must seek help at a nearby house. There, he’s welcomed in by Art, who cajoles Glen into sleeping with his younger wife Cyndi. What happens after follows endlessly twisty surprises which solidifies director Schroeder as a major new talent to follow. The film premiered at Tribeca ’21 in the Midnight Section."
