It’s a typical plotline in a lot of thrillers: X’s automobile breaks down outside Y’s shady house, frequently in the pouring rain. X seeks sanctuary at Y. Terror strikes.
That’s the fundamental template, but Ultrasound, Rob Schroeder’s captivating directorial feature debut — his previous credits include largely short films and a few episodes of Variety’s Actors on Actors — delivers some brilliant, mind-boggling subversions. We are excited to introduce the wicked trailer for the new psycho-thriller, which will be released on March 11th following a fantastic Tribeca reaction.
Momento-style, what begins with the above setup quickly takes a turn for the brain-scrambling. After his car tire breaks, Vincent Kartheiser’s character, Glen, seeks sanctuary in the house of Art (Bob Stephenson), an unassuming guy who appears to be a normal Joe. Art coerces Glen into sleeping with his much younger wife, and after that, memories and reality overlap and entwine, with Glen desperately attempting to figure out which is which. It devolves into a tumultuous drama full of twists and turns.
Tribeca Film Festival critics praised Schroeder’s debut. Many people stand up for the analogies to Christopher Nolan, while others pointed out thematic and aesthetic similarities to Charlie Kaufman’s work. Here’s a comment of one reviewer about it:
“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.”
Take a look at the scary trailer below the jump. Ultrasound premieres in theaters and VOD on March 11. It features Vincent Kartheiser, Rainey Qualley, Chelsea Lopez, Tunde Adebimpe, Breeda Wool, Mark Burnham, and Bob Stephenson, who has worked with David Fincher on several occasions.
The following is the official summary 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.”
