After undergoing an experimental medical procedure, designed to restore her lost hearing, young deaf woman, Chloe Grayden, returns to her old family home to recover. While here, her plan is to help pack up the house, ahead of a potential sale, while also taking some time to become accustomed to the after effects of the operation.
Because she is staying in the house alone, Chloe spends her evenings reminiscing about the past and watching old VHS tapes from her youth. These tapes feature footage of her family from days gone by, including her mother who mysteriously disappeared when Chloe was a kid.
Over the course of the next few days, Chloe starts to notice her hearing coming back to her, and this brings much delight. However, at the same time, she also starts to hear things in the house, which causes her distress, and she can’t shift the unnerving feeling she is being watched.
Directed by Jeffrey A. Brown, The Unheard stars Lachlan Watson, Brendan Meyer, and Nick Sandow. The movie is mystery horror-thriller, which is new to Shudder from today, and is a slow-burning tale that I want to tell you is really rather good… *pauses* …but alas I cannot.
The reason I want to be positive about the movie is because it has many of the right components to make this an interesting picture. Lachlan Watson gives a solid central performance as Chloe; the movie looks and sounds fine; and there is a superb ominous tone that runs throughout the film.
But the reason I can’t actually champion this picture is because The Unheard is very slow, it is terribly uneventful, and ultimately quite messy. It never really gets going, it never quite makes it clear what type of film it wants to be, and it is very, very dull.
Had I been watching this movie on a traditional television channel, after doing a spot of channel surfing, I would have continued surfing after about 20 minutes. The Unheard would have briefly caught my attention because of the good things listed above, but it would have then lost me completely when nothing failed to happen.
On a more positive side, there’s something interesting in here about hearing loss and trauma, and Lachlan Watson is excellent at playing a character who is trying to navigate their way through a world built for sound. Early sections of the movie feature little to no dialogue, and the way this is conveyed in the picture is handled well.
The film also offers up some occasional creepy moments, largely centred around old VHS tapes. As Chloe watches the tapes, the footage flickers and distorts, and for a brief moment here and there, there is the genuine sense that something scary is going to happen.
But alas, nothing scary does happen. In fact, nothing much happens for about 40 minutes, and then when something sinister does take place, it’s all kind of confusing and really quite removed from the rest of the picture.
While watching The Unheard I was constantly reminded of horror movies such as White Noise (2005) and Poltergeist (1982), and I couldn’t help but think of the excellent 2019 drama, Sound of Metal. The Unheard seemed to borrow elements from all of these films, and that’s why they often popped into my mind during the course of this movie.
But unlike these movies, The Unheard seems to have no clear objective and it all felt kind of pointless. It gets a mild nod of the head for trying, and I really feel like a good film is knocking around in here (somewhere), but it’s beyond dull and it really can’t make up its mind what it wants to be.
Should you give it a watch? No.
This week there are great films such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves and Tetris on offer. Spend your time on those, and don’t sweat missing out on this one.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this review on It’s A Stampede!. For more reviews, check out the recommended reads below.
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