The Unheard (2023) User Reviews

Cool concept, too long w/ bad char. decisions

[zack_gideon · 5/10 · 31 March 2023]

I actually really liked the concept of this film. Kind of like a supernatural, sci fi, horror, thriller. All my favorite things. It starts off well, builds the lead and the back story. The audience gets invested in her and the story.

Here's the thing though, the middle is rough to get thru. Its repetitive, meandering and the plot just stalls for the most part. There's no payoffs and I just could barely keep my eyes open (long day at work before watching).

The other issue is typical horror trope bad character decisions. You'll know when you see them and you might even yell at your TV. I did. Although there are issues, if you can stomach the middle it's a pretty cool movie. The acting isn't great but it was a good attempt at a complex (back and forth in time) story. 5/10.

"Happy 4th Of July"

[gab-67599 · 5/10 · 3 April 2023]

WTH!!?? The sad thing about this movie was I was actually into it. Now there are slow burn movies and then there are WAY too slow movies. This was way too slow that the FF button just HAD to be used, on more than one occasion. Likable lead, and she was interesting enough to hold my interest until the end. But the story was just a head scratcher, you never knew why the killer was killing, and the noise got really redundant! To the point it was just annoying. I would say it was not worth anyone's time to watch this HALF good movie. At least if you had known more about the character's life's this would have made for a good watch. It was not like they didn't have enough time to throw in some backstories along with the movie. But, no! It was as if the director made the movie, and then didn't take the time to rewatch it. It was like all the other character's aside from the lead girl were just extra's. I did enjoy her acting but with all the annoying noises going on this movie was just not worth the time to even watch. I would not recommend watching this movie, but as always be your own judge.

Sorry

[abuozama · 4/10 · 2 April 2023]

I need these 2 hours back to my life! The movie was too long, too slow, too boring! I don't know how it's rated as Horror, Thriler or even Mystery! If you start watching it after 40 minutes of its beginning, you still didn't miss anything.

Even with the long time that movie took from my life, I still don't know lots of plots and background of the story!

What's the reason behind the killings, and what really happened to the mother, what's the source of the sounds from the floor.. etc.

Eventually, I wished that I can speed up the scenes to kill the suspense after I had to sleep twice during the movie!

More like "The Unwatchable"

[imdb-20212 · 4/10 · 6 April 2023]

I thought this looked like an interesting premise, but the plot meandered a bit as time went on. Too many rabbit trails along the way to the real meat of the story, which was pretty bland once you got there.

The overuse of the flashing, distorted TV images was SUPER annoying and the audio was impossible to decipher. At first I didn't know if that was deliberate because of the main character's hearing problems, but I turned on closed captioning and saw that the distorted videos that kept popping up (ad nauseum) actually had dialogue in there.

Had I not had CC enabled, for example, I don't think I would have guessed that at the end, the audio was saying "Say happy fourth of July" over and over. It was so muddied and indistinct. And made no sense... maybe that was a callback to an earlier part of her watching those fuzzy home movies and I just missed it because it was, as my review title says, unwatchable (and inaudible).

The baddy in the movie was entirely predictable and the ending was just "meh" and left you kind of hanging anyway. It's not like I need it all wrapped up in a neat little bow, but there was literally zero denouement, nothing. Just "okay, baddy is dead" and roll credits. Yawn.

Every character was basically two dimensional... you see them on screen, think you're getting some back story and getting to know them, and then they vanish forever, never to be seen again. What's up with that? Screen filler and time padding, that's all.

At best, this story could have been a somewhat interesting half hour twilight zone'ish episode, but they strrrrreetcheeeeed it out to 2 hours, and it shows.

Spastic VCR with Epileptic Cassettes

[RedKidBytes · 5/10 · 17 April 2023]

The film starts with a warning that some scenes could induce seizures. And, it stays true to that assertion to the end.

Lachlan Watson plays Cloe, who is a depressed and deaf young adult who undergoes experimental surgery to regain her hearing, which was lost when she had a childhood meningitis infection. As she returns to her childhood home for recovery, she regains her hearing. Soon after she starts to hear ghostly whispers, garbles, and eerie sounds particularly when she watches the old VCR tapes from her earlier childhood.

Lachlan Watson is an upcoming Hollywood star in the making. From an early age, she started taking small parts in the Burning Coal theater and later in the Triangle theater. She played in the "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" and the second season of "Chucky"

The concept is interesting. It is more of a drama with a bit of horror and not the other way around. I think that extremely corrupted and distorted video images and sounds made storytelling much less compelling and a lot more confusing.

I don't know why or what happened

[john-vaudrey · 4/10 · 4 April 2023]

When I read the synopsis of this film I was really interested as it reminded me of The Eye (2002) where a woman gets an eye transplant and can see ghosts.

I've just finished watching this and the only thing i know for sure is that the epilepsy warnings should be taken notice of as there are some serious strobe scenes in the film.

For everything else i have no idea what was going on, why the killer was killing, what the noise was and where it was coming from.

I can honestly say this was perhaps the most confusing film I have ever watched. Hopefully someone will explain it one day on YouTube or Wikipedia with a plot outline because i really need it.

Really Listen to the Epilepsy Warning!

[icocleric · 5/10 · 4 April 2023]

The film comes with an epilepsy warning, and oh boy does it need one. It's not just the odd scene either, to various degrees of intensity, it has the effects through out the entire film. So it's really hard to avoid. So honestly listen to that warning.

If I'm honest I don't think they added to the film either.

It's a slow burn, but it does keep you interested for a bit, but I don't think the pay off was that great. It was okay, but I thought the rest of the film was better than the end.

I think it had some really great concepts in there, like sound on a different frequency being heard by the previously deaf character.

I think think it's probably worth a watch overall.

It had a lot going for it...

[laceydelrae · 5/10 · 5 April 2023]

I think unheard has a great plot and a lot going for it. It had all the right elements and could have been so much better, but it ends up being a tedious and slow thriller. It also suffers from an identity crisis and doesn't know if it wants to be a serial killer movie, supernatural or a family drama.

The film is about a young woman staying alone at her family's cabin while she participates in an experimental procedure to try and regain her hearing she lost at 8 years old. The procedure is successful and she starts hearing things beyond the grave.

The acting of the main character is too subtle and relaxed. She makes some stupid decisions by the end. Acting against normal flight or fight insights. By the second half all the characters acting and dialogue became really strange and out of character.

There are aspects of this film that are creepy, but because of the slow pace and confusing narrative, it doesn't work. The film is over two hours long and doesn't establish much in that slightly above-average runtime.

Overall, I give this movie 5 stars. There was a lot this movie had going for it and had some original ideas I liked.

Warning, the last several minutes of the film are jarring, the visuals and noise become extremely erratic (hence the warning at the beginning for those prone to seizures).

90s style thriller /sci fi

[martinjohnston39 · 7/10 · 4 April 2023]

A lot of people are hating the slow burners lately. I blame it all on too much choice ,streaming all day ,all night. Anyway i was reviewing this film? The lead actress holds this one for the most part . The part when she regains her hearing is moving but you know there is gonna be side effects.the house in the woods is creepy and the old video seqeunces are well done . Where the movie falls short is a background story to the killer , why ,what motivates him? The magnetic fields all around us is not explored fully. Still i enjoyed this one even if it turns into a stalk and slasher at the end. I like this director and i think his next films are gonna be great .the lead actress has a bright future as well.a lot of these films would have been hailed as cult underground films in the 80s/90s but in a world of streaming its an endless pipe pumping out mainly garbage but now and then a few gems and gold get sifted through.

Great movie

[Che36 · 8/10 · 9 May 2023]

This moving isn't as bad as people make it out to be, yes it is a slow burn and I mean a really slow burn, but, if you get the concept of what they were going for, well at least I think that is what they were going for. Just picture it as a real life scenario where the person has a health issue and have to navigate around the town and amongst people, let alone living by themselves anything can happen and this picture is a perfect example of this. We should pay more attention to people with disabilities, and be more involved, especially when its a small town and strange things seem to be going on around. Humanity has failed many of times with people in need. Yeah you may not be responsible for that person and yeah you may reason, you aren't their keeper, but, most of them need help more than you can imagine. Back to the movie. Give it a chance if I had mind critics or comments from others, I would definitely miss out on a pretty great movies. Sometimes your taste may not be their taste, so its best to give it a go and see if its for you.

Worth a watch

[safebabai · 6/10 · 31 March 2023]

Slow paced and pretty nice character developement (only for the protagonist). Probably has one of the best sound designs I have ever heard in a movie. I think it's worth a watch even though the ending was quite cliche and predictable.

SPOILERS AHEAD We never know what was the main intension of the retired police officer for killing all those people and seems kind of hollow and harder to relate with. There is also very little background on Joshua, and just seems like an extra. As for the ending, I think it was an open one. We don't exactly know how it went down but after a while of some abstract imagery chloe finally kills the predator. I am neutral on the ending, but feel like it could have been a little better.

Works when it's going somewhere

[tellstar · 5/10 · 8 April 2023]

I liked the basic scientific/supernatural ideas offered here, and I would have found the film a lot more interesting if it stuck with and developed them. Why has this girl become attuned to otherworldly messages and how can electronic devices be used to monitor supernatural phenomena? That's good stuff. Unfortunately, the thriller aspect of the film is the least successful, and that becomes obvious as those elements begin to dominate the plot in the third act. If you can't figure out who's behind a series of murders in the area in just a few minutes, then you're a really bad judge of character.

Confused

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 1 May 2023]

Directed by Jeffrey Brown (The Beach House) and written by Michael and Shawn Shawn Rasmussen (Crawl), The Unheard has two horror themes in one: Chloe (Lachlan Watson) is part of a clinical trial to fix the hearing that was damaged by a childhood illness. And oh yeah, she's going back home -- never go back home -- to help her father sell the house, the last place she saw her mother before she, like many women in her hometown, disappeared.

You can see -- or more likely, hear -- what's coming.

As Chloe starts watching old videotapes and experiences the strange feelings of being back home, she starts to hear things that may or may not be there. As she begins to adjust to having her senses adjusted, she's not hearing things for the first time nearly, including her mother's voice via the tapes from the past.

Oh yeah -- there's also a giallo style killer still in town, stalking and killing women.

Sadly, the film never figures out what movie it is. Is it a coming home horror? A senses coming back shocker? A murder story? A haunted town? No, it's all of those things and it rarely comes together.

"Unheard" should have remained "Unseen" too!

[gunn-wrights · 3/10 · 1 May 2023]

Young lady travels back to her childhood home, out in the middle of nowhere, to participate in a study to give her hearing back which she lost as a child (you know, the country, where all the best Medical research takes place). This is also where her Mother went missing the same time she lost her hearing. Somebody's killing people in this little town - but somehow no one can find out who it is?

No Sherlock Holmes needed here. It's the exact person you think it is the entire time! Her missing mother is talking to her through the TV, now that she can hear, and it still takes another hour to figure out who was responsible.

SKIP IT!

Dumbest Ending On A Promising Movie EVER

[heykateforever · 2/10 · 28 August 2023]

This movie had me absolutely entranced. The whole story starts slowly about a girl gone deaf at 8 years old because of Meningitis. Fast forward in her 20s when she decides to enter an experimental treatment using her own DNA and stem cells instead of a Cochlear Implant to restore her hearing. She is drawn to recover at a house her family rented on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Her mother disappeared from this house sometime during this part of her life.

Then the mystery begins and the tension mounts and mounts in a very cool, creepy way. Great story, good acting, story uncomplicated, definitely catches you up in it. We meet several people she knew as a child and learn some information that stretches the boundaries of reality, but isn't completely impossible.

I admit, I knew who the culprit was early on. But that's because I watch these types of movies as it falls in one of my favorite genres. My husband says I "game" things early on and has learned I am usually right. However, it did not take away from the story for me.

And then the boom came down. Evidently, the writer, and/or director, and/or producer could not think of a finale suitable for the entire rest of the movie. I was ready to rate this one a solid 7! We got to the best part where everything starts getting resolved and suddenly, fade to black!

WARNING: If you like a little closure to your movies or shows that are otherwise pretty good, do NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE. There was no suitable finale whatsoever. Two hours of my life I'll never get back type of ending! Unforgivable!!!!

Would Have Been More Interesting If She Never Regained Her Hearing.

[meddlecore · 3/10 · 29 August 2023]

If the description wouldn't have detailed the premise of this film...I would have had no idea what was going on.

Sure, it's pretty obvious that she miraculously regained her hearing, as a result of an experimental medical procedure, after losing it to meningitis as a child.

But as for the rest of the plot...it's not exactly evident.

Less that there is a serial killer operating in the area.

And the he has her in his sights.

The whole supernatural element- and her supposed psychic abilities- manifest in both bizarre and confusing ways.

To the point where I'm not exactly sure how they helped drive the storyline forward.

The whole thing is rather slow burning...and plods on for much longer than it needs to.

Meaning that it's a bit too bloated for what it is.

That being said, the acting- particularly from the lead actress- is decent enough to keep you engaged.

Even though the whole thing is rather boring.

Up until it's somewhat disturbingly violent final act.

However, that's not exactly enough to safe it from it's inherent mediocrity.

No doubt, the concept is kind of intriguing.

However, the film itself is really quite passable.

And probably would have been more interesting if she was just deaf the whole time.

Especially considering the ending is kind of ridiculous.

Either way...it definitely did not need to be over 2 hours long.

2.5 out of 10.

30 Hours you'll never get back! Not totally annoying but more so towards the end it's the most frustrating garbage you'll ever have the misfortune of watching.

[fluffchop · 2/10 · 31 March 2024]

Not totally annoying but more so towards the end it's the most frustrating garbage you'll ever have the misfortune of watching. It really becomes an unwatchable mess which makes no sense whatsoever. I hated this movie the longer it went on the worse it got.

What's audio got to do with video tape flashbacks. It makes no sense at all. It's a stupid movie about what I don't know. There is a mother who was killed by some guy who she kills in the end. It takes nearly 5 hours getting there and another 5 hours to get it done.

I fell asleep so quickly watching it should be sold as a sleep aid. I re-watched the second half which I wish I never did as it just pissed me off no end waiting for it to get to the end. At nearly 30 hours long this movie is just far too much.

Not without some big issues but likable enough for what it is

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 26 January 2024]

Suffering from hearing loss, a woman undergoes an experimental procedure to implant a device that will help restore it and retreats to her childhood home to heal up, but when she starts to get notices of something unearthly contacting her, she tries to piece together the messages with her mother's death.

This was a decent enough if somewhat problematic effort. Among the positives here come from the intricate storyline that brings about some rather off-beat elements into this type of story. The central setup involving the deaf woman undergoing the procedure and trying to navigate the world for the first time as an adult who can hear the world around her makes this intriguing enough, especially once the infusion of bizarre screeches and static-y noises start punctuating her attempts at recovery. This sets the film in motion towards a solid ghost story alongside a serial killer stalking the area killing off young women which allows for a series of solid and decent-enough stalking scenes followed up with some brutal killings to hammer everything home that gets tied together through a series of reveals that feature some decent connections for how it all works. This gives the film a solid grounding for the unnatural atmosphere of the investigation sequences while also allowing enough suspenseful stalkings with the bloodshed to be worthwhile in places. There are some big issues here that hold this one down. The main drawback on display is the absurdly overlong and unnecessary running time that comes about mainly because the film is mindlessly repetitive in the middle segments. Endlessly going through the same process involving her shuffling around the house maintaining it, finding tapes of her family when she was a child, or dealing with the other issues surrounding the procedure which all combine together into running this section of the film into an absurdly long time. The lack of genre thrills on display here when not dealing with anything of grave circumstances as the lack of action makes this one quite dull, especially with the constantly-flashing strobe lightings and screeching sound-effects utilized by the videotapes or whenever the killer strikes which produces much more of a drama feel here than anything. The other drawback to the film is a decidedly chaotic and scattered storyline that may have some great ideas but also provides some random elements as a result. Most of that is due to not knowing what it wants to be and filling in tons of unwanted space trying to do so, with this ranging from a drama about her coming to terms with the recovered ability to hear once again, a haunted house story about the strange bumps and noises she encounters, and a serial killer film as the madman strikes various women on the outskirts of the story. Since there's so much going on here, and combined with the repetitive nature of these storylines hindering much of the opportunity to go through with the build-up of this storyline, it all comes off as predictable and not very surprising who the killer is or what their motivation was. These make for a watchable if heavily flawed genre effort.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

A dull mess

[haskel-72951 · 2/10 · 26 March 2024]

The Unheard has a runtime of 2 hours and 5 minutes. It feels three times that long. The main reason for that is this film has no idea what it wants to be. Is it a body horror? A psychological thriller? A ghost story? A serial killer movie? Well, it tries to be all this and succeeds at none. The movie suffers from its runtime, it could have used a rewrite with an emphasis on choosing one direction and also an editor that wasn't afraid to speak up. A decent cast is basically wasted in a boring mess of a movie that is bloated beyond reason. Oh, and if you are epileptic or suffer from motion sickness, stay far away from it. The director really thinks strobe lights and high frequency noise is cool. It's not.

Solid Premise but Not Enough Exploration to the Strong Points

[Reviews_of_the_Dead · 7/10 · 31 July 2023]

This is a movie that looked interesting to me when I was looking for 2023 releases on Shudder. I added this to my list to check out when I couldn't make it to the theater. What I knew is that this dealt with 'white noise' so I wanted to see what they'd do with the concept. I did come in blind as well. I've decided to go ahead and make this a featured review.

Synopsis: Chloe Grayden (Lachlen Watson) undergoes an experimental procedure to restore her hearing. She begins to suffer from auditory hallucinations related to the vanishing of her mother.

As said in the synopsis said, Chloe is our lead. She lost her hearing as a child due to meningitis. What we will learn later in this is that it put her in a coma. When she came out of it, her mother was gone as was her hearing. We see her as she volunteers for an experimental treatment as a trial. This is led by Dr. Lynch (Shunori Ramanathan). They use stem cells to stimulate the growth of the damaged part of the ear.

We see that Chloe struggles with not knowing what happened to her mother. For good reason though. Her and her father have been unable to sell their house in Cape Cod due to this. Chloe heads out there to recover from her treatment. This is also for closure as they prep to sell. There are VHS tapes in the closet of home movies. She watches them. She notices as well that there is someone in a house on the other side of the lake watching her.

The hot water isn't working so Chloe's father reaches out to Hank (Nick Sandow) to come take a look. We learn later that he was a police officer when Chloe's mother disappeared. He is now a handyperson and the local harbormaster. He is fond of Chloe and wants to help. She also runs into Joshua (Brendan Meyer). The two of them were friends when they were children. They talk and he even takes her to his mother, Ellen (Boyana Balta), who used to watch her when she was a toddler.

There could be positive developments from the experimental treatment. Chloe can hear the television and the tapes she is watching. She isn't sure if it is hallucinations though. She thinks she can hear her mother when putting her ear to floor. Chloe is determined to find the truth. There also seems to be a history of young women disappearing in the area. Chloe gets warned to watch out for Joshua as there is something that is off about him and his mother. Whatever is happening to these women seems to happen to Megan (Nancy Cantine) as she closes a local store.

That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that when this was starting up, I read more of the synopsis. This made me think that we were getting a variation of the movie White Noise. You could say that is the case. There is communication from beyond the grave through a television, VHS tape and there could be more involving this isolated house. I'll admit, this fascinates me even though it isn't doing anything necessarily new with it. The static screen is something I grew up with and thanks to things like Poltergeist, it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Now that I've set that up, let me delve into our lead here of Chloe. I like the explanation as to why she talks like she does. She learned to talk and then lost her hearing when she was a child. She kept up with speech therapy which allows someone who doesn't have this ailment to portray the character. I bought it at once. What I also like is the use of technology here. Chloe didn't want to learn sign language. I'm guessing she knows enough to get by. She uses her phone to allow people to talk and then reads what they said. She talks back to them to respond. Now as she gains back her hearing, there is a side effect that she might hear things that aren't necessarily there. We are flirting with her as she could be descending into madness or depression. There's also a subplot that gets introduced but doesn't necessarily go anywhere with her questioning her sexuality as well.

This movie is carried by her. I should say that before moving to what I want to explore next. I'm not sure this fully knows the story it wants to tell. I'll give it credit; it does bring all the threads together and they tied it up so that is good. I've already brought up the potential supernatural aspect. This is exploring how Chloe's mother could be communicating to her through the old home videos. The mother is played by Michele Hicks. Her hearing her mother could be explained by the treatment and the medications she is taken as well. There is also the idea that she is a medium and susceptible to ghosts. Again, the treatment could be the explanation as well. There is also the high number of women that disappear in the area. We get a scene where a woman is murdered. Joshua then comments to Chloe about how she disappeared. This last part we lose for a long stretch and I thought about it right before the reveal to the truth. It focuses a lot on the supernatural/haunting, but I don't know if it is exploring either enough to fully work for me.

There isn't more for the story that I want to go into so let's go to the rest of the acting. I've said that Watson was good and carries this. Everyone is pushing her to where she ends up. I thought that Sandow was good as this father figure that takes a liking to her. The more we get to know him, the more interesting he becomes. Meyer is good as a potential suspect. He questions Chloe about things, but I realized he didn't have all the information. Ramanthan is good as a doctor. I like what they do with Hicks as the mother. Other than that, the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

All that is left is filmmaking. I'll start with the video stuff we get. The tapes are warped. It was annoying, but I do have to admit, I don't have an issue. This was supposed to be filmed in the 90's as my guess. The tapes would have been at the tail end of their existence. There is a good chance they could be molded as they weren't stored in a way to protect them. I'd say that the cinematography other than that was good. It didn't necessarily stand out. I'll bring back up the tapes, there are ethereal voices of ghosts and humming. I like what they also do, that when we are following Chloe, before hearing is restored, we can't hear anything. They transition this well and I was impressed by that. It was a strong move in how they used it.

In conclusion, I like the use white noise that is used here. We have good story elements of Chloe being deaf, the struggles that come there and how her hearing comes back might be her link to the other side. Her performance is good with the rest of the cast pushing her to where she ends up. I'd even say this is made well enough with the sound design being the strongest aspect. I just think there are too many threads that don't get explored enough. This caused me to lose interest and I think with the runtime, it was a bit boring for me. We needed a stronger mystery or more investigation to work better. Still worth a watch in my opinion, but not a high priority.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Very boring

[dmayn93493 · 1/10 · 7 May 2023]

Very Boring and slow moving it's not really scary. It's Not really worth the time. Poor acting and poorly written script in my opinion. I'm into more action with some jumps and scares real horror stuff. Couldn't watch without fast forward. If you're looking for something interesting you should skip this it's not good. Like I said it's boring and way to slow to enjoy. Better off watching a classic horror movie. I suggest the invisible man or Dracula movies. The psycho movies are great. Dawn of the dead or even the walking dead are good. Wrong turn movies are good. Even Halloween and Friday the 13th.

distracting

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 12 April 2023]

Chloe Grayden (Lachlan Watson) undergoes an experimental treatment for a chance to restore her hearing. She goes back to her family vacation home and starts hearing things. There is the case of her missing mother.

As a concept, this is really interesting and has great potential. I can imagine how odd auditory incidents could intermingle with solving a family mystery. This movie fails to achieve that. It insists on doing weird visual representations for hearing things. It's distracting non-sense. The movie loses its way and I stopped caring. This is a cool concept being wasted and everybody's time as well.

A below average addition to the horror genre

[kevin_robbins · 4/10 · 16 April 2023]

The Unheard (2023) is a movie that was recently added to Shudder. The storyline follows a young lady who went def shortly after losing her mother. She decides to join an experiment that may cure her lost hearing. As her hearing starts coming back she starts having strange dreams of what happened to her mom...and when she wakes up she keeps experiencing things from her dreams. What happened to her mom and what is this experiment doing to her?

This movie is directed by Jeffrey A. Brown (The Beach House) and stars Lachlan Watson (Only the Good Survive), Nick Sandow (Orange is the New Black), Brendan Meyer (The Guest) and Shunori Ramanathan (The Big Sick).

This premise had a lot of potential and the acting is actually pretty good; unfortunately, the horror elements are lacking. The use of noise just isn't scary. The first kill was okay, but elements of that kill was used throughout the movie leaving me wanting more. The backstory wasn't as impactful as hoped and the ending was just okay

Overall, this is an average to below average addition to the horror genre. I would score this a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

Simple plot too complex for the average imdb user, what else is new?

[mamporrero · 4/10 · 29 April 2023]

I didn't particularly like this movie. It was too long, not very engaging, and it threw too many concepts together like the writers had vague ideas for several different stories but couldn't settle on one. That being said, it pains me to see reviews claiming it to be confusing or badly explained, so I figured I'd write a brief summary for posterity.

The protagonist, Chloe, moved out of her small town with her father after her mother disappeared and she lost her hearing at 8 years old, in two unrelated incidents that happened at roughly the same time.

She comes back in her early twenties to "help her dad sell their old house", whatever that's supposed to entail, which coincides with her receiving an experimental treatment that could restore her hearing.

While staying all alone at the house, she starts hearing sounds which could be attributed to auditory hallucinations, but are in fact the voice of her mother, who was killed in the living room and haunts the place as a ghost. The killer was, of course, the handyman / ex-cop who gazes longingly at her while telling her how much she resembles her mother. It is unclear if the reason her mom's ghostly activities concentrate around a certain point on the living room's floor is because she died there, or because that's where he buried her. The guy is just the town's resident serial killer, murdering young women because he enjoys it; nothing more to it.

There are just two more characters in the story. One is the designated "creepy" neighbor who exists to make the real killer less suspicious, as well as to provide exposition near the end about the ghost situation. The other is the female doctor treating Chloe, who is even less important to the story while managing to tick off several more checkboxes in the producers' list: a woman in a position of power or with highly specialized skills, who is also brown skinned (Indian in this case), is on the receiving end of Chloe's lesbian advances (which comes out of nowhere and has no relevance to anything), and fulfills the role of savior/helping figure who gets immediately murdered instead.

No matter how I look at it , there are just too many elements in this story, and the seemingly main one, the hearing loss and recovery, ends up being the least important one and also completely redundant, to the point where you could completely remove it and end up with a better, leaner film. A story about a girl who starts hearing the voice of her deceased mother while getting targeted by the same serial killer who got her should be more than enough for a full feature without having to add more irrelevant twists.