The Unheard

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).