Sensory horror has become a growing trend in the genre over the last few years, with quality films like Hush, Bird Box, Don’t Breathe, and A Quiet Place becoming memorable releases. Jeffrey A. Brown, the filmmaker behind 2019’s Shudder exclusive The Beach House, has released another exclusive to the horror-focused streaming platform. The Unheard is directed by Brown, and written by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen, the duo behind the writing of 2019’s Crawl, and John Carpenter’s final film, The Ward.
The film stars Lachlan Watson (Chucky, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Brendan Meyer (The Guest, Color Out of Space), Nick Sandow (Clarice, Orange Is the New Black), and Shunori Ramanathan (The Big Sick).
Related: Review: ‘The Beach House’ is Another Reason to Keep the Beaches Closed
The Unheard follows Chloe (Watson), a young woman who was rendered deaf after a childhood bout with meningitis. After getting an experimental procedure done on her ears, Chloe’s hearing starts to return, as she begins fixing up her childhood home in a New England coastal town. Chloe begins to exclusively hear odd sounds and frequencies, that may tie into the disappearance of her mother and other young women in her small town.

Starting with the story, the focus on the sensory aspect and developing a supernatural detection through the re-found senses is a solid idea. It reminded me a bit of White Noise, the 2005 Michael Keaton-led ghost movie, but in this story, the communication with the dead comes off more as an intrusive side effect to experimental surgery, rather than specifically using frequencies to speak with those in the afterlife.
The murder mystery aspect of the story was mostly in the background, peppered throughout, and finally bookended the film with an extremely predictable reveal. Unfortunately, neither of the sub-plots was developed enough to not feel like they were getting in each other’s way, but neither felt like they could hold up the movie on their own.
Related: ‘Crystal Lake’ Showrunner Bryan Fuller Teases Tom Savini’s Involvement in the Series
Lachlan Watson’s acting as Chloe was well-done, as they were able to accurately portray a character both still reeling from the disappearance of her mother, and dealing with the confusion from the long-term loss of one of her senses, and the sudden return of it. The rest of the small, intimate cast was good, too, playing their roles to what was needed in a very Chloe-focused story. Of the others, Nick Sandow was believable as a family friend and ex-small-town cop.

Another bright spot in The Unheard was the setting. People often forget that drab, claustrophobic small towns are all over the United States, not just the Midwest as many movies make it seem. Using Cape Cod during the off-season was a nice touch. Especially watching as someone who has firsthand experience with how dreary and dead a vacation town can be during the fall and winter.
Related: The Cathartic Nature of Trauma-Based Horror Movies
The biggest issue I had with The Unheard was the sound editing. While I understand the intent of adding shrill, ear-piercing sound effects throughout the movie, they were distracting common, and took me out of the film, rather than intensified it. Just using this effect a couple of times would have gotten the message across.
There were some great editing choices at the beginning of the film, when transitioning from hearing through the ears of the deaf, to talk-to-text communication, but the film moves away from that when Chloe begins to hear again. The penetrating tones weren’t just deafening for Chloe, but headache-inducing for the viewer as well.

Like the sound editing, the visual editing was a mixed bag as well. There were some really great transitional moments, especially toward the film’s final act, but throughout the movie, style took a backseat to loud, boisterous visual interruptions that felt more intrusive and off-putting, than like they were adding to the intended potency of a scene.
Like Jeffrey A. Brown’s other Shudder exclusive, The Beach House, there were some great gore effects in this film. The murder side-plot contained brutal throat-slitting moments in some of the more intense scenes in the movie, although the killer’s choice of weapon was a bit odd.
Overall, The Unheard had some strong moments, but wasn’t as polished as it could have been. Either of its sub-plots could have entertained on their own, but when combined, they ended up crippling one another. If you can look past that, and some of the brain-splintering sound effects, the movie just might work for you. The Unheard is now streaming on Shudder.