Though I don’t have kids, I imagine being a new parent is stressful as heck. Writer/director Ryan Barton-Grimley‘s latest, Listen Carefully, does a fine job capturing that anxiety. The film follows a new dad who has nightmares about his baby going missing, until, well, eventually the baby does go missing and is essentially held for ransom. Though Barton-Grimley’s film has plenty of spine-chilling sequences, it’s grounded in a very real and universal fear.

Barton-Grimley stars as Andy, an everyman sort of character who works as a bank assistant and has a demanding boss, played by Patrick Pankhurst. Even though Andy was recently granted a promotion, his boss insists not to call him by his first name and instead refer to him as Mr. Jansen. Andy’s job is depicted as both mundane and incredibly bureaucratic, adding to his stressors. Andy’s wife, Allie (Simone Barton-Grimley), goes away for a few days and leaves their baby, Abby, with Andy. Though our lead says time and time again he can handle watching Abby alone, it’s clear from the outset this very idea sends him into panic mode. In in the opening sequence, Andy has a nightmare featuring men in creepy baby masks chasing him, as he searches for his daughter. The fear she’ll go missing is a serious paranoia for the new dad. Barton-Grimley really does a stellar job here showcasing his character’s worries. They manifest through Andy’s strange visions and uncanny nightmares.

Not long after Allie leaves, Abby does go missing. Andy has to follow a voice on the other end of a baby monitor to save her. The voice (Ari Schneider) demands that Andy deliver a certain amount of money by robbing ATMs if he ever wants to see Abby again. This is both a clever and terrifying premise, and generally, the execution works well. This all feeds into Andy’s anxieties about being a new parent. What’s more horrifying for a dad than his baby going missing on his watch?

As the film progresses, Barton-Grimley turns in a solid performance, especially as his character unravels and nearly mentally collapses. It gets to the point, especially by the last act, that it’s tough to discern what’s reality and what isn’t. Are Andy’s nightmares real? Did Abby actually go missing? There’s enough ambiguity to allow the viewer to figure that out. This also makes for a fun watch, though the film really gives no easy answers. Take from it what you will.

Though Listen Carefully doesn’t quite stick the landing and writes itself into a corner, there are plenty of positives here. This is a tense feature that highlights the anxieties new parents feel. Watching this film feels like you’re witnessing a father have a breakdown, weighed down by his job and becoming a parent. Though this film has a reality-bending element, its horrors are grounded in tangible fears.

6.5 Out of 10