Undertone Review

When you hear of Undertone, a movie that focuses on scaring you through its use of sound that’s about a haunted podcast, it sounds like a highly original and creative film that’s going to have everyone talking, and while Ian Tuason has delivered a movie that’s different from what we usually get, it falls flat in some areas, and Tuason’s skills as a director end up showing more than as a writer.

Undertone follows Evangeline “Evy” Babic (Nina Kiri), a young woman who lives alone with her comatose mother and comes from a Catholic upbringing and who runs a horror podcast with friend Justin (Adam DiMarco) called The Undertone. When they’re sent 10 audio files from an anonymous source, things start to change around Evy that only the paranormal can explain.

The anticipation for this movie when I discovered it was through the roof, as someone who’s not the strongest when it comes to horror films. Ian Tuason’s direction with Graham Beasley’s cinematography takes this movie so far and is a large reason why the horror aspect of it works almost perfectly. What makes Undertone special is that there are only two characters that we ever see on screen, Evy and her comatose mother, whom she calls Mama (Michèle Duquet). The camera angles allow the audience to feel all the empty space in the room, with Evy consistently looking smaller than the room, as if it’s swallowing her, creating an overall anxiety-inducing experience.

Undertone is a cinematic experience that demands to be watched in Dolby Cinema to take in the full immersion of Dolby Atmos. For what feels like the first time, a horror film has been made where trying to shut your eyes doesn’t remove you from the horror, as you’re left trapped listening to the paranormal noises, unable to escape the fear. That experience alone is worth the price of admission.

It’s a film where things will literally go bump in the night, and its use of sound is horrific. Tuason has made a movie that relies on the use of sound and specifically makes you realise how impactful sound is in film, especially with the horror genre, and how it all changes when you can’t see what’s whispering around you. The loudest thing that can build up the tension in a horror movie is silence, and the use of it in Undertone almost made me want to run out of the room in fear that I was being cursed.

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There’s nothing worse than a co-host who believes in every paranormal story you tell, making nights alone feel scarier than usual, especially when odd occurrences start taking place around the house where you and your comatose mother live. Jason and Mama are two characters who, throughout the movie, are raising the anticipation for the final act, with Jason constantly playing around with the audio files, noticing something that Evy and the audience can’t hear, which also makes you shake your head in disbelief as pieces of the puzzle begin to fit.

Then there’s Mama, the only other visual character in Undertone, and what’s scarier than an old woman who’s unconscious but somehow manages to eerily move about upstairs? Not a single word is uttered by her, but she delivers a horrifying performance that’s only amplified by the cinematography and sound design. Ian Tuason delivers a slow burn that builds up the anticipation, but unfortunately, once it reaches its final minutes, it all fizzles out. As the movie begins to get interesting and all hell is let loose, the movie wraps up in what I’d consider an anticlimactic ending that makes the journey we took to get here feel like a waste of time. There’s no ultimate payoff, and overall.l

Undertone feels like Ian Tuason’s way of proving his directorial skills to producers. Considering he’s directing the next Paranormal Activity, he’s probably the best fit. Ultimately, although the film started off as an immersive, effective original horror with horrific sound design and a strong performance from Nina Kiri, I can’t help but feel underwhelmed and want to leave this movie on mute.