The second rumours erupt about a horror movie having the ability to summon a demon, or possess you, or even curse you, is the exact moment you know a movie will find its way into some kind of horror hall of fame.
undertone tells the story of Evangeline “Evy” Babic (Nina Kiri), a young woman living with her comatose mother (Michèle Duquet) and acting as her carer. Her mother hasn’t eaten, spoken, or opened her eyes in days, with Evy growing more and more concerned for the wellbeing of her mother, who she lovingly refers to as “mama.” Her mother is also incredibly religious, with a house full of religious statues and frames.
Evy and her friend Justin (Adam DiMarco) record a podcast together uncovering stories of the paranormal, where they play heavily into character tropes – Evy being the logical debunker and Justin as the avid believer in the unknown. When Justin gets sent an ominous email with jumbled up letters and ten disturbing audio files, they choose to listen to them for the first time on the podcast to get their genuine reactions (for content of course). But the more they listen, the more they uncover, realising too late that they can’t turn back.
A24 continues to dominate the horror scene. Not only do they continue to push out unique horror films that test viewers’ perceptions of what horror films should be, but they do it confidently. Written and directed by Ian Tuason in his first feature film, undertone grazes the themes of grief, life or death, and faith, or lack of, in this film. Each audio file uncovering these themes that eventually come to fruition in Evy’s own life. It creates the basis for the story, and by honing into something that can feel so familiar, it also feels eerily close to home.
What some “regular” horror movies do now is hold the hand of audiences throughout the story – that being, giving them every possible explanation as to how and why something is happening. But what undertone does best is trust the audience. Relying on audio cues and having a general understanding on how audiences react to certain scares (i.e. waiting for something to suddenly appear in the background of a slow moving shot) tells the story in a nuanced way that leaves viewers to fill in the blanks.
Throughout the film we only ever see Evy and her mother, with podcast recordings done through audio calls. Anxiety-inducing slow pans across rooms in the house, distorted angles, empty spaces on screen forcing our focus to complete darkness, and the isolated sounds, push us to spend the entire film from the perspective of Evy, experiencing these moments with her. Kiri holds the weight of the entire film on her shoulders, captivating audiences with the complete fear and distress we see in her.
There are a few things in the film that felt overdone, where the lack of action in the middle of the film made the movie feel longer than it was. But it is still a really strong debut for Tuason.
undertone is a movie that truly relies on the act of going to the cinema to experience the film the way it should be watched. Watching it at home, you can escape the jump scares, the dark, and the noise. But in a cinema, you feel like you’re immersed in the narrative, dwindling into insanity with Evy. You’re trapped with her and you can’t escape the thoughts in her head. The sound in the film consumes you and it crawls under your skin no matter how hard you try to get away from it. It quickly becomes a bone chilling nightmare you can’t wake up from.
