There undeniably has to be something in the horror water, as some of the strongest creepiest and most impressive directorial debuts as of late have all come from horror movies, Ian Tuason continues this impressive trend that is either going to resonate with audiences and make them want to claw at their skin or miss the mark, Undertone is not a movie that is going to have a middle ground. There is something so profoundly unsettling, dangerous, consuming and disturbing about Undertone that is nearly impossible to describe, but is some of the most chilling sound design I think ever heard before – literally crawls under your skin and sits there making you suffer in silence, bleak, undeniable cold silence, prepare yourself to get lost in the Undertone.
Undertone focuses on Evy (Nina Kiri) and her podcast partner (whom we never see), Justin (Adam DiMarco) as they host their weekly podcast, The Undertone Podcast, where they talk about all things creepy weird and unnatural. Evy is recording the podcast from her mothers (Michele Duquet) home, as she is essentially in hospice care and Evy is taking care of her to make her final days, weeks, months whatever is left as peaceful as they can be. She also appears to be incredibly religious based on all the iconography in the house and religious assortments. Evy is working in the middle of the night, while Justin is doing the podcast before he goes to work. On their newest episode, Justin admits he got an email which was strange at first, seemingly incoherent but had ten audio files, no context, no names, and listened to part of the first one and decided it was best to stop and listen live for the podcast.
Without giving away too much, as the less known the better, the recordings are horrifying, mysterious, and potentially possessed by an unworldly demon. As the recordings go on, and the late hours contribute to Evy’s mental well-being, things slowly star to unravel, and the terrors become more apparent and slowly seep into the audiences’ skin and soul. Not even the recordings per say are the creepiest aspect, hearing the floor crack, the faucet drip, any mundane normal thing is exemplified by the sheer horror and chaos that is unfolding and has a death grip on the audience.
While the sound mixing and sound engineering is the true monster and creepy affect of Undertone, the movie truly lives and dies with its leading performance of Evy by Nina Kiri and Nina just shines bright and commands the spotlight. The audience is right there with her throughout the entire movie, and is gripped by the terror, unknown, and shivers that are simply sent down our collective spines. Duquet as well, who doesn’t utter a word the entire movie – is horrifying and terrifying further adding to the horror that the movie unfolds. However, when you have to lend your voice ton a project that has no body that would be daunting, but DiMarco and Keana Lyn Bastidas and Jeff Yung (Jessa and Mike – the voices on the recordings) all convey, urgency, terror, and deep emotion with just their voices further excelling the horror and deep cuts Undertone hits the audience with. Truly everyone in the cast excels in their roles and helps amplify how terrifying the film and their performances mixed with the incredible sound design, making Undertone one of the creepiest and disturbing horror movies in years.
