UNDERTONE
7.2 / 10
I took some time off to work on my own horror film and now we’re back with lucky episode number 13 of Two Minute Reviews. This week: A24’s low-budget, sound-driven horror flick, Undertone.
Undertone is the feature directorial debut of Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason, inspired by a period in his life when he stepped away from work to care for his ailing parents, who both passed within a few years of each other. That trauma forms the foundation of this film.
Evy, played by Nina Kiri of The Handmaid’s Tale, has been stuck in her mother’s house for weeks, acting as a death doula as her mom wastes away from an unnamed illness. She’s stopped eating, speaking… or moving. Or so Evy thinks. When she’s not caring for her mother, Evy hosts a paranormal podcast with the disembodied voice of Justin, played by Adam DiMarco of The White Lotus Season 2.
I went in knowing very little, which worked in the film’s favor. The entire story unfolds inside the house, Tuason’s actual childhood home, with much of the runtime centered in an eerily lit living room where Evy records her podcast, her back turned to a conveniently placed pocket of darkness in the hallway behind her.
The film is essentially an exercise in tension-building. Alongside some cleverly composed shots and fluid 360-degree camera movement, much of that tension comes from sound design. There are numerous inventive uses of sound to elevate the terror, centered around the demon Abyzou, a child-feeding entity, and the hidden messages within nursery rhymes like Baa Baa Black Sheep and London Bridge.
Underneath the horror, the film is really about grief and the fear of being alone with it. Which is, coincidentally, a topic I’ve been writing about a lot of late. That being said, this is a film that will resonate most with viewers who appreciate technical execution — the craft of building dread through restraint and design. But as effectively as it delivers on its intentions, I found the ending lacking. It doesn’t quite stick the landing — more like touching down with a wheel or two missing.
My score: 7.2 out of 10 for being fresh and clever. And if you watch it, turn the volume all the way up. That’s where the movie really lives.
Undertone is the feature directorial debut of Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason, inspired by a period in his life when he stepped away from work to care for his ailing parents, who both passed within a few years of each other. That trauma forms the foundation of this film.
Evy, played by Nina Kiri of The Handmaid’s Tale, has been stuck in her mother’s house for weeks, acting as a death doula as her mom wastes away from an unnamed illness. She’s stopped eating, speaking… or moving. Or so Evy thinks. When she’s not caring for her mother, Evy hosts a paranormal podcast with the disembodied voice of Justin, played by Adam DiMarco of The White Lotus Season 2.
I went in knowing very little, which worked in the film’s favor. The entire story unfolds inside the house, Tuason’s actual childhood home, with much of the runtime centered in an eerily lit living room where Evy records her podcast, her back turned to a conveniently placed pocket of darkness in the hallway behind her.
The film is essentially an exercise in tension-building. Alongside some cleverly composed shots and fluid 360-degree camera movement, much of that tension comes from sound design. There are numerous inventive uses of sound to elevate the terror, centered around the demon Abyzou, a child-feeding entity, and the hidden messages within nursery rhymes like Baa Baa Black Sheep and London Bridge.
Underneath the horror, the film is really about grief and the fear of being alone with it. Which is, coincidentally, a topic I’ve been writing about a lot of late. That being said, this is a film that will resonate most with viewers who appreciate technical execution — the craft of building dread through restraint and design. But as effectively as it delivers on its intentions, I found the ending lacking. It doesn’t quite stick the landing — more like touching down with a wheel or two missing.
My score: 7.2 out of 10 for being fresh and clever. And if you watch it, turn the volume all the way up. That’s where the movie really lives.