Movie Review: undertone

Having their own established ecosystem of horror movies has made A24 less aggressive in their pursuit of buzzy indie horror titles that kill on the festival circuit in recent years. Acquiring Talk to Me out of Sundance 2023 was really the only time during the 2020's they've made a real splash, although they have reportedly sniffed around on a number of titles since then including other recent Sundance favorites Together and Leviticus. They went back to their roots last summer when they quietly snagged the rights to a Canadian supernatural horror called undertone following its premiere at the often overlooked Montreal genre film festival Fantasia. With an effective marketing campaign centered around its largely audio-based scares and strong start at the box office ($9.3 mil) for a movie that only cost $500k USD to make, it's a vintage A24 success story that sharply counteracts the frequent sellout accusations they've been dealing since they upscaled the cost and volume of their releases a few years back.

undertone really harkens back to the DIY glory days of horror where a filmmaker had an idea for a movie that could be made for cheap and threw their whole heart into making it come to life. The person behind undertone is Ian Tuason-who conceived the film after he put his filmmaking career on pause for multiple years in the late 2010's/early 2020's to care for his parents after they were both diagnosed with cancer. undertone uses the feelings of isolation, guilt and sadness he felt during this time to tell the story of a young podcaster named Evy (Nina Kiri) whose caring for her dying comatose mother (Michele Duqet) in Toronto. The darkness consuming Evy's head space as she tries to process the impending death of her mother gets even bleaker when her co-host (Adam DiMarco) receives an anonymous email with 10 mysterious audio recordings for them to play and discuss on the latest episode of their show-which is shockingly titled "The Undertone". As they slowly work their way through the recordings across multiple nights, Evy's skepticism over the paranormal begins to wane as a bunch of strange occurrences start to happen to her. 

Tuason is able to create an atmosphere of slowly escalating dread almost exclusively through the use of sound, shadows and using negative space in the corners of the frame where something sinister may or may not be lurking. With the playback of each subsequent recording, you increasingly get the sense that Evy is being haunted by something that she can feel but can't see, which eventually gives way to a tense, disturbing finale that confirms that it was indeed a terrible idea to listen to those damn mystery audio files. 

The actual meat of the script is far less impressive as its religious subtext and supernatural evil are not only familiar, but ultimately kind of silly. It's actually a credit to Tuason's directorial skill for finding a unique vessel to deploy this trope-riddled narrative through as there's a real chance this movie would've been a whiff if it had been told in a more conventional fashion. I can't believe I'm about to say this in 2026 but I'm actually excited to see what he does with Paranormal Activity 8. His ability to create eerie atmospherics through sparse visuals and sound design is precisely the kind of tool kit needed to revive a brand that's been stuck in neutral since its fourth installment back in 2012.

undertone doesn't rise to the level of A24's crowning spooky achievements and probably doesn't have much rewatch value as there's arguably a novelty factor behind its filmmaking techniques. Despite these very clear flaws, Tuason is able to conjure up enough spooky magic for this serve as both a fun watch on the big screen and proof-of-concept for his future directorial endeavors.   

Grade: B