When a horror film has great sound design and editing it can elevate the experience immensely. It’s what takes a generic jump scare from a small jolt to an unshakeable fright. Sound helps build atmosphere and suspense as well to instantly send full-body chills. For some horror movies, it’s the secret ingredient in their special sauce. But with A24’s latest horror offering Undertone, its main ingredient of its terror.
Although paranormal podcaster Evy (Nina Kiri) has grown comfortable in her “skeptic” role alongside her believer co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco), their latest episode tests her beliefs. After listening to bizarre recordings sent by an anonymous source, Evy realizes the horror she’s listening to is bleeding into her own life. Once Evy puts on those headphones and starts talking to Justin over the microphone, Undertone quickly evokes horror for the senses in the best way possible. For a directorial debut, Ian Tuason’s vision for this unique horror experience is incredibly strong with top-notch sound design. The way you feel the shift in sound when Evy puts on noise-cancelling headphones is immediately unsettling and sets the perfect tone for the film’s daunting atmosphere. It’s also a great way to let the audio be at the forefront and immerse viewers deep into these disturbing sound bytes that get creepier with each one they play.
We also get off to a great start with the mysterious elements of this narrative. Tuason uses this podcast setting perfectly to weave together this intriguing case of demonic presence. The central audio clips Evy and Justin are listening to slowly heighten the tension and danger to unhinged heights. There are great story threads surrounding hidden messages in children’s nursery rhymes that are insanely eerie and lead to truly disturbing discoveries. Songs like “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and “London Bridge” have never been more foreboding, and Tuason finds the right balance of innocence and evil to get right under your skin, especially when these songs play in reverse. Undertone has such interesting paranormal terror that builds a chilling aura that ultimately gives it a distinct identity in modern horror.
Unfortunately, all that potential rarely reaches fruitful peaks as Undertone’s plot is a little too undercooked and marred by cheap storytelling. Between all the scenes of Evy and Justin listening to these disturbingly real-feeling audio clips are scenes focused on Evy’s own issues. While caring for her dying mother (Michele Duquet), she also has personal vices and an unexpected pregnancy that complicates her life further. All of these story elements never shine or carry the same depth as the scenes revolving around the podcast. They often cause the pacing to drag and never match the intrigue of the film’s more audio-focused aspects. Personally, they just feel like filler and only serve as weak fuel for the demonic connection that’s building in the background. There’s barely even an arc that develops for Evy for viewers to latch onto. So, even when Kiri gives a good performance or shows strong emotion, it’s not enough to make the story anything more than a boring downshift in momentum.
And, honestly, in terms of overall scare factor, Undertone deeply underwhelms. Because of Tuason’s use of audio and great sound design, there’s always a strong atmosphere that leaves you fearful of what’s coming. The final sequence especially hits some grand marks because it takes things down a dark path with an intriguing threat seemingly waiting at the end. But there’s never any good payoff to make the lead-up anything more than a frustrating tease. For instance, Tuason loves shots that frame dark corners, making it seem like something is lurking right near Evy.
But every time I found myself staring into these dark voids, it never felt like anything was there. Add in some jump scares that don’t really make an impact, and you have what no one wants to see: a fairly uneventful horror movie. Plus, Tuason leans too much into using “cut to black” transitions that come off as cheap and usually kill the momentum of the storytelling. The ending suffers greatly because of this and Undertone concludes on such an unsatisfying note. It essentially offers all the great potential for something truly horrifying any horror fan would want but lets viewers only hear it versus actually showing something. After so much slow-burn build-up, it’s just not acceptable for a horror movie to end like Undertone does.
At the very least, Undertone showcases Tuason’s vision for audio-based horror that mostly works out and is held together by solid execution and Kiri’s performance. But overall, it’s a very overhyped horror flick that just doesn’t make the best use of its strongest parts and ends up being a forgettable offering from A24.
