Undertone Review: A Fresh Podcast Horror That Saves Its Best For Last

When dealing with a contained story, you have to get creative. There needs to be some kind of countdown or plot device that creates tension and keeps the audience in suspense. You can't go anywhere new or exciting, and you can't introduce many outside characters. This was exactly the challenge director Ian Tuason had in front of him.

Undertone follows a woman named Evy who lives with her ailing mother. During the day she takes care of her mother, and at night she cohosts a popular paranormal podcast. During one of their live episodes, Evy's cohost, Justin, receives an anonymous email containing ten audio files. Driven by curiosity, they decide to listen to each of them on air.

These ten files function like a chilling, found-footage radio play that documents a young, expectant couple's descent into a demonic haunting. Initially, the clips seem harmless, but with each file played, things become increasingly dire for our podcast hosts. Upon investigating the audio, Justin reveals to Evy that when played backward, the tracks reveal hidden nursery rhymes. As it turns out, the history behind these classic nursery rhymes is a bit darker than we realized.

By the final file, the wife in the recordings is completely possessed by Abyzou—a demonic spirit that preys on fear, guilt, and emotional weakness. Suddenly, the spirit begins talking directly to Justin and Evy through the stream. Even worse, the sounds Evy is hearing through her headphones are no longer just on the tape; they are actually happening physically inside her own home. She rushes upstairs to check on her mother but finds her bed empty. Instead, she spots a ceramic statue of the Virgin Mary—the exact same artifact mentioned during their audio investigation. Suddenly, the possessed figure of her mother approaches from behind. Evy trips and falls, a piercing scream echoes, and the screen goes completely black. 

I must say, this was a solid little horror flick. To work with so little and still produce something that keeps the viewer on edge is no easy feat, but Ian Tuason did just that. The lore behind the audio files was incredibly well thought out and dissected to a tee. Many films fail to unpack their lore in full quite the way Undertone did. It's the very thing that drives the story and builds tension. The concept of these hauntings playing out over a live paranormal podcast feels fresh and fun; it makes you feel like you are just a regular weekly listener tuning in.

There's a lot of emotional weight in here, too. Evy clearly struggles with her faith, and we get the sense her mother wasn't too approving of her life choices. We also discover Evy is pregnant out of wedlock, which further drives her guilt. Because of this, every glance at a picture of Jesus or a statue of Mary feels symbolic and heavily foreshadows our protagonist's ending.

I really appreciate the use of dark corners and negative spaces here. Almost every scene employs a slow zoom into the shadows, emphasizing a fear of the unknown. What's back there, we wonder. What will jump out at us? The simple utilization of that slow zoom is enough to create deep unease. There are also some really unique pans and tilts that reveal the quiet upstairs, constantly making us question what her mother is really doing up there.

The biggest mistake that Undertone makes is saving all of the physical action for the last minute of the film. All of those shots of the dark spaces and creepy discoveries within the audio files are great, but their impact is ultimately lessened because nothing ever really happens during the buildup. Because of this, the film falls just a little short of being a true spectacle. It ends up being another decent horror film with a nice theme and good lore, but it probably won't remain in the minds of viewers for very long.

3/5