Undertone

Evy (Nina Kiri) listens to some creepy recordings in Undertone (Distributed by A24)

Undertone is a nightmare of sound. What we see is relatively mundane. It is mostly a single character, sitting at her computer, listening or talking to her friend. However, what we hear is indescribably disturbing. There is no rational explanation for what seems to unfold on the audio files the protagonist listens to. Or for how they make her feel. There is no violence on screen. No blood or gore. There isn’t even much in the way of jump scares. The camera is either still, on her face, or slowly panning around the house, as though there is something watching her. We don’t really see anything. Everything is implied by what she hears and how she reacts to it.

The sound design is excellent. It is creepy and insinuating. It feels weird to describe a movie where nothing graphic appears on screen as deeply unsettling, but this definitely is. The story and themes are routine for the genre these days. Grief and motherhood are what drive the emotions of the plot. Yet the filmmaking is absolutely top notch.

This is a great calling-card for writer/director Ian Tuason, who is already poised to move on to bigger budgets. Fittingly, he is attached to join the Paranormal Activity franchise, a series I kept thinking about while watching this. It is like he was auditioning to make the next entry, with a movie that instills fear even as it stays outside of the action. It is found audio, instead of found footage. It is a truly fascinating experiment and one that works far more often than it doesn’t.

Evy is acting as live-in caretaker for her dying mom. Essentially alone all the time (her mother is never conscious), she has a boyfriend she feels disconnected from. As an escape from her situation, she records a supernaturally-themed podcast with her friend, Justin, who lives in London. He plays the believer, she is the skeptic. For their latest episode, he presents Evy with an anonymous email containing ten audio files that seem to track a series of strange occurrences for a couple expecting a baby. The more they listen, the more Evy’s mental state begins to suffer.

Horror is a perfect place for filmmakers to announce themselves. They can be cheap, thus increasing the possibility of making money. You don’t need recognizable names in the cast, because the genre is the star. It allows a ton of room for creativity. Undertone (91 minutes, without the end credits) is impressive because the majority of the action is filtered through our (and Evy’s) imagination. We don’t really know what is happening on those recordings. Still, the tension is thick and dread hangs over everything.

It wouldn’t be fair to reveal anything that happens here. Basically, the entire impact of this movie comes from the overwhelming sense of unease that Tuason generates and maintains throughout. The thinness of his screenplay is a feature, not a bug. It gives him, and his outstanding sound department, the opportunity to craft a horror movie of ideas. What we think is most likely scarier than whatever it would look like if Tuason filmed it. This is certainly worth seeing, or rather hearing, in theaters.

4 out of 5

Cast:

Nina Kiri as Evy

Written/Directed by Ian Tuason