Undertone – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 34 minutes, Director – Ian Tuason

Paranormal podcast host Evy (Nina Kiri) looks after her mum (Michelle Duquet) during the day and records with co-host Justin (Adam DiMarco) at 3am, however a series of mysterious ghostly recordings start to plague her even more than tiredness.

Undertone is upfront about the fact that it’s going to be playing with your mind, and how. Telling us about how the mind can hear things that aren’t there in recordings, especially when reversed, there’s a lot in the reversed audio tracks which crop up throughout the film. It’s also about hearing these tracks alone, and the creeping feeling of a darkened room.

Evy (Nina Kiri on great form) sits alone at a dining room table, microphone connected to her laptop and on Facetime to her friend Justin (Adam DiMarco – who we only ever hear). They have a paranormal podcast where believer Justin tries to convince sceptic Evy of ghostly occurrences and existence. When sent an email containing ten mysterious recordings the pair play them and try to work out what’s happening, however as they’re whittled down ghostly goings on start to happen around Evy.

Already tired from recording at 3am after a day looking after her bedbound mother (Michelle Duquet) she starts to hear noises around the house, and the feeling that she’s not alone crawls further into frame. Kiri is often positioned as a small figure in an empty-feeling room, dwarfed by the surroundings and dark corners of what should be a familiar environment. However, there’s little comfort to be found. The more we hear of the mysterious audio that starts as a couple (the voices of Keana Lyn Bastidas and Jeff Yung) innocently trying to prove that one talks in their sleep the more uneasy, and eventually fearful, things become. Writer-director Ian Tuason, alongside the precision of the sound team, creates a chilling, genuinely tense horror.

Escalation is done bit by bit and yet with a fast pace to perfectly fit in to the 94 minute run-time. The increase in unease and fear is consistent throughout leading to a finale that may not strike for everyone, and could well come across as uneven in its presentation, but certainly lands an effect in the very final stages. One that fits in with just how things have ramped up over the course of the rest of the film. I was taken in by Undertone and its creeping developments; well-tracked by the general progression and pacing of the narrative, and clips that we hear played for the podcast. It’s a stripped-back horror that plays with your mind and ears, and let’s you know it upfront.

A film that visually and audibly creeps up on you through the effectively grown developments, Undertone is a chilling horror that lands a real effect from what might not even be there.