By ANDY MAURO
Starring Nina Kiri, Kris Holden-Reid and Michèle Duquet
Written and directed by Ian Tuason
Black Fawn Distribution
Evy (Nina Kiri) and her hosting partner Justin (Kris Holden-Reid) record a weekly podcast that investigates the supernatural. Evy is a skeptic and Justin is a believer, and the story told over the course of THE UNDERTONE’s brisk 85 minute running time is punctuated by the two of them playing a series of creepy recordings e-mailed to their show with only the message “lol.” Suffice it to say there won’t be a lot of laughing. There will be panicked breathing, frenzied screaming, guttural babbling and at least one death rattle. In keeping with the audio-only podcasting vibe, nearly all of it will happen off-camera. Prepare your ears, folks: They’re about to be acoustically assaulted by the devil’s ASMR!
Nina Kiri (THE HANDMAID’S TALE) carries the entirety of THE UNDERTONE, a world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival, as the only onscreen speaking character. Her boyfriend, her doctor and her co-host are disembodied phone voices; the only other physical presence in the otherwise empty house the film takes place in is her bedridden mother (Michèle Duquet), who is unconscious, has stopped eating and, according to her nurse, could pass on at any moment. When Evy isn’t doing her podcast, the only sounds in the movie’s otherwise barren audioscape are the settling of the house, the gurgling of pipes, the hum of the fridge and the labored breathing of her dying parent upstairs. It is palpably freaky, and for anyone who has ever had to look after an ailing loved one, it hits very close to home.
Evy’s domestic strife becomes significantly worse once she straps on her noise-cancelling headphones, calls Justin and hits Record on their podcast. As a viewer, you look forward to uncovering the mystery of the recordings, to escape from the grim reality of Evy’s death watch. Unfortunately, as THE UNDERTONE progresses, we realize there will be no escape, and that the demonic goings-on in the tapes are bleeding out into the real world.
First-time feature writer/director Ian Tuason–who based Evy’s situation on his own parental caregiving during COVID–has also said that as someone who was raised Catholic, he found THE EXORCIST scary because it took things that are supposed to be safe and reassuring–youth, home and religion–and made them all terrifying and dangerous. THE UNDERTONE accomplishes the same trick, but amps it up with a focus on sound that turns silence into something akin to acoustic darkness, with many sequences requiring listeners to strain their ears to make out clues, and in doing so open themselves up to a new type of horror-movie experience. Many films launch jump-scares from moments of silence, but THE UNDERTONE does something more sophisticated. At certain moments, it feels like the film is inviting you to close your eyes to better hear what’s happening, and I did–something no other film has ever done.
Themes related to motherhood, both having one and being one, and the power of a role that can be both caregiver and traumatizer are explored with a subtlety and deftness rare in today’s horror films. THE UNDERTONE is more DON’T LOOK NOW than PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, was a fan favorite at Fantasia and announces a new artistic talent in Tuason. He has made a fast-moving and commercial movie that is truly scary and unsettling, as well as deeply thought-provoking and affecting. I dare you to watch it alone, with headphones on…
