The horror film “Undertone” is directed by Ian Tauson and produced by A24. It came out on March 13 and is a truly terrifying piece of art.
“Undertone” follows a character named Evangenline Babic, or Evy for short. Evy has to take care of her mother, who is on death’s door, and strange things begin to happen. Evy also has a podcast with a friend named Justin called “The Undertone Podcast.” On the podcast, they review different scary audio files, videos and stories in general.
Firstly, the sound design of the film had to be good, considering the title of the movie and how much hype surrounded its sound design. Throughout the movie, viewers are actively exposed to the noises of Evy’s mother’s house. Whether it’s Evy making tea or the clock ticking, it’s always happening. Then Evy puts on her noise-cancelling headphones to work on the podcast with Justin, and it creates a routine that makes it seem familiar, something often seen in horror movies and even horror games to cause. Also, while she’s wearing the headphones, she’s exposed to a long bang in an audio file, which makes it sound like it’s happening around her, which creates tension.
Secondly, the camera work is also exceptional, especially with the use of the tilted camera angle or the Dutch tilt. It slowly creates tension and unease throughout the movie and gets so extreme to the point where it’s completely sideways at the end. Some other angles also cause unease, like an angle that showed the stairs and behind Evy in one shot.
Lastly, the acting was good but nothing insane. However, they go a route of isolation, where we only ever see two characters but hear more than that. Evy is played by Nina Kiri. She was practically the only one acting, since the mother, played by Michèle Duquet, barely moves at all. Justin is voiced by Adam DiMarco. Although he was not physically acting onscreen, he does a good job and deserves minimal criticism.
Overall, this movie is a slow burn for sure. It’s executed fairly well and causes this movie to catch viewers off guard when it does surprise you with big scares. This movie is a type of horror that’s slowly becoming more and more common. Slashers are slowly getting pushed out for quality horror movies like this one. This movie will scare you, even with just a black screen.