Experience A24’s most terrifying film yet. undertone works because of Nina Kiri’s haunting performance and the movie’s immersive sound design.
I’m going to be honest: I’m still checking the corners of my room and sleeping with the lights on after watching undertone. A24 has done it again, cementing their status as the gold standard for elevated horror. This movie isn’t just scary because of what you see; it’s about what you can’t un-hear.
The film follows Evy Babic (played by the incredible Nina Kiri), a paranormal podcast host who finds herself the target of a series of terrifying, anonymous recordings. From the jump, the movie establishes a crushing sense of isolation. We spend almost the entire runtime with Evy in a house that feels claustrophobic.
The camera is almost always on Evy. Every so often, we are shown her mother, a woman who is physically present but spiritually absent. She is bedridden, silent, and on the edge of death, which is why Evy is there to take care of her in her final days.
Nina Kiri is tasked with an almost impossible feat: carrying a feature-length film largely on her own. Evy is going through it in the most literal sense – stressed, sleep-deprived, and unraveling at the seams. Her performance is nothing short of a tour de force. Because we are trapped in her perspective, her descent becomes ours as well. It is easy to feel for her, relate to her, and understand where she is coming from as she makes a lot of difficult decisions.
While the visuals are undeniably haunting, undertone is a film that works as well as it does because of its sound design. It is completely immersive in a way that feels almost intrusive. Evy is a podcaster, and for a huge portion of the film, we are simply listening along with her.
The moment she slides those headphones over her ears, the rest of the world – the rustle of the house, the tick of the clock – is instantly sucked away. We are plunged into a vacuum where the only things that exist are the voice of her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), and ten bone-chilling recordings sent by a mysterious listener.
The genius of the sound design lies in its intimacy. It feels like those voices are inside your own head. It creates a claustrophobia that no jump-scare could ever achieve. Viewers will feel their hearts beating in their chests as they hold their breath just waiting to discover the outcome.
One of the most effective elements of the film is how it deconstructs the familiar. We all know that children’s fairytales and nursery rhymes were originally warnings – dark, cautionary tales disguised as lullabies. When you really boil them down, they are horrifying.
undertone takes that concept and runs with it. It explores the darkness hidden within our shared cultural innocence in ways I truly didn’t see coming. It turns the familiar into the foul, making you question the very songs you grew up singing.
I cannot stress this enough: undertone begs to be seen in a theater. It’s not just because the cinematography deserves the big screen – though it does – it’s because of those massive surround-sound speakers. This is a film meant to be felt in your chest. The low-frequency hums and the sharp, jarring cuts of the mysterious recordings need that theatrical depth to truly work their magic on your nervous system.
The further the movie went on, the further I found myself slouching down in my seat. It was that instinctive reaction of trying to hide, trying to get away from the sound, while simultaneously being unable to look away. And I loved every agonizing second of it.
Don’t go alone. Seriously. You’ll walk out changed, and maybe not for the better – you’ll be a little more jumpy and a little more suspicious of every stray noise in your house.
undertone is a reminder that the scariest things aren’t always what we see in the shadows, but what we hear whispering right into our ears.
About undertone
A paranormal podcast host becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way.
undertone releases in theaters nationwide on Friday, March 13th.