Undertone

by Mike McGranaghan

You only see two people in Undertone: podcaster Evy (Nina Kiri) and her terminally ill, comatose mother (Michèle Duquet). You hear a number of other people, though. Ian Tuason’s debut chiller has plenty of eerie imagery yet is designed to be primarily an auditory experience. In this case, it isn’t what you see that’s supposed to be scary, it’s what you hear. That works, but only to a point.

Evy co-hosts a podcast dedicated to exploring the paranormal with friend Justin (Adam DiMarco). He’s the believer, she’s the skeptic. Their latest episode focuses on ten audio recordings they were sent anonymously. Those recordings were made by a man named Mike, whose wife Jessa began strangely talking in her sleep after becoming pregnant. Each file is more disturbing than the last, and a suggestion arises that a demonic force may have stalked the couple. Even worse, it could be coming for Evy, as bizarre occurrences begin happening in her house.

The first 75 minutes of Undertone have a slow-burn vibe. The movie effectively teases you with the mystery of the recordings. Evy grows visibly unnerved by what she hears, a feeling compounded by the agony of witnessing her mother’s illness and dealing with a personal matter that won’t be disclosed here. Tuason and cinematographer Graham Beasley devise interesting shots to keep the static location from becoming dull. They know how to compose the frame in a manner that adds to the atmosphere without distracting from the all-important audio.

This is all build-up to the final fifteen minutes, an aural nightmare that benefits from being heard in a theater with a dynamic sound system. A barrage of creepy sounds comes at you from every direction, enveloping you in a tornado of ear-piercing terror. The impact is undeniable.

There’s just one problem: as technically impressive as the finale is, it’s also anticlimactic from a story standpoint. Undertone is distinctly unclear about what happens at the end. We’re given pieces of information regarding the demonic entity. What they collectively mean and how they are able to affect Evy - and, just as importantly, Justin - aren't suitably explained. This is not to say the film needs to spell out every last little detail. It would nevertheless help if the thread connecting the entity, Mike/Jessa, and Evy/Justin was more focused. Because it isn’t, the payoff falls flat, offering lots of sonic razzle-dazzle without any substance to back it up.

Undertone therefore never enters the realm of the truly scary. When the screen cut to black and the credits began to roll, I was left disappointed. For the longest time, the film promises a terrifying outcome that it can’t deliver. Remember The Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy and friends discover the wizard is just a guy pulling levels behind a curtain? You get the picture.

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