Undertone Review: A24’s Latest Horror Movie Is an 84-Minute Panic Attack

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Don’t listen to the critics – Undertone is a truly unsettling and powerfully effective film, especially when experienced in a theater with good surround sound. When it finished, I left on a sunny Tuesday afternoon feeling shocked and strangely haunted.

Ian Tuason’s first feature film is a quietly unsettling story that slowly creeps into your mind. It centers on Evy (Nina Kiri), a podcast host working through addiction, who returns to her remote childhood home to care for her mother (Michèle Duquet) as she nears the end of her life. To distract herself, Evy continues recording her podcast with her friend Justin (voiced by ), and they begin receiving strange, threatening audio recordings from a couple who believe their house is haunted.

It doesn’t take long for Evy to realize something is terribly wrong with the house. The movie focuses solely on Evy and her mother, creating a claustrophobic and intensely unsettling atmosphere. It transforms a single house, family, and growing sense of fear into a truly frightening experience.

Undertone’s Visual and Sonic Style Is Its Secret Weapon

A24’s marketing for Undertone really emphasized its unsettling sound design, and with good reason. The film’s creator, Tuason, has a background in audio and intentionally aimed to create a horror movie built around sound, similar to how The Blair Witch Project used found footage. In fact, Tuason is also working on a reboot of that very film!

The podcast Undertone is incredibly effective at creating a creepy atmosphere, thanks to its unsettling sound design and the echoing noises within the story’s setting. Even if you can’t immediately identify the source of the unease, it’s clear that something isn’t right. During my viewing, I actually found myself looking around nervously, feeling like the disturbing sounds were coming from right behind me – even though I was in the back row! The creator, Tuason, even manages to make something as calming as audio meditation feel genuinely sinister.

The film is visually striking, with carefully crafted shots that work perfectly with the sound design. The director uses shadow, color, and lighting to create a powerful atmosphere, especially in scenes like when Evy goes to her mother’s room – a simple hallway transformed into something truly frightening. The fact that the movie was filmed in the director’s childhood home in Toronto adds another layer of meaning. He returned to that house to care for his parents as they battled cancer, and that personal experience infuses the film with a deep emotional truth. Even without knowing that backstory, the movie is deeply moving, but it adds an undeniable sense of realism to the portrayal of watching a parent decline.

Undertone Is a Masterclass in Sustained Tension

The film’s sound and visuals create intense suspense, constantly building anxiety for both the character Evy and the audience, offering no relief.

The film Undertone takes a big risk with its simple setup – mostly one character in a single location – but this is also what makes it so effective. Director Tuason quickly creates a deeply unsettling mood, using the strange design of the house and skillful lighting to heighten the feeling of isolation and the emotional weight of being with a parent who is nearing the end of their life.

I was immediately struck by how efficiently Undertone tells its story – clocking in at a tight 84 minutes, it doesn’t feel rushed or padded. What really impressed me was how director Tuason handled the backstory. Using the podcast format, and Evy’s calls with Justin, she seamlessly reveals details about Evy’s past, her mother, and the weight of her religious upbringing without ever grinding the momentum to a halt. It’s a clever narrative device that keeps everything flowing beautifully.

While the film is generally strong, the script feels a little rough around the edges. Some of the explanations and emotional moments could have been written more effectively, and a few lines of dialogue feel forced. However, this is easily overshadowed by the excellent acting and technical aspects of the film. As a debut feature, Tuason demonstrates impressive control, and combined with Graham Beasley’s cinematography, their vision for the film’s look and sound is what truly stays with you.

It’s really challenging for a movie to keep you on the edge of your seat for a long time. Usually, films provide some kind of relief – like showing the monster, a violent scene, or finally explaining what’s going on with the villain. This release is a natural part of how most thrillers and horror movies work.

Undertone deliberately avoids typical horror movie conventions. It steadily builds tension throughout, creating a sense of dread by hinting at something terrifying just beyond what we can see. The main character, Evy, is a staunch non-believer who initially dismisses her brother’s worries about strange recordings and anything happening to their mother. But as the film reaches its intense and chaotic climax, she can no longer deny the unsettling truth – and neither can the audience. All that’s left is to wait and brace for what’s coming.

As a movie fan, I really appreciated how the filmmaker didn’t feel the need to spell everything out for us. It’s never totally clear if what’s happening is a ghost story, a possession, or something else – and I think that’s brilliant. The movie gives you enough hints to understand something bad is going on, but it wisely avoids giving easy answers. You get little clues along the way, but the ending doesn’t tie everything up neatly. Honestly, that ambiguity makes the film so much more effective and stays with you long after the credits roll.

Nina Kiri and Michèle Duquet Hold the Entire Film Together

Nina Kiri carried the film, and her performance was outstanding. She convincingly portrayed Evy’s emotional journey, making her skepticism, sadness, and guilt feel genuine. Even when Evy’s denial was frustrating, Kiri made her a sympathetic character.

The movie relies heavily on Kiri’s facial expressions to create scares, and she delivers a compelling performance. The director often focuses on close-ups of her character, Evy, while she’s listening to recordings, talking on the phone, or with her mother, and Kiri makes these scenes captivating with subtle shifts in her expression. Her face is incredibly expressive, allowing the audience to see Evy’s internal struggle as she tries to make sense of frightening events while battling fear, sadness, and disbelief.

While others have more outwardly dramatic roles, actress Duquet faces a uniquely subtle but equally challenging task. Playing a character in a coma might not seem impressive, but her performance as Mama becomes one of the film’s most captivating surprises. The film builds suspense so effectively that even the simple act of her breathing becomes mesmerizing, as the audience constantly watches for any hint of awareness or reaction to the evil presence in the house. Duquet’s incredibly realistic portrayal makes the scenes where she lies in bed particularly disturbing. She helps connect the film’s supernatural scares to the very real and heartbreaking experience of watching someone close to death.

Kiri and Duquet’s performances are what truly make Undertone emotionally impactful, elevating it beyond just a visually interesting film. They manage to keep the movie compelling, even when the story isn’t perfect, creating a viewing experience that is both heartbreaking and disturbing.

Undertone is now in theaters.

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2026-03-14 08:07