UNDERTONE – Review by T. J. Callahan
undertone: “Are children’s songs really cautionary tales?”
Evy is the skeptical co-host of a point/counterpoint paranormal podcast. Soon after she moves in with her deeply religious dying mother to be her primary caregiver, a set of terrifying recordings anonymously end up in her inbox. As she and her co-host break them down, Evy’s life begins to mirror the real-life haunting.
undertone, in lower case letters because it’s underwhelming, is a low budget, in one location, modern day horror movie from writer/director Ian Tuason. The film is a slow moving psychological slow burn that really doesn’t give us much of a payoff at the end of its 90 minute runtime. This 21st century supernatural thriller employs the popular podcast format as its means to convey creepiness, but it’s really reminiscent of old time radio’s theater of the mind. undertone relies heavily on sound to create its scares. Hearing is the horror and there’s an awful lot of time spent tuning in and deciphering audio played backwards and forwards to find hidden meanings like a classic Beatles record. But these are children’s songs and we may never listen to them the same again? Baa Baa Black Sheep is a bust for me now.
Possession is 9/10ths of undertone sampling The Exorcist, Paranormal Activity and Poltergeist. Every demonic presence you feel from this film you owe to star Nina Kiri (Handmaid’s Tale). As Evy she’s a one woman show. The other real speaking parts are only heard…in undertones.
As Evy is told, “don’t be afraid of the dark, be afraid of the silence”…because the silence may distract you. The only thing that scared me was that I may fall asleep. My husband Ricky did. He gives undertone one ️of two 👀s open. It amplifies up to a five on the TeejFlixometer.
