Undertone is one of those horror movies that proves you don’t always need monsters jumping at the screen to make people uncomfortable.
Sometimes, all you need is silence.
Released in 2026 by A24, Undertone is the feature directorial debut of Ian Tuason. The movie stars Nina Kiri as Evy, a paranormal podcast host who begins receiving mysterious audio recordings connected to a terrifying supernatural story.
And the interesting thing about this movie is that you don’t always see the horror.
You hear it.
What Is Undertone About?
Evy hosts a paranormal podcast with Justin, played through voice performance by Adam DiMarco.
Evy is more skeptical about supernatural stories, while Justin is much more willing to believe that something paranormal could actually be happening.
Then they receive a collection of strange recordings.
The recordings supposedly document a couple experiencing disturbing events inside their home. At first, they seem like something that could simply be investigated for the podcast.
But the more Evy listens, the more uncomfortable things become.
At the same time, Evy is back home caring for her seriously ill mother.
She is also dealing with a pregnancy she wasn’t expecting.
So while Evy is trying to understand what is happening through the recordings, her own personal life is already becoming emotionally overwhelming.
Eventually, the strange events from the recordings begin to feel much closer to home.
The Sound Is the Best Part
For me, this is easily the strongest part of Undertone.
The sound design is excellent.
The movie understands that sometimes what you can’t see is much scarier than what you can.
There are long moments where Evy is sitting alone, listening through headphones. The camera stays on her while we hear strange noises through the headphones.
And because the movie doesn’t immediately show us what made those sounds, your imagination starts doing the work.
That is a very effective horror technique.
RogerEbert.com praised the film’s sound design, negative space and restricted point of view, saying the movie makes the audience feel trapped inside Evy’s nightmare.
I agree with that.
The Movie Makes You Look at the Background
Another thing I liked is how the camera is used.
There are several scenes where nothing obvious appears to be happening.
Evy is simply sitting in a room.
But you start looking behind her.
You start checking the doorway.
You look at the stairs.
You wonder whether something moved in the background.
That is where the movie gets inside your head.
Time Out also highlighted the film’s use of darkness and sound, particularly during its final moments when the screen goes black and the audio takes over.
And honestly, those moments are more effective than many traditional jump scares.
Nina Kiri Carries the Movie
Nina Kiri has a difficult job here because so much of the movie depends on her performance.
She spends a lot of time alone.
There aren’t many characters physically interacting with her.
Justin is mostly heard through the podcast, while her mother is largely confined to the home.
That means Kiri has to communicate fear, frustration, exhaustion and uncertainty without constantly relying on dialogue.
I think she does a good job.
You can see Evy’s confidence slowly disappearing as the things she once dismissed as nonsense begin happening around her.
The Mother-Daughter Story Adds More Weight
Underneath the supernatural horror is another story about family, grief and responsibility.
Evy is caring for her dying mother.
That situation already creates a feeling of helplessness.
She is watching someone she loves become weaker while trying to continue living her own life.
Then the pregnancy adds another emotional conflict.
She is thinking about motherhood at the same time that she is watching her own mother approach the end of her life.
That gives the supernatural story something more personal to work with.
The horror isn’t happening to a random character.
It is happening to someone who is already emotionally vulnerable.
The Demon Makes Things Worse
As the recordings continue, Evy and Justin discover the name Abyzou, a demon from folklore associated with pregnancy, miscarriage and the death of children.
That discovery changes the way Evy looks at everything.
Suddenly, her pregnancy isn’t just a personal issue.
It becomes connected to the supernatural story she has been investigating.
And that is when the movie becomes much darker.
My Problem With Undertone
As much as I liked the atmosphere, I don’t think Undertone is perfect.
The biggest problem for me is the pacing.
This is a slow-burn movie.
Very slow.
If you need something to happen every few minutes, you may become frustrated.
A lot of the movie is Evy listening, talking, researching and sitting alone.
That works when the atmosphere is strong.
But there are moments when I felt the movie was taking too long to get somewhere.
The reviews are quite divided on this point. Rotten Tomatoes currently shows a strong 73% critics score but only a 50% audience score, which reflects how differently viewers have responded to the film’s slow and unusual approach.
The Ending Is Going to Divide People
Without giving away everything, the ending is deliberately ambiguous.
The movie eventually pushes Evy into complete chaos, but instead of explaining exactly what happened, it leaves you with sounds and images that you have to interpret for yourself.
Personally, I think that works.
I don’t always need a horror movie to explain every single thing.
In fact, explaining too much could have made Undertone less frightening.
TIME described the ending as deliberately ambiguous, leaving the audience to decide what happened to Evy and her mother.
But I can also understand why some people won’t like it.
If you spend more than an hour waiting for answers and then the movie basically tells you to make up your own mind, that can be frustrating.
Is Undertone Scary?
Yes, but it depends on what scares you.
If you are looking for blood, monsters and constant jump scares, this probably isn’t the movie for you.
But if silence, strange sounds, dark rooms and the feeling that something might be standing just outside the camera’s view scare you, then Undertone can be very effective.
The movie’s greatest weapon is your imagination.
And sometimes your imagination is much worse than anything a filmmaker can put on screen.
My Rating for Undertone
For me, Undertone gets a 7.5/10.
I really like what Ian Tuason was trying to do.
The sound design is excellent, Nina Kiri gives the movie a strong central performance, and the atmosphere can be genuinely unsettling.
My biggest problem is the slow pacing and the fact that the story can become a little unclear toward the end.
But I would still recommend it to horror fans who enjoy psychological and atmospheric movies.
Undertone isn’t the type of horror movie you watch with your phone in your hand.
Turn the lights down.
Put on your headphones.
And listen carefully.
Because in this movie, the sound is where the horror begins.
James
