#329: Undertone

Release Date: March 13th, 2026

Format: Streaming (HBO)

Written by: Ian Tuason

Directed by: Ian Tuason

3 Stars

Although I think A24’s Undertone is a bit of a mixed bag, especially the script from writer/director Ian Tuason in his feature film debut, I can’t deny that it’s scary. 

The story centers around Evy (Nina Kiri), a young woman who cares for her comatose mother during the day and co-hosts a true crime podcast from the family’s home kitchen at night. Before the recording of her newest episode, her co-host Justin (voiced by Adam DiMarco) informs Evy that he recently received an anonymous listener email with ten mysterious audio files attached. Justin can’t make much sense of them, but it might at least make for some good, creepy content for the pod. At first dismissive, Evy finds each recording increasingly disturbing, until she ultimately uncovers a demonic connection between the recordings and her mother’s illness.

Tuason throws everything and the kitchen sink into his script, which includes elements of found footage horror, possession horror, boogeyman horror, and supernatural horror. He uses Catholic iconography (a la The Exorcist), crayon drawings (a la The Babadook (#201) and Insidious), and eerie white noise (a la Poltergeist).  

Much like 2024’s Late Night with the Devil (#26), the borrowing of such recognizable source material is conspicuous to the point of being distracting. Tuason would have been better served paring off all the tropes from his script. Make this a film about a lonely, atheistic daughter caring for her dying, religious mother. Are the film’s demonic undertones real, or simply a creation of Evy’s guilt-ridden mind? Is Evy demonic? Is she killing her mother? Tuason’s script could have explored deeper, more complicated emotional terrain. 

But where Tuason’s Undertone excels is in its visual and sonic construction, all curated with a budget of just a half-million dollars. This is a filmmaker who cares. I loved his use of digital photography in such low light. You can feel his poor cameras’ sensors struggling against the darkness, fighting for every last pixel. It feels claustrophobic and oppressive.

As we eavesdrop on Evy listening to demonic recordings in her quiet kitchen in the middle of the night, we see a doorway behind her. It’s dark and out of focus, with a digital haze that subtly floats and shifts. 

Is there something there? Better look and listen closely, if you dare.