Undertone (2026) A24/Horror RT: 93 minutes Rated R (language) Director: Ian Tuason Screenplay: Ian Tuason Music: Shanika Lewis-Waddell Cinematography: Graham Beasley Release date: March 13, 2026 (US) Cast: Niki Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michele Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Jeff Yung.
Rating: *
The same people who love The Blair Witch Project and Skinamarink will probably love Undertone as well. They can have it.
You never know what you’re going to get from an A24 horror film. It’s either going to be something good like Heretic or Bring Her Back or some elevated nonsense like Men or Lamb. Undertone is definitely the latter. It’s 93 minutes that amount to nothing. The guy sitting a couple of rows behind me said it best when he announced “This is some BS!” as the end credits came up. I couldn’t agree more. It’s complete BS. And it’s a bore to boot.
Written and directed by relative newcomer Ian Tuason, Undertone is a one-woman show. It centers on Evy (Kiri, The Handmaid’s Tale), the host of a podcast dealing with supernatural phenomena. She’s the skeptic to friend/co-host Justin’s (Di Marco, The White Lotus) true believer. She recently moved back home to take care of her ailing mother (Duquet). She’s the only other person we see in the film, but she’s bedridden and catatonic the whole time. Everybody else is just a voice on the phone. Oh yeah, the movie is set entirely within the confines of Evy’s childhood home.
For their latest episode, Justin received a series of ten audio recordings from a married couple experiencing strange goings-on (of the paranormal kind) in their home. They hear things they can’t explain. Justin plays the recordings one by one. They start to hear it too. There’s definitely something spooky going on, but what? As she listens to the recordings, Evy starts to lose it.
Now I’m faced with an impossible choice. Do I tell you what happens next or not? On the one hand, I hate dropping spoilers. It’s not fair to my readers who like to be surprised. On the other hand, I feel like I should tell you so you don’t have to shell out $15 to find out. Believe me, it’s not worth it. The money is better spent on an interesting horror movie like The Bride. I know, what about a compromise? That seems fair. The “events” in Undertone have to do with a baby-killing demon called Abyzou. Notice I put the term events in quotes. There’s some question as to whether anything happens at all. It could all be in Evy’s mind. Okay, that’s all you’re getting.
Show of hands, who remembers Brotman’s Law? Who can tell me what it is? Anyone, anyone? Bueller? [Insert audible sigh here] Okay, then. It states “If nothing has happened by the end of the first reel, nothing is going to happen.” That’s certainly true in the case of Undertone. I know because I checked the time on my phone (more than once to be honest). It was an hour into the movie and still nothing of any interest had happened. It’s basically Evy talking on the phone to Justin and a few others, listening to the recordings, walking around the house, tending to her mom and losing her mind. She looks freaked almost the whole time. There are also several shots of a tea kettle whistling and some talk of an unexpected pregnancy that Evy considers terminating. Something finally happens in the final shot right before the credits come up. What, I don’t know for sure. By that point, I had long since mentally checked out.
I will give Undertone credit for its clever sound design. It uses it effectively, but not enough to save the movie. Tuason relies on all the usual visual tricks to try and scare the audience like the use of negative space. He moves the camera to redirect our attention to a dark corner where something might be waiting to appear. It gets old fast. Here’s the thing. It tries hard, but Undertone isn’t scary. At best, it’s slightly eerie, but that’s being generous. I mostly felt bored.
Kiri is okay in the lead, but her character isn’t all that interesting. She’s just some young woman dealing with personal and paranormal issues. She does nothing to garner sympathy or make us care about her. Sadly, hers is the only performance of note.
Undertone is the biggest damn put-on I’ve seen since The Blair Witch Project. It’s a big bunch of nothingness. It’s not even worth a free pass. Like the guy said, it’s some BS!
