‘Undertone’ (2025) Review: Subtle Horror Makes Up for Lacking Plot

Upon listening to a series of peculiar audio recordings, strange events start to unravel around Nina Kiri and her ailing mother.

undertone; Movie; Directed by ian tuason; Horror; R; 1h 33m

I went into this film expecting a curated audio experience. Needless to say this movie succeeded in flying colors. However, I wasn’t expecting too much regarding the plot. After all, there’s only so much you can do with a limited cast and podcast gimmick. But my low expectations for the plot led me to not be as disappointed as I would otherwise have been.

The movie focuses on Evy (Nina Kiri), a pregnant horror podcaster taking care of her dying mother (Michele Duquet). While working on the next episode of her internet horror story podcast, Evy and her cohost, Justin (Adam DiMarco), listen to a series of cursed audio files sent to them by an anonymous fan. The movie builds up suspense as the two slowly make their way through the ten recordings, uncover hidden messages in nursery rhymes, and learn of a child killing demon.

Despite it being one of the main gimmicks, the podcast segments felt the weakest. The quiet moments with subtle sounds have the most impact, due to the incredible audio direction and editing. The podcast scenes focus on a generic demonic story; backwards messages in the recordings, possessed people speaking seemingly gibberish, and disturbing phone calls.

At times the story felt like a creepypasta, which could be considered a compliment since that was the angle the author was going for. If I had to compare it to a particular creepypasta, I would choose “The Russian Sleep Experiment” (2010) as both the short story and movie excel in the buildup but can’t quite stick the landing. However, that doesn’t detract too much from either story as they both standout in other ways.

For instance, the audio and lighting direction of Undertone made the movie perfectly harrowing. The decision to not add any music helped keep a constant eerie and uneasy feeling. The audio was wonderfully mixed and had fantastic surround sound at the end, which helped sell the otherwise underwhelming ending.

The low key lighting helped give the film a nice edge and contributed to the horror of not being able to see everything that we’re hearing. The decision to use soft, warm lighting when characters are at ease but cold lighting when something unsettling happens and harsh lighting during the climax helped contribute to the sense of horror the viewer feels.

Another remarkable facet was the use of camera work. The dutch tilts in the film were implemented well and helped contribute to a sense of unease and confusion and the slow pans helped add to the tension. I also found it interesting that we only see two characters on screen, that being Evy and her mother, both of whom were phenomenal.

Some of my biggest complaints lie with the story and writing. The characters are quite bare bones and I can’t really tell you much about them that isn’t a surface level observation. This lack of understanding leads to some rather unexpected character moments, such as Evy’s confession at the end of the film, which personally felt like it came out of left field.

Although I do like that Evy and Justin are playing characters for their podcast, I do find the podcast scenes felt wonky and sometimes unnatural, as if specific things were done only to progress the plot. My biggest question throughout the film was why Evy was beginning her recording sessions at 3 AM when podcast episodes like what she’s doing can go on for hours. However, I’m pretty sure this was done only for the fact that 3 AM is the scary “witching’s hour” and contributed to a plot point.

I was also wondering at the end of the movie how they’re recording a podcast episode but also taking phone calls live. Unless they’re live streaming, there would be no way for their audience to know that they’re active and waiting for calls. However the film does not establish them as occasional livestreamer and the scene never clarifies if they’re on a livestream or not. This makes the creepy phone calls fall a bit flat.

The rhetoric of the film seems to be about the fear of responsibility, especially towards children. The film establishes this theme early on through the discussion of twisted nursery rhymes and how kids in the stories die because of adults who failed them. There’s also the topic of Evy’s pregnancy and how she decides to start drinking (despite knowing about her pregnancy at this point) and the absence of her dead beat boyfriend.

At first glance, Evy seems to push back against this notion as she’s seen taking care of her mother throughout the film. However, she could be doing this just because of the guilt she feels about not spending enough time with her. There’s also the fact that her mother’s room is cold and unwelcoming, and although Evy talks with her mother, she doesn’t linger for too long. There’s also the scene where she leaves her mother alone in the house to go to a party and when she returns she finds out her mother suffered a medical episode while she was gone.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I haven’t felt such dread from a film in a long time. Although I do have some minor qualms, the movie succeeds in the aspects it markets the most; the audio mixing. I highly recommend it for horror fans with a love for slow burn.

Rating: 7/10