Maybe it’s just me, but I’m sick of gloomy, slow-burning horror movies about grief. Thank you, Ari Aster. Undertone is the latest and, shocker, a gimmicky genre flick from A24 that doesn’t live up to potential. A hit at Fantasia Fest last year, the film leans heavy on the fact that its central character is a podcaster, hearing all sorts of creepy, ominous things in the static buzz of audio recordings, but what is it really about? First-time helmer Ian Tuason doesn’t seem to have a clue, and for those interested because they themselves are podcasters (isn’t everyone), the film’s depiction is absurd enough it might help you stay awake during the most dreary stretches.
Undertone centers on Evy (Nina Kiri), who has been stuck at home caring for her dying mother, slowly fading away in a seemingly never-ending coma. Evy has a boyfriend, whose kind of a jerk and never is around to help. Her only real human connection is with her podcast partner, Justin (Adam DiMarco, in voice only), with whom she records a paranormal podcast, The Undertone, super late at night. They are basically the Mulder and Scully of the podcast realm, with Evy the natural skeptic.
Of course, she won’t stay a skeptic for long. When they are anonymously sent a series of eerie audio clips. Evy also begins hearing twisted nursery rhymes, the sounds of babies crying, and other occurrences possibly linked to demonic activity. Or could it be something more pedestrian? It must be said that their podcast is pretty awful. They record for a couple of minutes, then one when of them gets spooked after literally a couple of minutes, they go and take a couple of days off. This happens repeatedly, which seems counterintuitive for a weekly show. Neither sounds like they know what they’re doing, either. It’s unclear if either believes what they’re saying, and often have to tell each other to get back into character.
Tuason’s influences are obvious and all over the place: there’s a lot of Hereditary in here, some Paranormal Activity, and even The Ring. To be fair, there’s something spooky about the thought of something evil lurking in the background noise of what we listen to each day, but the build-up is painfully slow and littered with pointless subplots. Sometimes, Undertone appears to be about motherhood, with Evy facing a potential pregnancy. Or is it about death and grief? The loss of a parent? It’s unclear, and not in a good way.
The addition of A24 as distributor should help the Canadian-made film find an audience here in the States, but it could also pump up expectations that I don’t think it can reach. Undertone is a crushing bore with little in the way of original ideas.
Undertone opens in theaters on March 13th.
