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Undertone is the latest low-budget horror film to punch above its weight. With a budget of $500,000, it has earned approximately $13 million so far.
Undertone is written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason. The movie is inspired by Tuason caring for his parents while they faced terminal cancer.
Undertone is an A24 production, and it fits in with other A24 horror films like Hereditary and Heretic. It is not at the elevated horror level of those two films, but let’s see how close Undertone gets in its attempt. Spoilers will be minimal.
Undertone
Undertone makes a name for itself as a sound-based horror film.
Most of the dread in the film is built with sound design in, with and under (to borrow a Lutheran phrase) ponderous camera work.
The movie succeeds in what it sets out to do in this department. Sound is one of the few remaining dependable aspects of filmmaking. Say what you will about story and effects, but sound design continues to deliver.
The crunch of modern movies particularly stands out. For example, the sound at the opening of Evil Dead Rise almost blew me through the wall.
Undertone does not go overboard with the sound design, however. It is not out to impress the audience. The sound is out to serve the story. Kudos to them for their restraint.
Undertone The Boardwalk
Speaking of the story, Undertone is simple in this regard. The entire movie takes place in a single location. Only two actors appear onscreen throughout. The rest of the characters are voices over the phone.
The plot of Undertone is thus:
A woman (Nina Kiri) is alone in a house with her dying mother. While she waits for her mother to pass on, she hosts a podcast with a friend in another location (Adam DiMarco). The podcast is about real-life horror events. Nina is the skeptic, and Adam is the believer. As the film goes on, Nina finds herself in the center of a real-life horror event.
Performances do not break any new ground. They are within the appropriate lanes for a film like this. So far, nothing much to be critical about.
Undertone The Sea
If an aspect of Undertone exists to be critical about, it is the plot. It is cryptic, like Hereditary and Longlegs. Ari Aster is better at packaging cryptic, however. Likewise, Longlegs has the quirkiness of Perkins and Cage to hold it together.
The viewer will spend much of Undertone waiting for everything to come together and ultimately find themselves holding a bunch of parts rather than a whole.
I thought about it, and read the synopsis to see if I missed anything, and I am still a bit mystified as to what is exactly going on in Undertone.
The plot is a hodgepodge of conspiracy, curses and demonology. Undertone probably would have been better served to pick one rather than mash them together. The final issue is that the film is not interesting enough to go back and pick over the data.
Undertone
Ultimately, Undertone is one of those films graded on a curve. A first-time writer and director put together a film for $500,000 that struck a nerve. Ian Tuason deserves credit for that. Ideally, he can take what he learned and continue to improve.
I recently watched another low-budget horror film that punched above its weight: The Battery from Jeremy Gardner. Gardner had $6,000 and managed to put together a different take on the zombie apocalypse film that was surprisingly effective after a mid-credit scene gives it an ambiguous, but hopeful, ending.
Undertone doesn’t have that. It’s not anything new, and the ending will leave one with more of a huh? feeling than a satisfied feeling. It is a good effort. It meets many of its goals. Yet, one gets the sense that Undertone is a bit undercooked.
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