Welcome, everyone! Today, I shall review the new A24 horror film Undertone. Let’s review!

So, Undertone follows the story of Evy (Nina Kiri), the host of a paranormal podcast. While waiting for her mom to pass, her co-host gets sent a series of files that they listen to. As they listen to the files, she becomes haunted by them. The trailer for this seemed promising as a horror fan, and it claims to be the scariest movie of the decade. So I saw it, and let me say… There are only a few jumps, but enough tension throughout to keep you interested.

This movie is a slow burn. It takes place in a single location and is a micro-budgeted film. If you are okay with a minimalist setup and slow-paced horror, you might enjoy this. This movie is 90% sound and 10% visuals, so I was a bit worried we would just be watching the girl at her microphone the whole time. Thankfully, it is more visual than that, as this happens over the course of many nights, and the whole house is involved, along with her sleeping mother.

The sound is very good in this and is best experienced on a good sound system, so turn your stereo or surround sound system on when watching this. I saw this in a theater, which really enhanced the experience. There is lots of tension throughout the film, much of it in anticipation rather than big scares. Sometimes the scares happen, and sometimes they do not.

The images are well composed, often shot in a way where the main character is on the edge of the frame, while the dark entryway and staircase to the upper bedrooms fill the rest of the frame. The visual composition is pretty unsettling because it forces you to look at the shadows behind Evy. I thought Nina Kiri’s performance was fine. She successfully manages to carry the movie. In the final act, I got vibes of both Blair Witch and Late Night with the Devil combined.

I liked this movie, especially how it maintained tension throughout. The sound design and cinematography are very impressive. Overall, Undertone is a very solid, enjoyable, and unsettling horror film, and I cannot believe how good it looks for being made for only 500k.

I am going to give Undertone a B+.