Everybody and their mother has a podcast now, and paranormal and true crime shows especially are a dime a dozen. But none of them are actually haunted…right? Well, none of the real ones are, but the fictional show in A24’s undertone, which just released a new trailer, might be holding some terrifying secrets.
undertone is written and directed by Ian Tuason, who makes his feature debut with the film he shot in his own childhood home in Toronto. The film, starring Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, and Jeff Yung, focuses on Evy, the host of a paranormal podcast who receives several disturbing audio files while caring for her ill and comatose mother. With the help of her co-host, Evy analyzes the cryptic recordings, inching toward a harrowing revelation that brings mysterious forces forth from within the files themselves.
“Sometimes the most terrifying thing of all is our imagination, and what we project onto something that may or may not be there,” Tuason says. “This is a found audio movie and a sound-scape above all else. I created a sound design for this story where everything is directional — like Evy listening to the audio files, the audience can close their eyes and feel where everything is — or might be. When something far away is suddenly getting closer behind you, the terror becomes heightened and amplified.”
The film initially began as an audio play Tuason wrote during lockdown, with much of the same premise but missing the visuals. After making its way to a visual medium, undertone would then go on to win the Audience Award at last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, before earning a slot at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“With the added element of audio in undertone, it’s not just imagining what you might see, it’s also imagining what you might hear,” says Tuason. “It’s the intermingling of the visual and auditory that amplifies the horror.”
undertone hits theaters on March 13.
