Hearing is just as scary as seeing.
This is how I opened my review of “Midsommar.”
“As a kid, my biggest fear is standing out in a field midday by myself, and hearing a loud scream. I would be frightened by that situation, doesn’t matter how old I would be.”
And this is how I begin my review of the Canadian horror movie “Undertone.”
There are a lot of noises in “Undertone,” as it regards a podcast series examining a case regarding a couple dealing with paranormal activity. And the results have more goosebumps than what was displayed in “Shelby Oaks,” which regarded a YouTube channel of paranormal investigators. Seeing the formulas in that film was rather boring, but hearing the activity in “Undertone” is creepy.
We meet Evy (Nina Kiri from “The Handmaid’s Tale”) and Justin (voiced on the phone by Adam DiMarco from “The White Lotus”), the co-hosts of the “Undertone” podcast series, which talks about all things paranormal. He has some recordings from a couple (Keana Lyn Bastidas and Jeff Yung) that indicates that nursery rhymes are filled with dark messages and some paranormal activity in their home. Think of “London Bridge is Falling Down,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” and “Rock a Bye Baby” (“The baby literally falls from the tree,” she says). He hears “Mike Kill All” in one of the recordings, but at this moment, she isn’t finding anything otherworldly in them.
Her religious comatose mother (Michèle Duquet) is dying and hasn’t eaten anything in days. She has a religious knick knack by her bed, which Evy moves in the drawer and then in a closet. I bet you $5 that knick knack is going to be back in her presence again. And I’ll raise you another $5 that she might be involved with some activity in the house, as well.
Throughout this movie, Evy keeps denying that something otherworldly is happening to the couple, especially if it’s based on religious cases in the past (“People love hearing the sound of their own voice, especially if it’s on a podcast,” she says). Maybe it’s all a coincidence, or is it? This is the kind of movie where a young woman might think that, but will be dealing with something strange in her home. And she’s the one drawing something freaky with black and red crayons.
CJ’s Guide to Watching Horror Movies: When you suspect something loud and scary is about to happen, you cover your ears. That’s what I did, and I think you should, too, because there are going to loud and scary noises. Most of the terrors come from the recordings, instead of the obligatory jumpscares. Granted, there are some images, but most of the entertainment value comes from the recordings and phone calls.
Another note in the guide: you know it’s going to be a horror movie when it’s distributed by A24, and when it features religious artifacts and characters, dark rooms with only a few lights on, and a young woman caught in the mist of them. And that contributes to the positives of “Undertone,” the debut of writer/director Ian Tuason, who wrote this film while caring for his dying parents. Thus being another contribution to the main heroine’s mother.
Even thought the denying formula wears out its welcome, and it usually does, I still think Kiri does a great job as the main podcaster. She has so much pathos in her life right now, like her dying mother, newly discovered pregnancy, and what may be something otherworldly. And the “Undertone” sessions helps her cope with it all. At least that’s what her character tells Justin. “Undertone,” the movie, might start off slow, but picks up once we keep listening.
This is how the podcasters close off their show and now this is how I’m closing this review: “Don’t be afraid of the dark. Be afraid of the silence.”
