Undertone
Evangeline Babic is the sceptic, Justin Manuel the believer, and once a week on Friday night, available wherever you get your podcasts from, together they are the Undertone, exploring strange and mysterious happenings, their scheduled recording sessions set for around three in the morning to tie in with his work shifts and her duties as a carer for her terminally ill mother whose periods of lucidity are infrequent and diminishing.
Justin having been sent an anonymous email with ten audio files attached to it, he has held off listening past the first in order that he and Evy can experience them together, recording their initial unguarded reactions as they happen, a man named Mike recording his girlfriend Jessa as she sleeps to prove to her that she talks and sings, old nursery rhymes which Justin becomes convinced contain hidden messages, other voices…
The feature directorial debut of Ian Tuason from his own screenplay, Undertone is a minimalist horror film, set entirely with the confines of Mama’s house with its granny decor, floral wallpaper, cushioned chairs and religious icons, stifling Evy (Nina Kiri) as she waits for the inevitable end and tries to occupy herself, isolated in the dark with only the voice of Justin (Adam DiMarco) for company, though little comfort, hearing noises which may be more than her fears expressing themselves.
Justin having been randomly sent the ten recordings, convinced they will not only offer sufficient material to explore in the podcast but that they will provide a complete and clear narrative, an end to the story with the final playback, it is a level of naive credulity which is passed on to the viewer, having to accept that someone is not attempting a hoax to discredit the team and that without any way to verify or validate the communications that the voices are supernatural.
An ambitious conceit, to build the tension for the most part around what is heard rather than seen, Evy left alone to care for a dying woman and already understandably stressed and sleep deprived even before she receives the confirmation that she is pregnant, Undertone recalls The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh and Pontypool in construction while the plot recalls Noroi, the backmasking containing incantations to Abyzou, a demon blamed for miscarriages.
The only thing worse than a poorly prepared podcast overly reliant on creepy nursery rhymes, urban legends, unproven myths and a willingness to forgo critical thinking the oft-interrupted production of such with dead air and confusion ruling, Undertone is a film which works better in concept than execution, perhaps best experienced as Evy does, at home alone in the dark, on a laptop with headphones eliminating all external presences, distractions and respite.
Undertone will be on general release from Friday 10th April
