31 Days of Horror: If you like a good, creepy slow burn, Undertone is a perfect fit
A day doesn’t go by that someone in one of the horror social media groups I am part of doesn’t beg for a movie that will truly terrify them. They even proclaim they want a movie that will traumatize them (though I doubt they truly mean that), or keep them up at night. Yet, when presented with recommendations for films such as Undertone, they denounce them as “boring.”
For me personally, these slow burns creep me out more than all of the gory slashers out there. For the record, there is nothing wrong with a bloody slash-fest film – but those aren’t the ones that ones that give me the willies. Instead, in my humble opinion, films like Undertone, The Witch, and Hereditary just inch their way under my skin and put my senses on high alert.
Undertone relies on isolation and unsettling audio to pull us in, and this strategy works very well, especially when coupled with Nina Kiri’s performance as the overwhelmed Evy. Evy is the caregiver for her dying, comatose mother, and is living in Mom’s house.
While there, she and her unseen friend Justin record their podcast, called The Undertone, in which they explore occurrences that appear to be supernatural – Evy is the skeptic, and Justin is the believer.
The uneasiness begins when Justin presents Evy with some letters and ten audio files he was sent anonymously. He plays the files during their podcast sessions, and we are pulled into the lives of Mike and Jessa. Mike has begun recording Jessa while she is sleeping, because she talks in her sleep. In the first recording, the woman sings the song London Bridge while she is sleeping, and Justin plays that part backwards, insisting that he hears her saying “Mike, kill them all.”
Evy begins a deep dive into children’s songs, including her personal favorite Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. When she plays it backwards, she hears, “Lick the blood off.”
It just gets scarier from there, as Evy’s mental state begins to unravel, and the two podcasters carry on listening to the audio files. Mike and Jessa’s story plays out to a horrifying end, and the final 8 minutes or so of Undertone genuinely gave me full body chills.
Undertone is one of those films that is best watched in absolute darkness, with the sound up.
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