March's wide release of The Undertone rings into our primal fear

A24 is bringing us some unsoundly terror in its global release of the festival hit.

Nina Kiri as Evy - Courtesy of A24

Guests at the 29th annual Fantasia International Film Festival in July were treated to the premiere of Ian Tuason’s The Undertone. The following August, A24 acquired the global distribution rights in a bidding war that reportedly involved six buyers and a seven figure deal. With the rights being sold, horror lovers around the world will soon be able to experience one of the festival’s most unique films. 

The Undertone follows skeptical paranormal podcaster Evy (Nina Kiri) who moves into her dying mother’s house to take care of her. Her remote co-host Justin (Kris Holden-Ried), who readily believes in the supernatural, receives an email containing ten audio recordings of a pregnant couple that seem to parallel Evy’s past and trauma. 

Described as a slow burn psychological horror, the film was acclaimed for its use of sound. Its auditory aspects made for terrifying, unshakable sequences.

Tuason conceived the idea for The Undertone—his directorial debut—while caring for his own sick parents. At the time, he had been writing a scripted podcast about creepy pastas. He began writing scenes in between the episodes that would eventually all tie into the finished script. 

Technology and sound have been used as horror plot devices in films such as Poltergeist, White Noise, and Pulse. A Quiet Place famously counters this by relying on the absence of sound to terrify us. But these films have a broader caliber that contrasts with The Undertone’s claustrophobic and eerie atmosphere. Needless to say, sound plays an effective role in how we scare ourselves. But why exactly is this?

We’ve all experienced that palpitation when a loud, sudden noise hits our ears and makes the hairs on the back of our necks stand up. The reaction many of us have to jump scares. This reaction is, in fact, evolutionary—passed down from our ancient ancestors as a response to perceived danger. Nonlinear and abruptly loud sounds trigger an involuntary response because our biological wiring perceives such noises as threats. This is why jump scares are so popular (maybe even overused) in horror movies. 

However, according to many of the initial viewers, The Undertone mercifully does not rely on jump scares. Rather, it establishes an “immersive aural horror experience.” Since much of the focus is on Evy examining audio, there are frequent moments of replays, fluctuating volume, and isolating sound bytes. 

Also according to viewers, the film features at least one popular nursery rhyme played backwards at disturbingly different speeds. While not eliciting the same fight-or-flight response that jump scares do, distorting familiar and comforting sounds, especially those we associate with childhood security, taps into that same evolutionary terror.

According to A24’s website, The Undertone is set to be released March 13, 2026.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss317AiSpzI