undertone Review: Modern Horror Masterwork

Ian Tuason reinvigorates interest in Canadian genre cinema with the unsettling aural nightmares of undertone, and cements himself as a filmmaker to watch.

Of course, having its world premiere at a major festival (its retooled version was screened at Sundance earlier this year) means that hyperbole is bound to occur on social media, where the ones who have seen it will tout it as “The scariest movie ever made!” or “One of the greatest horror movies I’ve ever seen!” Yet, with Tuason now set to direct the eighth installment of the Paranormal Activity franchise for Paramount after his big horror breakout, I was morbidly curious to see what the hype for undertone was all about.

Watching the movie, it didn’t take long for me to feel a sense of unease creeping under me, as the initial conceit of a podcaster listening to creepy recordings morphs into something else entirely. What it is, I will not reveal in this review. This is the type of film that needs to be seen without knowing a single thing about it (other than the genre). Don’t even watch a trailer. Let it surprise you as it surprised (and, yes, scared) me. I haven’t been scared in front of something, on the big screen, in at least a decade. And by scared, I define it as being so frightened by what’s on screen that I can’t sleep at night, go to bed with the blinds unshuttered, or, worst-case scenario, leave the lights on in my room. 

To me, the mark of a horror masterwork lies in this specific definition of what “being scared” means. If the movie accomplishes that, I can’t give it more than my commendations, though undertone can’t be recommended to anyone who gets easily scared during horror movies, even at the slightest jumpscare. The best part about it is that Tuason never accomplishes this with visual excess, extreme violence, or an overabundance of “gotcha!” moments. There are the odd jumpscare or two, but the bulk of undertone’s scares comes from its intricate sound design. 

Never have I heard (in Dolby Atmos, mind you) such a well-defined, meticulous soundscape in a contemporary horror film. Right from its opening scene, it immediately envelops the audience inside a precise aural environment and creates diegetic parameters to let us comprehend what’s most important to listen to: the labored breaths of Evy’s mother (Michèle Duquet), the transition from the echoes of their home to the noise-cancelling quietude of high-end headphones, and the clicks and cracks of a corrupted sound file, which could contain hidden messages that are extracted and scrupulously investigated through the prism of an Audacity-like software. 

There isn’t a stone unturned in the creation of its atmospheric sounds, which become the beating heart and soul of undertone, as hosts Evy (Nina Kiri) and Justin (Adam DiMarco) listen to recordings that were sent by anonymous tips for their podcast, which focuses on whether the materials they have confirm a paranormal occurrence or not. Evy is the resident skeptic, while Justin is the “Santa Claus believer.” The two argue about the recordings’ validity until they dig deeper and find something they shouldn’t have.

If I’m being vague, it’s purposeful. The story’s mystery unravels slowly, but the payoff will shake you to your core. How the film flips religious imagery (and, in many cases, children’s songs) to its head feels genuinely daring for a genre picture to tackle and excavate through the lens of “paranormal-obsessed” podcast hosts. Tuason actively has something to say about the nature of such a project, unlike Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks, which stopped dead in its tracks right after its faux-documentary cold open. 

I’d love to get in detail and discuss this, but, again, saying too much would ruin the pleasures of discovering what lies beneath the recordings. And if you think undertone is a pure exercise in auditory horror, think again. Tuason’s staging is just as effective, with economical blocking and movement choices that know exactly how to elevate the production’s relatively small budget (of $500.000) into sophisticated filmmaking. As Evy delves deeper into the significance of each recording, strange occurrences begin to occur in her home. The use of second screens, mirrors, and crucifixes becomes integral to how cinematographer Graham Beasley’s camera moves, and how editor Sonny Atkins will stitch a sequence that intercuts between a character looking at a screen and the images they are attempting to draw meaning from.

Most of it is left open to interpretation, but it won’t be long before you become entranced by the film’s hypnotic power and could very much develop a panic attack as the sounds become more pronounced (read: demonic) and Evy begins to question what is real and a fabric of her imagination. The final scene – a masterpiece in its own right – made me yell in the cinema. This has never happened in any horror movie, in a moviegoing venue, or at home. Utilizing personal experience to describe a movie can sometimes hamper the review. However, by keeping the details vague, I need to convey that I was feeling extremely unwell and distressed in front of a movie that begins disquietingly and culminates in a succession of images (and sounds) so unnerving they are bound to leave an imprint on your memory. 

undertone is truly one of the best contemporary horror movies I’ve ever seen. No amount of Fantasia hyperbole can truly sell how special and once-in-a-generation a movie like this is. And Nina Kiri, who has been acting for a considerable amount of time, most notably in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale, gives a total breakout performance in the film world as Evy, one that will set a promising career up for a (very) long time. Tuason already has another project in the works, the eighth film in a longstanding franchise that has undergone many reinventions (most of them forgettable, save for the Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman entries), but what he’s accomplished with undertone is more important. 

If Canadian genre cinema has experienced a worrisome absence in the country for many years after it failed to replicate the success of Hollywood productions in the 1980s and 1990s, it has more than bounced back in the hands of innovators like R.T. Thorne (40 Acres), Matt Johnson (Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie), and Ian Tuason. undertone serves as a reminder that Canadian artists can – and should – formally (and aurally) experiment if they want their cinema to survive and, most importantly, thrive. It will yield jaw-dropping results for the audience, but, most importantly, success for our industry, and beyond…

undertone will be released in US theatres on March 13, 2026 and in UK & Irish cinemas on April 10, 2026.