Undertone

Undertone, the new A24 chiller, marks an authoritative directorial debut from writer-director Ian Tuason and a feature-length one-woman show for its star, Nina Kiri, who is almost the sole person to hold the screen. Still, it’s a specific set of production credits one awaits most eagerly when reaching the end: that of sound designers David Gertsman and Steph Copeland, sound mixer Dane Kelly, and foley artists Diego Marcone, Martin Scaglia and Lautaro Zamaro. As was already discernible from its trailer, undertone is much more about what’s heard than what’s seen, and more than that, it’s about the multiplicity of sound’s roles in any horror. Throughout, this team marshals an ensemble of bumps in the night; whispers that snake their way around your shoulders and all but encourage you to look around for their source; vague mutterings lying underneath a banal recording that grow in prominence and texture with every re-listen until they aren’t so much gently rustling static as they are threats growled directly in your ear. Of course, the carefully poised silences are loudest of all, and the most loaded with sinister possibility. Tuason and co. know as well as we do that things only get so quiet in a haunted house so the peace can be violently shattered, and their love letter to – among other all-stars – the short, sharp bang set to fling you back in your seat intends to make you feel this intrusion of sound more keenly than you have in a while.

On the level of ideas, Undertone is neither subversive nor trying to be, cheerfully playing the hits. Kiri is Evy, co-host of a paranormal-themed true-crime podcast, sharing a spooky old house with the ailing mother (Michele Duquet, largely bedbound and unspeaking, but making chilling work of it), who will provide much of the visual component of the evening’s frights. Alternating between willing the old woman to wake and willing her overeager recording partner, Justin (Adam DiMarco, seen but not heard), to stay on track, Evy will hear grisly stories of potential supernatural occurrences and make much the same protestations one would expect of her. It’s a hoax! Coincidence! Of course it’s that, and of course Tuason and co are giddily ramping up to prove how wrong she is. If there’s a real audience surrogate amidst Undertone’s slim cast, it’s likely Justin, who’s all but willing these old newspaper headlines of murder-suicides and child murders past to turn out to have a demonic twist in the tail. Tuason’s movie is a steadily building anticipation game, and one that feels intended for those who have not only suspected something they heard muffled in the background of an old recording, but secretly hoped there really was more to it than meets the ear. It also accurately approximates the experience of listening to a paranormal mystery podcast, and, on a slightly less welcome occasion, the experience of a divided chatroom when the two hosts set to arguing.

A wholly conventional haunted house romp it may ultimately be, but there’s a hypnotic confidence to the film, the kind that leaves your left ear and right braced for impact. It’s just a pity that after the preceding 80-ish minutes of build-up, Undertone’s pay off cuts itself short so quickly, denying us the gratification of the frenzied peak it seems to still be approaching. Optimistically, this could be seen as reframing the whole experience as just a tease for something greater and more horrible yet from Tuason. Cynically, one could see the Paranormal Activity instalment lined up for the director and conclude that, like so many Sundance debuts, what we’ve really just seen is a skilful audition reel for franchise work. Time will tell.

This effectively jolting new horror would make a strong companion piece with Hampstead Theatre’s recent A Ghost in Your Ear, with vivid sound design proving as immersive as if you were wearing headphones. If the story is little more than familiar tropes stitched together, the soundscape carries and steals the show to such a degree that it scarcely matters. If the pay-off were more satisfying, Undertone would be a doozy.