Director Ian Tuason delivers a stunning feature-film debut in Undertone, a creepy blend of supernatural thriller and religious horror that delves into themes of faith, guilt, and the arrogant evocation of evil.
It always comes back to The Exorcist. 50-plus years since the release William Friedkin’s horror masterpiece, the horror scene and its filmmakers still try to replicate the same visceral impact that The Exorcist branded upon the genre.
It’s no small thing to state then that Undertone is the closest movie to match both the visceral and spiritual impact of The Exorcist. Much like The Exorcist writer William Peter Blatty, Undertone director and writer Ian Tuason is a Catholic who takes the theme of evil seriously as an insidious, penetrating force that preys on the vulnerable.
In the case of Undertone that person is Evy (Nina Kiri) the co-host of the popular supernatural podcast “Undertone” which she shares hosting duties with Justin (Adam Di Marco). Playing the roles of sceptic and believer (respectfully), Evy and Justin investigate 10 audio files emailed to them that allegedly captures a demon named Abyzou plaguing a young married couple (Keana Lyn Bastidas and Jeff Young) with each recording increasing in intensity. It doesn’t take long for Abyzou to invade Evy’s home where she is caretaker for her dying mother (Michèle Duquet.)
Filmed in Tuason’s childhood home, the creation of Undertone is influenced by the Canadian filmmaker’s time as caretaker for his deeply religious parents who were dying of cancer during the Covid lockdowns. Such a stressful and vulnerable time brought forth all matter of inner-discussion – faith, mortality, burden, guilt, sacrifice – which Tuason deftly weaves into his screenplay.
Evy very much is a conduit for Tuason’s struggles and Kiri delivers a fine performance while doing so. As the primary figure in Undertone, it is her reaction and presence that drives the core emotions of fear, guilt, and curiosity that lead Evy down a dark lefthand path in the obsession of an evil spirit that devours new life.
Tuason first envisioned his story as a podcast series, hence the reason why the horror of Undertone is primarily of the audio variety. The 10 audio files that are centre of the films’ horror are incredibly chilling portrayals of a young domestic life turned hellscape nightmare that triggers the imagination to work its nightmarish wonders. Tuason along with cinematographer Graham Beasley compliment with askew framed shots that glide across the hallways and staircase of the film’s house setting adorned with all matter of religious iconography.
It is all part and parcel of a film that explores the insidious nature of evil and the dispirited life of faith shunned only for a festering darkness to worm its way through the gaps of a wounded soul; a cinematic portrayal of spiritual warfare gone to hell.
