Undertone (2026) Review

We should stop listening. 

I know I can't be the only one who gets excited about relevant horror movies. As big as the podcasting industry is, especially when it comes to the paranormal and true crime, the plot of Undertone is a slam dunk. With A24 in the mix, Ian Tuason delivers an audio-focused experience meant to terrify the audience. But does it?

We spend the film's runtime with Evy (Nina Kiri), a podcaster who is back in her childhood home to care for her dying mother. Outside of caring for her mother, Evy co-hosts a podcast called "The Undertone Podcast" with her friend, Justin (Adam DiMarco), whom we never see on screen. Justin introduces a set of audio clips that have the pair feeling like maybe there's something sinister at work. Tuason does a great job of setting up the story and getting us invested in Evy and Justin's journey to unraveling what the audio clips might mean. 

The more unsettling the audio clips become, the more things at home get a bit creepy for Evy. There are layers of religious trauma threaded in the storyline, though its roots are left more of a mystery. Tuason dials back on his delivery, which may be to its detriment. Flickering lights, camera pans across the room, shadows in the corner; all the makings of a horror movie. Yet the film comes across flat, lacking enough suspense to keep the scenes coherent. Evy is mostly offset on the screen, the camera leaving room for something to fill its space. But Tuason doesn't do anything with this. 

The final ten minutes start to ramp up only to slow fizzle out into the credits. Undertone fails to live up to its expectation and left me feeling like what I just watched was a trailer for a Halloween haunted attraction and not an A24 movie.