Horror movies made by A24 are so unique that they’ve sort of carved themselves a separate subgenre. These movies embody a unique indie-thriller aesthetic that younger or more niche audiences have begun to crave. A24’s newest horror movie, undertone, is no different.
As a member of AAA24, I had a free ticket for undertone’s opening weekend. I was bored and didn’t have much else to do, and the trailer looked okay. I figured, why not go see it?
I’ve literally never been more scared of a movie in my life. Not since I was 11 and watched A Nightmare on Elm Street for the first time, at least. I watched almost the entire third act of the movie through my fingers. I took my jump-scare-proof father with me, and even he left the theater spooked.
It’s only 90 minutes, but you feel every single second as it passes. The entire movie takes place in one house and feels positively claustrophobic. Only two characters have faces: the main character, Evy, and her dying mother. All other characters in the movie are only their voices.
Evy hosts a podcast along with her friend Justin in which they react to and analyze different paranormal media online. She plays the part of the skeptic, and he the gullible believer.
They receive an email containing scantily titled audio recordings of a pregnant couple that showcase their progressing turmoil. It becomes personal to Evy when the recordings bear a stark resemblance to her life.
The movie advertises itself as “the scariest movie you’ll ever hear,” and I couldn’t agree more. Every sound was pointed and purposeful in aiding to scare me out of my seat. It was an absolute masterclass in horror sound design.
You’re forced to rely entirely on sound to follow the story it unravels, putting sounds to locations as the camera pans through the house. By limiting your vision to just Evy and her house, the sound design of the movie becomes downright terrifying.
As a film nerd, I immediately jumped on Letterboxd to write my glowing review. If you couldn’t tell, I loved the movie. I am of the opinion that horror is at its best when movies are constantly finding new ways to make it harder for me to sleep at night.
Color me shocked when I found out how many other watchers disliked the movie. One-star reviews thrown left and right, and not just from my Letterboxd mutuals. As any good student does, I read the critiques.
The movie is slow and does build a lot of tension. The ending comes fast in comparison to the amount of tension that it builds up. This is a fair reason to dislike the movie; slow burn isn’t for everybody. To dismiss it as a facet of horror is another thing.
Modern horror often relies on instant gratification and the classic slasher formula of jump scares and gory murders, so I think that movies like undertone are more likely to lose their audience’s attention.
Another critique I saw was that the movie had anti-abortion messaging. I disagree with this; undertone was trying (and admittedly failing) to convey a more complex message.
I think that it was rather dealing with the often-suffocating nature of religion in your past when you’re trying to shape your future. I do understand where this interpretation comes from, but I don’t think it was the movie’s intention.
Overall, I think that undertone was an incredibly terrifying horror movie with a unique premise and plot. The problem that this movie has, like many other horror/thriller movies of this age, is that it isn’t sure of what it’s trying to say.
The plot is too muddy to pull a solid thematic analysis from the movie, despite it begging for such. Still, it was beautifully shot and produced, and a very fun watch.
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