Film Review Undertone (2025) : A Psychological Horror Built on Mysterious Voice Recordings

 

Undertone | 2025 | 1h 34m
Genre: Folk Horror / Monster Horror / Psychological Horror / Supernatural Horror / Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller | Country: Canada
Director: Ian Tuason | Writer: Ian Tuason
Cast: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet
IMDb: 5.9
My Rating: 6/10

Evy works as a podcaster while taking care of her mother, who has been in a coma. However, her life begins to change after she and her co-host receive an email containing voice recordings and a horrifying story that slowly drags them into a series of terrifying events that are difficult to explain.

Warning:

Alcohol, violence

Synopsis:

Evy lives with her mother, who has been in a coma for a long time. Despite her situation, she continues working as a podcaster alongside her best friend, Justin. They record their podcast remotely over the phone, always at three o'clock in the morning.

One day, Justin receives an email from an unknown sender. The email contains a mysterious message along with ten voice recordings. Assuming it is nothing more than a prank submission from a listener, they decide to use it as the topic for their next podcast episode.

However, as they begin playing the recordings one by one, a series of terrifying and unexplainable events slowly starts haunting their lives. Horrific incidents continue to unfold until their own lives are placed in danger.

What is really hidden behind those ten voice recordings?

Review:

Receiving a mysterious message from an unknown person would usually make anyone think twice before responding. However, that is not the case for Justin and Evy in Undertone (2025). This psychological horror film uses an email containing voice recordings as the gateway to a terror that slowly creeps in and steadily intensifies.

The film's opening is executed very well. The soft humming of a children's song, while carrying a dark and mysterious undertone, immediately creates an unsettling atmosphere. Evy's introduction alongside her mother, who is in a coma, adds emotional weight to the opening scene. The silence inside the house is gradually filled with subtle background sounds such as a boiling kettle and a television, creating a sense of unease without relying on excessive visuals. Right from the beginning, the film successfully builds horror through silence.

The central medium of the story is also introduced effectively. The podcast equipment, the recording process, and the way Evy and Justin communicate are all presented naturally as the foundation before the main conflict begins. Everything feels relevant to the story instead of simply serving as decorative props.

The conflict does not arrive through sudden shocks but develops gradually. The voice recordings are played one after another as the atmosphere becomes increasingly tense. Sound design becomes the film's greatest strength. The audience is invited to listen to disturbing sounds as if experiencing the same process as the characters themselves. The terror grows more intense with every recording they hear.

The contents of the voice recordings also become the gateway to powerful internal conflicts for the characters. The memories and guilt expressed by the owner of the recordings turn out to be closely connected to Evy's own situation. Her strained relationship with her comatose mother, combined with the revelation at the end that Evy is about to become the mother of a child she never wanted, makes every recording feel increasingly personal. The terror is no longer just about mysterious voices; it gradually touches the emotional wounds Evy has kept hidden for so long, eventually affecting her mental state.

The ending is presented in a fairly intriguing way, although it leaves plenty of confusion behind. The film never provides a definitive answer about what actually happened. Instead, the mysterious voices heard in the final moments are left hanging without any visual explanation, allowing viewers to form their own interpretations.

Behind its ambiguous ending, the film's central idea becomes both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. Undertone offers a fairly fresh horror concept. Instead of relying on monsters, ghosts, or jump scares, it builds fear through sound, children's songs, folklore, and trauma that slowly eats away at its characters. Evy's relationship with her mother also adds an interesting emotional layer. Unfortunately, these ideas are never explored as deeply as their potential deserves.

The film's production scale is undeniably small. The number of on-screen actors is very limited, as are the locations used throughout the film. Some characters are heard only through their voices, including Justin, the people in the recordings, and the callers. However, these limitations actually fit quite well with a story centered around audio as its primary medium.

The performances by Evy and her mother feel fairly natural, but they do not leave a particularly strong impression. In several scenes, Evy's expressions of fear are not quite convincing enough to fully immerse the audience in her panic. On the other hand, the voice actors deliver much stronger performances. Both Justin and the people featured in the recordings successfully create tension purely through their vocal delivery and emotional expression, something that is actually quite difficult to accomplish.

The atmosphere is built exceptionally well, but the story's foundation still leaves quite a few unanswered questions. The illness affecting Evy's mother, the reason Evy once wanted to end her mother's life, the identities of Justin and Darren, and the father of Evy's unborn child are never explained thoroughly enough. While some mysteries are intentionally left open, others feel as though they were simply never fully developed.

Logical inconsistencies also appear in the podcast production process. At the beginning, their podcast is shown as a recorded program that is edited before being uploaded every Friday. However, there is never a clear explanation as to why the recording sessions must take place at three o'clock in the morning, although this can still be understood if we assume there is a time zone difference between Evy and Justin.

Another issue arises near the end of the story when listeners suddenly begin speaking through the phone call during the recording session. If the podcast is not being broadcast live, the film never explains how the listeners know the exact time to call. Small details like this make the story's logic feel slightly shaky.

Evy's character as a skeptic is actually quite interesting because she serves as a counterbalance to the film's supernatural theme. However, as the story progresses, her skepticism does not develop very naturally. Even when evidence begins appearing right in front of her, she continues trying to deny everything. As a result, her skepticism feels more like a narrative necessity than a natural character arc.

Although it still has several weaknesses in terms of story depth and logical consistency, Undertone still manages to deliver a different kind of horror experience. The choice of music, sound effects, camera transitions, and visual details all work together exceptionally well to create a lingering sense of discomfort. For a film with a relatively small production scale, its technical aspects provide a surprisingly impressive experience.

Undertone proves that fear does not always come from something we can see. Sometimes, a faint sound, prolonged silence, and unresolved memories can create a terror far more disturbing than a monster standing right before our eyes. Although the film still has several shortcomings in terms of story depth and logical consistency, it offers a refreshing approach to psychological horror. For viewers who enjoy horror films with a strong atmosphere and clever use of sound, Undertone is worth checking out.

Memorable Scene:

Evy's mother has been in a coma for a very long time. Evy recalls every interaction and memory they once shared, every moment of warmth that once felt so close but has now slowly become nothing more than a memory. In the middle of her depression, Evy asks her mother why she no longer speaks to her.

Seeing someone we love no longer able to respond to our words creates a sense of loss that is difficult to describe. We hope they will open their eyes again, answer our greetings, or simply create one more memory with us. However, hope does not always go hand in hand with reality. All that remains is an empty space that slowly fills our hearts. Not because we refuse to accept reality, but because a part of us still wonders why it all had to happen.

Memorable Dialogue:

"I killed my mother."

 
Ending:

Cliffhanger

Recommendation:

Okay to Watch

(Aluna Uwie)