Undertone | Film Review

 

When podcast host Evy (Nina Kiri) is sent recordings of a couple's paranormal encounters, she soon discovers that the encounters mirror her own.

Horror movies have been getting great word of mouth lately, there are at least four that I've heard great things about, this being one of them, so it was immediately on the to-watch list.

I liked this movie, but there are definitely some issues with it.

It's really interesting to have a horror movie focused so much on sound. A lot of the atmosphere is created from what we can hear rather than what we see, which makes things incredibly unique.

That being said, the shots also do a good job of creating this unsettling feeling that's present throughout the movie. Filming from afar and behind works really well for a film like this, with a single location. It means that, even though we're mostly in one room, it never feels claustrophobic or boring. The varying lighting changes also help with this.

Having both a single location and a single character is risky, but in this case it works because it makes us feel like we're living with Evy and experiencing what she is. The issue with this is that if you're not into Evy as a character, or the concept of the film, there's no escape. The tone doesn't suddenly change, we don't get to meet new characters, we're essentially stuck.

Evy is a very frustrating main character, and eventually the lack of survival instincts does feel unrealistic and make the film a less fun watch than it might have been otherwise.

There are also issues with the sound format. For scary things it works, but practically it can be hard to work out who's talking when all we're hearing is voices on a phone.

The subtle horror is effective if you're willing to fully sink into it, but if you're not on board from the very beginning, it won't really work for you.

When it finishes, the whole film feels like you've been dropped into the middle of a situation that you have no context for. There's no beginning and there's no real ending. We have no idea what's going on, we have no idea why, we don't really understand much about what we just saw, and despite liking the film, it did feel a bit like a waste of time.

So overall, while again stressing that I did like the film, it definitely won't be one for everyone and I completely get why some wouldn't like it at all.

6.5/10