undertone
Here is what horror films used to understand and largely forgot: the scariest thing in the world is not what you can see. It is what you almost see. What you hear from the next room. What plays backwards in a familiar nursery rhyme and says something a nursery rhyme should never say.
Full analysis below
NOT A WOKE TRAP. undertone scores TRADITIONAL with a margin of +18 TRAD. The one woke data point (abortion clinic appointment) appears early in the film and does not constitute a third-act ideological pivot. The traditional content -- Catholic faith architecture, maternal protection mythology, spiritual consequences for rejecting prayer -- is present and load-bearing from start to finish. No deceptive packaging.
Our Verdict on undertone
Here is what horror films used to understand and largely forgot: the scariest thing in the world is not what you can see. It is what you almost see. What you hear from the next room. What plays backwards in a familiar nursery rhyme and says something a nursery rhyme should never say.
undertone, Ian Tuason's debut feature, gets this. It gets it so completely that it built an entire film around the idea, stripped out every safety net, and handed the whole thing to one actress in a childhood home in Rexdale, Toronto.
The setup is deceptively simple. Evy Babic (Nina Kiri) is a paranormal podcast host and lifelong skeptic who has moved back home to care for her comatose mother. Her co-host Justin, heard only as a voice through her laptop, is the true believer. Together they receive a set of anonymous audio files from a couple named Mike and Jessa -- recordings of Jessa talking in her sleep. Justin plays one backward. He insists he can hear something. Evy, who has spent years debunking every ghost story sent to their show, is not impressed.
Then she plays one of her own childhood songs in reverse.
Tuason knows how to turn the screw. The horror escalates through audio -- reversed nursery rhymes carrying impossible messages, voices that seem to address Evy directly, a demon from Mediterranean folklore who causes miscarriages and drives mothers to kill their children. The film's central discovery, that a demon named Abyzou has been drawn to Evy because she is six weeks pregnant and terrified of motherhood, is the kind of mythological precision that separates genuine horror writing from jump-scare assembly lines. This demon punishes women who fail to protect their children. Evy, who has scheduled a clinic appointment and refuses to pray at her mother's bedside, is exactly the person Abyzou is looking for.
The Catholic architecture of undertone is not window dressing. It is structural. Evy's guilt about prayer, the Virgin Mary statue that keeps moving around the house, the sense that her skepticism has left her spiritually undefended -- these are not generic horror tropes. They are the specific terrain of a lapsed faith confronting its consequences. Tuason, who drew directly from his own experience of watching his parents face terminal cancer, makes faith feel like something real and costly rather than decorative.
Nina Kiri's performance is extraordinary. She is alone for most of the film's 94 minutes, and she has to carry the audience's dread on her face while her character insists there is nothing to be afraid of. By the time she stops insisting, you believe every second of her fear because you watched it build from nothing.
The film's most controversial element -- Evy's pregnancy and scheduled abortion -- is handled as personal horror rather than political statement. The demon's mythology specifically targets women who reject motherhood. The film does not preach, but it does not look away either. The consequence of Evy's choices, spiritual and practical, is the engine of the third act.
For a film that cost $500,000 and was shot in the director's childhood bedroom, undertone is an embarrassment to everything that costs a hundred times more and delivers a tenth as much dread.
Woke Tropes & Content Analysis
Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier
🔴 Woke Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Protagonist Schedules Abortion Appointment | 3 | Moderate | Moderate | 3 |
| Single Woman Living Independently, No Partner Present | 2 | High | Low | 0.7 |
| TOTAL WOKE | 3.7 | |||
🟢 Traditional Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catholic Faith as Structural Horror Architecture | 5 | High | High | 6.3 |
| Maternal Caregiving as Moral Obligation | 4 | High | High | 5.04 |
| Abyzou Mythology Affirms Sacred Duty of Motherhood | 4 | High | High | 5.04 |
| Spiritual Consequences for Rejecting Prayer and Faith | 3 | High | Moderate | 2.1 |
| Faith as Active Defense Against the Supernatural | 3 | High | Moderate | 2.1 |
| Traditional Folk Horror Lore (Nursery Rhymes, Children's Songs) | 2 | High | Moderate | 1.4 |
| TOTAL TRADITIONAL | 22.0 | |||
Score Margin: +18.3 TRAD
Director: Ian Tuason
Traditional-adjacent. No known ideological activism. Film draws heavily from Catholic upbringing and personal experience caregiving for terminally ill parents.Ian Tuason is a Filipino-Canadian writer-director making his feature debut with undertone. The film is not just a calling card -- it is autobiographical. Tuason spent years caring for his parents as they faced terminal cancer in the early 2020s, and that grief, isolation, and spiritual confrontation is embedded in every frame. The film was shot in his actual childhood home in Rexdale, Toronto, and began as a radio play before evolving into a screenplay. Tuason won the gold audience award at the Fantasia International Film Festival before A24 acquired worldwide rights in a seven-figure deal. His sensibility is minimalist, dread-forward, and rooted in the kind of Catholic guilt and supernatural folklore that doesn't show up in films made by people who didn't grow up with it.
Writer: Ian Tuason
Sole credited writer. Tuason channels his own caregiving experience into a tight, economical horror screenplay that uses the Abyzou demon from Mediterranean and European folklore as its central mythological engine. The script's most distinctive structural choice is keeping all characters except Evy and her mother entirely off-screen, heard only as voices -- a discipline that forces the horror to live in sound and imagination rather than image.
Content Breakdown
Adult Viewer Insight
Conservative adults should know what they are getting with undertone: a Catholic-inflected supernatural horror film where the protagonist's rejection of faith and pregnancy leave her spiritually exposed to a demon who specifically targets mothers. The film takes its religious framework seriously. The Abyzou mythology, the Virgin Mary motif, the weight of Evy's refusal to pray -- these are not arbitrary horror set dressing. They are the film's thesis. The one element that may give some viewers pause is Evy scheduling an abortion appointment, but the narrative frames this decision as part of her vulnerability to the supernatural threat rather than as advocacy. The film does not celebrate the choice. The demon is drawn to it. Adults grounded in their faith will find undertone treats spiritual questions with unusual gravity for a theatrical horror release.
Parental Guidance
Rated R. Recommended for adults only. The film contains intense psychological horror, disturbing audio and imagery (backwards nursery rhymes, crayon drawings of dead infants, a body with a plastic bag over its head), and themes of miscarriage, infanticide, and demonic possession. Evy's pregnancy and abortion clinic appointment are discussed explicitly. A caller is heard murdering her infant child. The mother's animated corpse is the film's climactic scare. No graphic gore, but the psychological horror is sustained and genuinely disturbing. Not appropriate for children or teenagers. Adults sensitive to content involving harm to children or infants should be forewarned.
Is undertone Safe for Kids?
Parents should know that Undertone contains moderate profanity with several uses of strong language throughout, though it is not excessive. The film includes minimal sexual content, with no explicit nudity or sexual situations depicted on screen. Violence in this supernatural horror film is present but relies more on psychological tension than graphic gore. There are disturbing images and moments of physical harm, but the intensity is restrained rather than gratuitous. The film's primary scares come from atmospheric dread, unsettling sound design, and implied threats rather than explicit brutality. Alcohol and drug use are minimal and not prominent to the plot. The film contains spiritual and religious undertones consistent with traditional horror storytelling, including references to supernatural forces and spiritual disturbance. These are presented within the context of a horror narrative rather than promoting any particular ideology. The overall tone emphasizes what is suggested and heard rather than shown, creating unease through implication. This approach means younger viewers may find certain scenes psychologically disturbing even without graphic content. Some children may be frightened by the film's focus on corrupted familiar elements like nursery rhymes and domestic spaces turned sinister. Undertone is recommended for ages 14 and up. Mature teenagers with horror experience should be fine, though sensitive viewers or those younger than 14 may find the psychological horror elements disturbing despite the lack of graphic violence.
Find undertone on Amazon Prime Video, rent, or buy:
▶ Stream or Buy on AmazonAs an Amazon Associate, VirtueVigil earns from qualifying purchases.
Community Discussion 0
Subscribe to comment.
Join the VirtueVigil community to share your perspective on this review.