March 15, 2026

Hello, lovely readers. I have been hard at work on my top films of 2025 list, which is turning in to a slightly bigger project than expected! In the meantime, though, I’ve been seeing a few of 2026’s offerings and have some thoughts on A24’s newest horror, Undertone. The film’s the directorial debut of Ian Tuason and stars Nina Kiri, Michèle Duquet, and… not too many others. It follows Evy as she cares for her dying mother and records podcast episodes on paranormal happenings with her long-distance friend, while disturbing occurrences become more and more common.

Like a lot of other modern horror movies from independent studios, this film relied heavily on a viral marketing campaign. From obscure, ARG-adjacent clips posted to social media and reviewers citing this as one of the scariest films of all time, it generated quite a bit of buzz from horror fans. Though, not to get on too much of a tangent here, this viral campaign strategy has been used time and time again at this point, even from just A24. So, though I’ll always be a sucker for some creepy ARGs and creative marketing, I was wary from being burned by this trend in the past.

But, I’m happy to report that this film was actually creepy and creative! I was pleasantly surprised that this film tried something new, and though it doesn’t completely work, it was a good first effort from this director.

I saw some other reviewers find this to be a detraction, but I think one of the biggest aspects I enjoyed about this movie was how limited its scope is. It’s claustrophobic, forcing us to reckon with one location throughout its runtime. It really enveloped me in Evy’s isolation and feelings of being trapped. She’s stuck, caring for her mother, in a relationship that’s going nowhere, with a best friend far away, and to that end, the supernatural elements truly felt representative of her dark feelings.

On the topic of the supernatural elements, I don’t think this will go down as anything spectacular in terms of reinventing the wheel of paranormal horror. However, as someone who frequently listens to ghost videos and “debunk content,” I found the references to viral internet creepiness to be really charming. Yes, technically the podcasting itself doesn’t make a lot of sense, and the technology is used in weird ways, but I didn’t find that to be too bothersome.

A lot of this movie essentially feels like the podcasters are reacting to Paranormal Activity, and then those happenings come to them (which ironically is probably why this director is already tapped to direct the next Paranormal Activity movie). And that may be silly to some, but I found it to be fun.

That’s probably my biggest takeaway: this is a fun horror movie. A lot of A24’s horror catalog really dives in deep to themes of family trauma, and while that is here a little bit, it seems to place a lot more of the emphasis on making you listen to some creepy sounds while building up to a bombastic conclusion. That does leave the first acts feeling a bit disjointed, but I think the payoff is worth it. And at roughly ninety minutes, it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

So, yeah! If you’re looking for a fun, quick little horror movie with some unique ideas, I’d recommend this one. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel and it’s far from the scariest horror movie ever (despite the posters, it isn’t even the scariest sounding horror movie I’ve listened to), but it’s definitely worth a watch.

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Thanks for checking out this post! Stay tuned for more. In the meantime, if you want to hear more of my thoughts on some iconic pop culture, consider giving Monkey D. Luffy vs. the World, the podcast I co-host, a listen! We’re covering One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, the works of Suda51, and more to come. If any of that interests you, please check it out!