Undertone - The scoop and digest

Ian Tuason writes and directs his feature-length debut.

Those seen are Evy and Mama, with the rest only heard.

Nina Kiri - Evy

Adam DiMarco - Justin

Michèle Duquet - Mama

Keana Lyn Bastidas - Jessa

Jeff Yung - Mike

Summary

Evy Babic and Justin Manuel host supernatural podcast The Undertone, where she's the skeptic and he's the believer.

Pregnant by her terrible boyfriend Darren, she's obliged to care for her comatose mother.

One day, Justin is sent a mysterious email with ten audio files attached, recorded by a couple called Jessa and Mike.

The first three files mention Jessa sleepwalking and her singing shit backwards, during which, Justin insists he can hear "Mike, kill all".

When we get to fifth MP3, Jessa's gibberish is initially passed off as audio apophenia, but in reverse is actually "Abyzou come in".

Fear and paranoia sets faster than super glue.

Lick the blood off

Here's the deal.

Abyzou was unable to bear children and out of jealously, sneaked into houses and strangled infants.  As ultimate punishment, King Solomon had her hung in front of the temple of Jerusalem, but envy survived into the afterlife and she became a demon, causing miscarriages and still born babies.

Fun fact. Bitch was also central to The Offering (2023).

Anyway, what begins as a really interesting slow-burning candle soon drips terrifying wax, utilising children's songs such as London Bridge, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep and Rock-a-bye Baby to chilling effect.

If the whole gimmick of conveying horror through sound didn't work, it would be embarrassing, but I'm happy to say that design (as well as camera), absolutely does.

Towards the end, Evy reveals that her mother has been dead all along.

I have no idea if there's anything in this, but Mama's unsettling presence smacks heavily of 'old' Eveline (codename E-001) in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017).

Hmmm.

Climax has Evy and Justin receive live calls, with anonymous neighbour stating Jessa and Mike committed suicide by placing plastic bags over their heads.  When the police found them, crayon drawings of dead babies covered the walls.  Also, an autopsy report confirmed Jessa was pregnant at the time of her death.

Evy rushes upstairs and finds Mama stood in the bathroom. Screen cuts to black as she's attacked and presumably killed.