Vertigo Releasing has just unleashed The Undertone, the terrifying debut from writer-director Ian Tuason you need to hear in cinemas to believe.
The film stars Nina Kiri (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” The Heretics) as Evy, a sceptical woman caring for her ill mother in a house that starts to feel increasingly oppressive. Alongside her friend Justin, she co-hosts a paranormal podcast, approaching claims of the supernatural with a healthy degree of skepticism. That skepticism is tested when a series of anonymous audio recordings begin to arrive—childlike yet deeply unsettling. The tapes, which appear to capture the nighttime behaviour of a couple named Mike and Jessa, gradually blur the line between passive listening and active involvement.
The Undertone is produced by Slaterverse Pictures, Black Fawn Films, and KINO Studios, with Dan Slater and Cody Calahan producing. Executive producers include Chad Archibald, Daril Fannin, Brit MacRae, Anthony Eu, Douglas Lee, Al Akdari, Charles Bern, Mathew Sterling, David Sproat, and Tuason. The film also marks the beginning of a wider collaboration between Black Fawn and KINO, with further genre projects already in development.
To celebrate the film’s release, CinemaChords sat down with Tuason to discuss creating a new horror paradigm in which fear of the dark is accompanied by a fear of silence—or of what we might not be hearing. He also spoke about how belief can take hold even in the most sceptical minds when reinforced over time, and how, despite the film being dubbed “the best horror film you’ll hear this year,” he ensured the cinematography remained firmly in service of its sound design.
