Undertone

 

      Written and directed by Ian Tuason, this new horror film is an experimental way to scare an audience. Imagine "The Blair Witch Project" taking place in a house rather than the woods.

      Podcaster Evie has moved back into her mother's house to care for her as she lies in her bedroom, close to death. The entire film takes place in the house. Evie and her mother are the only on-screen characters. Everyone else in the cast are off-screen voices.

      When Evie's podcast partner, Justin, sends her a set of 10 audio files from an unknown email, they begin to listen for their paranormal podcast. The sounds and dialog on the recordings get stranger with each file. and as each file gets more intense, Evie starts to lose her composure.

       Visually we get the standard spooky house trope. Closeups on religious paintings and statues, shadowy lighting, strange drawings and frequent shots of Evie's mom lying still in bed with raspy breathing all help to create the mood. But it's the sound design that's the star here. It's the audio files that create the growing tension and dread along with the dialog between Evie and Justin.

        Nina Kiri stars as Evie and while she is a capable actress, as basically the only on-screen character, the film becomes tedious even as the sounds attempt to draw you in. The off-screen voice actors are Adam DiMarco as Justin, Keana Lyn Bastidas as Jessa, Jeff Yung as Mike, Sarah Beaudin as Abby and Brian Quintero as Dr. Ram. Mama is played by Michele Duquet.

        The sound design experiment is fascinating but the film is not.