{"id":2250549,"date":"2026-01-26T05:56:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2250549"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:56:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:56:45","slug":"the-years-first-great-horror-movie-is-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-years-first-great-horror-movie-is-here\/","title":{"rendered":"The Year\u2019s First Great Horror Movie Is Here"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Isolation, paranoia, guilt, and silence are a recipe for unholy terror in <i>Undertone<\/i>, a thriller that asks its audience to look and listen closely for the clues hidden in the quiet and the dark.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Premiering in the midnight section of this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival, Ian Tuason\u2019s impressive directorial debut adjusts itself to a sinister frequency and then slowly dials up the malevolence, in the process leaving reason and lucidity behind. A medley of fears, anxieties, and regrets that repeatedly messes with the senses, it exists at the nexus of sanity and madness, life and death, Heaven and Hell, and sound and image.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Evy (Nina Kiri) has moved back home to care for her dying mother (Mich\u00e8le Duquet), with whom she lives in a house decorated with Christian iconography. <i>Undertone <\/i>(in theaters Mar. 13) never mentions Evy\u2019s own faith, yet it\u2019s fair to assume she\u2019s no zealot, given that she hosts a podcast about the paranormal with her long-distance friend Justin (<i>The White Lotus\u2019<\/i> Adam DiMarco) in which she plays the skeptic to his true believer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Nina Kiri and Adam DiMarco attend the <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">On their show \u201cThe Undertone,\u201d the pair investigate the strange and the supernatural, and it serves as something of an escape for Evy, whose upsetting life\u2014alone with her unresponsive mother, who lies motionless in an upstairs bed, eyes closed and breathing heavily\u2014drops away when she puts on her noise-cancelling headphones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Pre-tape chitchat between Evy and Justin reveals that she\u2019s in a less-than-satisfying relationship with a guy named Darren (Ryan Turner)\u2014and eager for this end-of-life nightmare to end. On tap for their current episode is an anonymous email that Justin received, subject line \u201cLOL,\u201d reads \u201cAtonement at Tenet,\u201d and has 10 audio file attachments. On them, a man named Mike (Jeff Yung) records his partner Jessa (Keana Lyn Bastidas) slumbering in order to prove that she talks in her sleep, and in the initial file, fast-forwarding to the four-hour mark verifies Mike\u2019s claim, as Jessa can be heard singing \u201cLondon Bridge Is Falling Down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Evy\u2019s story takes place exclusively in her childhood abode, and Tuason\u2019s camera gazes at her as she listens to these recordings from various angles that highlight the black, empty spaces behind her, be it the staircase on the other side of a wall or the kitchen visible through a door\u2019s window. As with its scratchy, distorted, and context-free audio, the film\u2019s expertly composed imagery encourages active, intense engagement and, in doing so, creates an atmosphere of slowly dawning dread. <i>Undertone<\/i> is steeped in the unknown\u2014and the desire to decipher it\u2014and with the second recording, in which \u201cLondon Bridge Is Falling Down\u201d plays in reverse, Justin states that he hears a message in the mix: \u201cMike kill all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That\u2019s not totally audible to us or to Evy, but it initiates an inquiry into the secret, sinister meanings of nursery rhymes, which were often about children suffering harm at the hands of adults, thereby serving as cautionary tales for the young and impressionable. The fraught relationship between parents and kids is at the epicenter of <i>Undertone<\/i>, and the director punctuates his mood of repressed unhappiness and unease with jarring sonic blasts and inexplicable occurrences, the first of which is Evy\u2019s mom\u2019s bedside lamp turning on in the middle of the night\u2014a sign, to Evy, that perhaps the woman isn\u2019t as perpetually immobile and out of it as she appears.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Only once does Evy leave the premises, and before she departs, she discovers that her mother has defecated in bed and must be cleaned. The misery of the slow march to death colors the film, and compounding matters are a host of bizarre incidents, such as Evy returning from her nocturnal outing\u2014to a party thrown by Darren, who convinces her to take a temporary break from her caregiving\u2014to find her mom lying face down on the floor of her room. On the phone with a nurse, Evy reports that her mother isn\u2019t eating, and asks how she\u2019ll know when it\u2019s the end, to which she\u2019s told that the surest sign is the sound of the \u201cdeath rattle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The mundane and the macabre comingle in <i>Undertone<\/i>, and as the two press on with their examination, Evy\u2019s experiences begin to echo the mysterious audio files\u2019 actions, from a sink faucet running bizarrely to loud bumps reverberating through the house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Whether this is real or not is a question Evy can\u2019t answer, as her grasp on reality slowly begins to weaken. Her haunted visage becomes wracked by a lethal combination of confusion, exhaustion, and horror, and ghostly voices echo in the young woman\u2019s headphones, including a saved voicemail from her mom in which she\u2019s told \u201cI\u2019m praying for you,\u201d and the homemade recordings of Mike and Jessa, whose ordeal Justin eventually suspects is the byproduct of demonic possession.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"Nina Kiri and Mich\u00e8le Duquet attend the \" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/ey6e42HaX7POnQBnRdu3lg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/thedailybeast.com\/f93903213354623722759aa4070dac94\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-0 size-full\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-3 right-3 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>Nina Kiri and Mich\u00e8le Duquet attend the <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><i>Undertone<\/i> gradually loses itself in a swirl of shadowy figures barely visible in the gloom, incomprehensible words repeated ad nauseam, and discussions about a malicious entity that preys upon children\u2014a relevant topic considering that the only two characters seen on-screen are Evy and her mom, and the former soon learns that she\u2019s pregnant. The film\u2019s meticulous, patient aesthetics are the source of its suspense. Though it delivers a few memorable jolts, it wields stillness to masterful effect.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Hushed and grim, it\u2019s drowning in the bewildering and the oblique, and the closer Evy and Justin get to decrypting what happened to Mike and Jessa, the more they open doors that would have been better left closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">From a curious religious figurine that keeps materializing on Evy\u2019s mom\u2019s nightstand, to the crayon drawings the podcaster begins reflexively scribbling while she and Justin make their way through the final recordings, <i>Undertone <\/i>suggests rather than explains, and its camera pans and shifts in audio register are as unnerving as the out-of-focus shapes that lurk in the frame\u2019s background.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of the dark. Be afraid of the silence,\u201d Justin cautions Evy, whose remorse is a veritable noose around her neck. Tuason\u2019s maiden feature is attracted to, and ultimately peers into, the grand chasms and unfathomable abysses where insanity and evil reside. What it spies is the stuff of nightmares, both real and otherworldly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><i>Obsessed with pop culture and entertainment? Follow us on <\/i><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/obsessed.substack.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Substack;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><i>Substack<\/i><\/a><i> and <\/i><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@TheObsessedChannel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:YouTube;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"><i>YouTube<\/i><\/a><i> for even more coverage.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Isolation, paranoia, guilt, and silence are a recipe for unholy terror in Undertone, a thriller that asks its audience to look and listen closely for the clues hidden in the quiet and the dark. Premiering in the midnight section of this year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival, Ian Tuason\u2019s impressive directorial debut adjusts itself to a sinister [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2250550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[435669,435671,435672,304789,435670,435668],"class_list":["post-2250549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-friend-justin","tag-jessa","tag-ryan-turner","tag-sundance-film-festival","tag-the-undertone","tag-undertone"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Years-First-Great-Horror-Movie-Is-Here.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250551,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250549\/revisions\/2250551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2250550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}