Do Not Press ‘Play’.
Directed by Ian Tuason
Starring Nina Kiri, Michèle Duquet, Adam DiMarco
Released March 13th, 2026
Rated R
Evy (Nina Kiri) is back in her childhood home taking care of her bedridden mother (Michèle Duquet). With mom upstairs, Evy is downstairs, sitting at a table in front of a microphone and her laptop, wearing headphones. She’s recording a podcast with her friend Justin (Adam DiMarco) about all things supernatural. Justin is a believer in such things, with Evy being the skeptic. For this episode, Justin tells Evy that he has received ten strange audio files via email and that they should listen to them together on the podcast. The clips feature a couple, Jessa (Keana Lyn Bastidas) and Mike (Jeff Yung). We hear them laugh. We hear them argue. There’s a baby crying. We hear nursery rhymes. The audio files unnerve Evy, and she tells Justin that she needs to take a break. Before resuming recording the next day, Evy researches the origin of classic children’s songs. Seeing shadows everywhere and hearing the faint cries of a baby, Evy begins to worry that she and her mother may not be alone in the house. This is all supposed to be creepy with a capital C, but I was too busy waiting for something to happen to be scared.
Ian Tuason began developing this idea as a radio play before turning it into a screenplay for his directorial debut. Perhaps the project would have fared better had it stayed a radio play, as the resulting film is a bore. We are all familiar with jump scares in horror films. Those have been around a long time, at least as far back as 1942’s Cat People. I have noticed that in some modern horror movies, filmmakers are content to show the audience something mundane like a blank wall or a cup of coffee and have somebody scream or have some other kind of startling loud noise in the background. That’s about all Undertone does. It’s empty rooms and loud noises over and over again. It’s supposed to be jarring, it’s supposed to be unsettling, but it just made me think of Steve Carrell as Brick Tamland in Anchorman screaming “Loud noises!” You’d think a film that relies so much on sound would have impressive audio effects, but Undertone misses that mark. There is nothing in this film that equals the impressive sound design featured in the films of Alex Garland or David Lynch.
There have been some slightly interesting so-called analog horror films, notably Skinamarink and Good Boy, that marry an interesting premise with isolating visuals and a growing sense of dread. Unlike those films, Undertone does not work as a compelling cinematic experience, amounting to a warmed-over creepy pasta about how nursery rhymes from London Bridge to Ba Ba Black Sheep are full of hidden demonic messages if you’d only play them backwards. Speaking as someone who grew up in the satanic panic of the 1980s, there’s nothing even remotely frightening about backmasking. If you’re expecting to connect with Evy, and by extension be frightened by her situation, you’re out of luck. As Evy, Nina Kiri does not effectively convey her character’s paranoia or fear. She acts like she can’t be bothered by anything that’s happening. She’s a walking shrug. A wet noodle. Without her being scared, why should I, the audience member, be scared?
I was holding out hope that the reveals in Undertone would be powerful, that the story would feature twists and turns. Frustratingly, the filmmakers do not take advantage of the story elements that they’ve set in place. They don’t take advantage of the isolated setting. They don’t take advantage of Evy’s mom’s sickness. They don’t take advantage of the fact that you do not see anyone onscreen besides Evy and her mom. There are so many things one could do with the disembodied voices. I wondered if the voices on the mysterious recordings would show up at Evy’s house. I wondered if her podcast partner Justin even existed. There are so many interesting places one could go, but Undertone goes nowhere. You’re just listening to audio files of children’s nursery rhymes, you hear some screams, and then the movie ends. What a colossal waste of time. I am angry that I watched this movie.