If you’ve ever had a creepy podcast episode get under your skin, undertone (styled with a lower caps U) wants to take that feeling, crank it up, and trap it inside your headphones. A24 just dropped the second trailer for the slow-burn horror film billed as “the scariest movie you’ll ever hear,” and it leans hard into one nasty idea: sound can be really really creepy.
Nina Kiri from The Handmaid’s Tale leads as Evy, a paranormal podcast host who runs the show with her friend Justin, played by Adam DiMarco. She’s the skeptic, he’s the believer, and that balance lasts right up until Evy moves into her dying mother’s house to become her primary caregiver.
Evy receives a string of audio recordings from a young pregnant couple dealing with supernatural noises. The more she listens, the more she notices the woman’s story starts matching her own, and each new file chips away at her sanity.
undertone keeps Kiri as the only face you’ll actually see on-screen. Everyone else shows up as voices, including Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Jeff Yung, Ari Millen, Sarah Beaudin, Brian Quintero, and more. That’s a pretty bold move for a horror movie. But it also plays into the fear of being completely alone in the dark.
Tuason shot the film inside his childhood home in Toronto, which feels like the kind of detail that makes a movie more personal and probably even more unsettling. He explains it plainly: “With the added element of audio in undertone, it’s not just imagining what you might see, it’s also imagining what you might hear. It’s the intermingling of the visual and auditory that amplifies the horror.”
The film premiered at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival, sparked a seven-figure bidding war, then hit Sundance last month. A24 will put it in theaters on March 13, 2026, rated R for “language.” Plan your watch like a pro: go in fresh, keep your phone away, and pay attention to each sound… oh, and the really quiet parts.
Tuason also said, “With undertone, I’m crafting a horror experience that doesn’t just evoke fear—it engulfs you in it, using immersive sound design to make silence as terrifying as the unknown. Inspired by my own experience as a caregiver, the film explores how the stories we tell ourselves of fear, guilt, and isolation, can become the real horrors that haunt us.“
Producers Dan Slater and Cody Calahan back him, with executive producers including Steven Schneider and Roy Lee. Calahan summed up the pitch: “We’re always on the lookout for projects that stand out and have a meaningful story to tell. Ian has a truly unique vision, breaking free from tradition to create a horror experience that’s as bold as it is unnerving.” Slater added, “In an oversaturated market, undertone will punch through the noise with its raw, unfiltered approach to fear, proving that true horror comes from a director willing to open up personally and take full creative control. We’re thrilled to help bring his voice to the screen.“
And if you like your horror with a side of industry momentum, Tuason already has his next gig lined up: he’ll helm the new Paranormal Activity movie.
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