Film Review - Undertone

I watched a special screening my friends' new film "The Undertone" and could barely move a muscle.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hi everyone, welcome to the Film Element Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Gallant, and welcome back for another episode. Today I will be reviewing the new release from A24 called The Undertone. Now, this is coming out this Friday, March 13th, uh worldwide, or not worldwide, at least uh in North America. And I was actually fortunate enough to get a special screening last night in Toronto with the cast and crew. And so I had just seen it last night. I'm recording this the next day on uh Tuesday. I don't know what I think it's the 10th today. Yes. Uh it's the Mario Day. You know, when you put M-A-R and 1-0 and it looks like Mario, it's the official Mario Day. I might actually be wrong. But anyway, uh, so I'm recording this having seen it just last night. Um, and I'm here to give my fresh perspective on it. Now, one thing I want to talk about, and this is what you know a current theme in as many podcasts as I try and do, is that, you know, I want to talk about my connections to these films. Like, I probably will talk about just random mainstream stuff that comes out, but I also want to really talk about independent stuff that I have a connection to. Now, this film uh was produced in Toronto. It was filmed in Toronto, and the uh so my connection to it is it's not a deep one, but basically everyone that made this film, most of the people that made this film are somebody I've worked with or associated with. Now, specifically, there are two producers. This was produced by uh one of the produ uh production houses was called Black Fawn Films. And so for me personally, that Black Fawn was founded by two guys named Cody Callahan and Chad Archibald, who are directors in their own right. Um, so they directed a lot of films with Black Fawn over the last like 10, 15 years, and I was fortunate enough to edit the last four horror films that came out of Black Fawn. Um so the first one I did was called I'll Take Your Dead, and that was directed by Chad Archibald. Then the next two were directed by Cody, and that was the Oak Room and Vicious Fun. Um and those were done, I think, in the same year, like pretty much back to back. So that was a really great experience. And then COVID hit, and then Chad was able to finally direct his next film called It Feeds. And I think we I think that was filmed in 2023, and then it finally got a release last year uh in theaters, and it got a worldwide showing, and according to everyone involved, it did very well in theaters. Uh, you know, made its budget back. Uh, everyone that was associated with it was actually very happy with how that turned out. So I was very that was probably the biggest film I've ever been associated with. That starred Ashley Green and Sean Ashmore, uh, respectively. And so they're on this great upward trajectory, the black fawn, uh, with a lot of successful films. In my opinion, the last four, I know I'm probably biased in saying this, but the last four that they did were definitely the best films that they had done. And they seem to just get progressively better. I like all of them, to be all four of those films that I worked on uh equally in a lot of ways. Uh the last one, It Feeds, was certainly a step up in production value and just scope and ambition, and I think that paid off in a lot of great ways. Um, so I think that's if you're in Canada, I think it's on Crave. That's called It Feeds. And so this not only do they direct their own stuff, but they're also a distribution arm. So they, you know, then they specify in horror. So a lot of independent filmmakers release their films through Black Fawn or even get financing. So uh, and that seemed to be the case with this one, Undertone, that was filmed a couple, I don't know how long ago, maybe a year or two ago. And the it was written and directed by the by Ian Tucson. Um, and there's a so I'm very close with Chad and Cody because of those four films. And Cody was one of the main producers on Undertone. And so that's one connection I had. Um, but then on top of it, uh so I you guys have heard me talk about a film that I made back in May called Backpay. And I'm listening I'm gonna talk about this in every podcast, in every situation I can, because I gotta get the word out. So that when it comes out, you guys are like, oh, there's back pay. He's been talking about this forever, talking our year off. So one of my castmates in that film, uh, her name is Seled Calderon. You've probably heard me mention her before. She so the timeline is funny because I had oh, so let's rewind a little bit. So the story of how this tiny little indie feature undertone got on the radar of A24 is that it premiered at Fantasia over the summer. And as Chad has told me and Cody as well, that there was basically a bidding war for it through many different studios. I don't know who all was involved. I know Eli Roth was one of the people. Um, Eli Roth, Chad, Cody, and even myself all have a bit of a connection. We've all directed for him before. I worked on a show of his called Urban Legend, and I was fortunate enough to direct the season finale. And Chad, and he's a big fan of Chad and Cody's because of obviously they're pretty well known in Canada and I think internationally. Black Fawn, you know, has a strong brand, especially in the horror space. Um, you know, some would argue they're the Canadian Bloom House, uh, which, you know, is obviously a great mention in my opinion. Um, but it feels like their material has never really broken through the way a lot of us think it should. And now, obviously, Undertone seems to be where that's happening. So, Undertone, you know, and this is a variety angle, uh variety article that has talked about this, but Undertone was bid on by, I think, five or six studios, and then eventually was won by A24, who made, according to the article, a seven-figure offer. And that sent shockwaves through the Canadian film industry because an acquisition of that size and that high profile is just not something that we've seen uh certainly not seen enough of. And you've probably heard me talk about it in previous uh podcasts. But this was a big moment. This was a uh a really great um sort of validation for a lot of Canadian filmmakers by you know a U.S. studio recognizing that not only are we making stuff up here on our own, but we are making stuff that is marketable and valuable and has real revenue potential. And that's not something we talk about very often. We always just sort of accept this second-class citizenry in the film industry that listen, we can make whatever we want, spend how however much we want, but at the end of the day, we're not going to compete with the U.S. I think this sent a really big message that no, even a really tiny Canadian film can compete on that level. Now, where we end up with all of this, who knows? Did they overpay? You would like to think not. I'm sure that they didn't because, and I'm sure we're gonna see this when it releases this weekend, that uh, you know, the money was worth it. So that's a really incredible thing, and obviously Cody is associated specifically with that uh as one of the producers. So to s to watch him, you know, I got I watched him on one side of this, you know, uh break his back with his films and producing, and just, you know, we're all just trying to get these films recognized, and then to have something like this happen over the summer is just you couldn't be happier for someone like that. And you know, everyone involved is so deserving. And so going back to my connection, so I had sent Seled the article of that, and I was like, hey, check this out. Like, I don't I'm not saying this could happen to our film, but and I sent it to everybody, but you know, I know the guys that this happened to, and this is crazy. So anyway, apparently on her own, she met the director at TIFF, and then uh and then he was interested in putting her in the film, uh, and I sent him a clip from my film. Uh he reached out to me, or someone connected us, and I sent him a clip of her in my film, and she ended up getting the role. Was it because of that or something else? I don't know. Uh, not really important, but either way, she's deserving, and then she and then she brought him to my 40th birthday, and I finally met this famous director that defied the odds of this tiny film becoming an A24 mega acquisition. And uh I was obviously I like Ian a lot, and I was blown away just by how soft-spoken and easygoing he was, especially especially now that I've seen the film and I see how intense it is to know that this was made by a very unassuming, nice guy. Um, it's act that stuff is actually not unheard of in the film industry, but it's hilarious to see that. So I got to know him and uh at my birthday party, and we had a he had a long chat, and at the time, and I can talk about this now because it's uh you know it's common knowledge, but uh at the time he told me that he was he pitched and eventually got the new Paranormal Activity film, um, you know, which is a great achievement, uh, just based off of the unreleased undertone. And so, you know, then the film went on to go to Sundance, did really well there, and the hype just the hype machine just kept moving. So last night I was very, very excited to see the undertone. Obviously, now one of my castmates is in the film. Um, and I know a lot, like I said, I know a lot of other people that are associated with it, Chad and Cody specifically, and it's just great to see them sort of get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Um, so that's sort of my connection. So I went in. Obviously, someone in that position, uh, you're now asking, well, you're gonna be honest about your review now that you have all these people that are connected to it. And you know what? The answer is yes. I'm not gonna pull any punches and pretend uh it was something that it was not. But fortunately, despite all that, I'm very happy to say that does it live up to the hype? I would say about 85 to 90 percent it does. Uh, the undertone is probably one of the most uncomfortable 90 minutes I've ever had in a movie theater. And this movie theater was packed, and it was a big movie theater. So it was at they had the premiere at the Scotiabank Theater, and if you're from Toronto, that's the downtown one. Um Richmond and John. And it's semi-iconic now in Toronto, I guess. I mean, I've been going to that movie theater for 20 years, uh, especially when I used to live downtown in Toronto. I don't anymore, but uh when when I did, that was every date night, every movie night, that's where I was. Um, so this movie theater was packed, and as soon as it started, a lot of excited people in the in the audience, and you could hear a pin drop. And they said that comment before. Um Carolyn Morissette, she's the programmer of Fantasia. She introduced the film at the beginning, and she made that comment that at Fantasia barely anyone was breathing from beginning to end. And last night was basically no different. Um, this movie is tense, and it's tense in a very unnerving and uncomfortable way. First off, I'll try not to spoil anything from the beginning, and then when I do start spoiling, I'll let you know because this is even before the film has uh come out, so I don't want to ruin the experience for anybody. Um, but this film is very uncomfortable from the like to start off, they film it inside supposedly Ian's house, Ian Tucson, the director. Um, and it's based off of an experience he had with uh some ailing parents, uh, who were you know near the end of their life. And so they film it in the house that I guess a lot of this happened. And the house is like I was telling Cody last night, there is not even an exterior shot, I don't believe. Maybe there isn't, I didn't, but he's he confirmed it with me. He said, Yeah, there's no exteriors, it's it's all the house, it's basically just two rooms for the majority of the film. Um, almost all at night. And on top of it, the house isn't even an overly impressive house, like it's doesn't have gothic tinges to it. It's almost more relatable because it's a house you recognize or you feel like you might have grown up in, or you know, your friend's house that you might have had a sleepover at. And, you know, upstairs, they had the one thing there's a very great stairway, like not a spiral stairway, but like one of those curvy stairways that like go slightly to the right. Um so that was a nice little theatrical piece, a cinematic piece, especially for a certain point uh in the film, a very certain point, scary point in the film uh that I'll get into later. But then you get upstairs and it's like there's nothing even interesting on the walls. There's a few like Catholic uh paintings, but it was just it was almost drab in a way, in a very indie way, and you go, I think this all helps. It's just crazy to think about. Um so the film starts basically the film I will give a summary at the very beginning. Uh a podcaster, I don't I for I don't know if she's a true crime or probably supernatural podcaster, receives 10 audiophiles from a mysterious source, and her and her co-host, who you never see, just here, go through each uh audiophile, and it's about a couple, I believe, that is experiencing some form of strange possession, specifically the wife, who I believe is pregnant, or she finds out that that she's pregnant. Um, and they just get with every clip, things just get progressively more and more creepy and unnerving. And then while our main character is listening to this, she's also caring for her ailing mom, and we hear a nurse at a certain point basically tell her she doesn't have long, it could be hours or a couple of days, but she's basically nearing the end of her life. So this poor young woman played by Nina Caresi, uh Kiri. I apologize, Nina, if I'm getting that wrong. I should have I should have locked that down before I started this. But anyway, incredible actress basically carries the film on her shoulders because it's basically all her. Uh she's caretaking for her ailing mom, and then in between doing that, she spends her downtime listening and producing this supernatural podcast and listening to those audiophiles that are coming in. And then as she's listening, her and her co-host are sort of bantering back and forth and deciding, you know, what is this? Is it real? What does it mean? And then dissecting what they're listening to because as they go deeper, they're hearing weird musical cues from like the 50s, uh, specifically a Baba Black Sheep. And they dissect London Bridge is uh falling down and rockaby baby, which is really troubling because I have a baby myself and I sing some of these songs, definitely rockaby baby, and now knowing if I'm to believe the context that this movie is telling me what these why these lullabies exist and what they're really about, I think I'm gonna have to refrain from doing that, from singing those from now on. I think I have to exercise those out of this household. Um and then so things just sort of spiral out of control there. A lot of a lot of sounds start happening, and it starts to feel like our main character is being haunted by our own dying mother upstairs, who we don't see a lot of, and they're very smart to hide what's actually going on. And to be honest, that's basically it. There's not a lot of there's no subplots, there's no left or right. It is a contained, really intense um horror film done on an extremely small scale, but this is where I think horror always benefits is that horror works the less you know about what you're going into. And I say that when horror is contained, it can create claustrophobia. So we don't get the relief of seeing her go outside, we don't get the relief of seeing her elsewhere in the world. We are stuck with her in this living room, dining room uh while she produces this podcast and goes back and forth with her co- with her co-host. And that feeling of dread never never lets up and just gets worse and worse as the film goes on. I was talking about this with someone last night. Like I feel like there's two tiers of horror films. And what I tend to enjoy, I'm not a huge horror film aficionado, but as someone who's edited uh at least half a dozen features, horror features, I I have an appreciation, especially for the one side that is that is fun. There are horror movies that are fun, they're monster movies or they're slashers. Like it's a they're trying to let you have an entertaining time at the movies. Um and I think a lot of us appreciate those type of things, especially those are the ones that scary movie always makes fun of. Um so there's a lot of appreciation for that. But then there's the other side, and I would say this one certainly falls closer into that, and I would say hereditary is a perfect example where you're not gonna have a good time at the movies, you're not gonna enjoy yourself, and you're probably only gonna want to watch this once, maybe twice, and then that's it. Um movies that create just have very uncomfortable themes, uh, create really like terrifying images, and just generally do whatever they can to make you wish that you weren't sitting there in your seat. Hereditary to me um is a perfect example of just a film. I'm like, you know, I don't need to see that again. And I respect what they did in the filmmaking, especially, but uh it was not an enjoyable watch, especially in the last uh 20 minutes of that film. Undert I could definitely watch Undertone again, especially because I know so many people involved, um, and I probably will at some point with somebody, but I like that first viewing and the sound design, I know it's getting a lot of hype, and deservedly so. The sound design of us listening in on these audio clips, and then uh because we're listening to them through headphones of that the main character is wearing, but there are other stuff happening I think we are meant to believe inside her house, sound wise, that the main character may or may not be aware of, and then on top of that, we're also hearing what she's hearing from these audio clips, which just get, like I was saying earlier, progressively scarier and scarier, and it gets to the point you go, I don't know, I don't know why I'm here. This is terrifying. But, like I said, as someone who's literally directed horror and edited horror, I know that there is such an audience for horror films, and they have to be the most rabid fan base out of any genre that exists. You're not gonna get romantic comedy panels and Comic-Con style uh conferences, right? Horror lovers are a completely different breed, and they they consume everything. They don't leave anything on the table. And the other great thing is that horror seems to be the one genre that is still relatively reliable, at least at the box office. There's so much talk nowadays about what we can actually show in movie theaters that will bring out an audience. And, you know, romantic comedy has certainly taken a hit over the years. Um now they don't want to do any original IP, basically, at all, especially in big tent blockbusters. And I can understand that because when they do do that, the audiences don't show up, even if it's good. There's such a hype machine that you have to build up that you have to wonder if it's even worth it, or especially if it's worth the money. I think of a film like The Creator, that was one of my favorite original sci-fi that sci-fi films that I've seen in years, and people just didn't show up for it the way that they, you know, you would have wanted. And I thought that film was fantastic. So horror benefits from the fact that, and horror certainly has its remakes and sequels, so it's not uh impervious to that as well, but it seems to be the one thing that original uh horror film and the ROIs that horror films make, like it's the it's the stuff dreams are made of. You know, when you think like I don't know how much I don't know what the box office has to be for 824, but if you just think about the undertone of like what they made it for, and then what it got, you know, what it got bought for, and then even then those aren't big numbers, so they only have to clear uh eight figures, you know, at the box office, and then it's a hit, and there's so many stories of like just these small, you know, half a million, one million dollar films, two million, and then it goes on to make a hundred million. Like there's there's a barbarian, there's um, you know, a film uh I know people involved with uh In a Violent Nature. That was another really great indie horror film story where it was just gonna be uh a streamer, and then last minute they decided to put in theaters, and then it made a couple million that they weren't even expecting, right? That they hadn't even planned for, and then they get to just get this extra money because horror still is such a collective experience, it's such an enjoyable collective experience. You know, when I saw It Feeds with the Crowd last year in Hamilton, I had seen it a million times because I had edited, and it was like I was watching it for the first time when I saw it with that audience, watching everyone jump and just clutching themselves because they're so tense and uncomfortable. Like, that's what you do it for. You do it to live in those moments. I tell people, I'm like, it's almost like a live concert. Like, especially if you have like a full movie theater and you just feel the weight and the vibes of everyone going back and forth and just trying to survive these things. That's the great thing about horror films. And last night, Undertone, it was no different. Like feeling that collective energy of how tense we were all. Like, someone would get up to go to the bathroom, and the room was so dark that we're like, who the fuck is this? Like, even if they're in the aisle, it was like, everyone sit down. We don't want no one's going anywhere. We don't need anyone getting up and moving around and kicking seats and you know, knocking over the popcorn. Everyone shut up. Because every little noise, we're all on such an edge that every little noise would freak us out. Um, and that's great. That's exactly the type of thing you want. Um, so I'll try and wrap it up as much as I can, but I think it's great. I'm gonna go into spoilers really quick because I have to I have to wrap this up pretty soon. Um, but I will I will put this in the top tier most terrifying. Do I was I scared scared during the movie or was I tense? And I would say I was more tense. Um there's certainly images in the film that like, you know, are gonna stay with me. I don't know if anything hit me as, say, like the headless girl in hereditary or the girl in the nightgown in the ring, but there are definitely a few moments, you know, especially when I went home and went to bed after the premiere, I was looking at all the shadows in my room a lot more intensely than I used to. Uh, but overall, I'm sure that will dissipate over a night or two. Uh, but the overall tension that I felt during that whole experience, I don't think, yeah, like I put that up there with hereditary, which I did not see in theaters, but I will give it credit even when I did see it. Um, I never saw Blair Witch Project in the movie theaters, but I did see it uh later. It didn't grab me as much the first time, but I feel like watching it recently it actually got me more, and I'm not sure why. But I think the most intense horror film experience I've ever had was The Ring. Uh, because I saw that in a movie theater, and I couldn't sleep for days after that one. Just little girls in nightgowns scare the bejesus out of me. Um so yeah, I would put Undertone in that top pantheon of, you know, just intense, no one can breathe, no one can move films. And I think that's as high praise as you can get it. It's like the and I give so much credit to Ian and his editing, uh, you know, just and the cinematography. Like, there are all these angles where you're like, is something in the corner? Like, you spend half the film with these off-kilter uh angles of the lead actress doing her dialogue, and it's not conventional coverage where you know you have looking space, you know, you have uh rule of thirds and looking space. It's they play with that a lot and they hold on like darkness, and you're like, is something coming out of that? When is something coming out of that? Because this is all I care about, and it just creates this incredible tension, it's so well done. Um, so I'll go into quick spoilers here. So if you don't want to, if you don't want it to be spoiled, uh turn it off now, I guess. But um my final verdict as a story, and I was thinking about this, horror films are tough, especially because the more you reveal and the more you explain, the more that the air gets taken out of the tension. Specifically in horror. I think of a movie like M. Night Shyamalan's Old, where I was so into it, and then they in the end, not to spoil if you haven't seen Old, they explain why they're getting old, and it goes off on a very unscary tangent in the last act of the film, and I was like, I would have preferred not to know that, I think. And especially the explanation that they gave, I was like, that's not really that doesn't make the movie better, it actually kind of makes it worse. And even hereditary, I would say, once like hereditary is interesting, and I felt this way about weapons too. There's so much great tension, and then they explain, oh, by the way, this is what's going on. And in hereditary and weapons, not to spoil those two, but spoiler, spoiler, uh, basically the answer is, oh, by the way, magic is real. And you go, but I thought this was trying to figure out if this was psychological or supernatural, and they go, Oh no, by the way, it is completely supernatural. Uh, you know, in weapons, a witch really does have voodoo powers and can turn people into zombies, and you're like, Okay. I mean, that's not that scary, that's just kind of weird because that can't happen in real life. And then the same with hereditary, it's like uh, you know, they actually say, Oh, by the way, that demon that we've been talking about, he actually does exist, he is real, and we have headless people praying to him, and you go, but headless people can't move in real life, so this is not scary to me anymore. You know, religious people that believe in that stuff might be more unnerved by that, and I give them credit. And I this is why I give the undertone credit too, and like I said, spoiler, they don't really explain what's going on, and we are given, and that works for the film and works against it in some ways, because in a lot of ways, like I said, that's great horror, in my opinion. If you want to stay scared by the end, don't explain what happens, uh, or try and give us as little as you can. And the undertone definitely does that and just keeps the the first the final like three minutes is just so utterly terrifying and so much fun to watch. Um I was such a fan, especially because I know how small the production was. So to watch them go balls to the wall and all out, you know, kudos to them. And that's probably what helped them with the sale. It's just it's such a scary moment, and it's you know, it's gonna be iconic, especially a few moments, a few moments specifically with it. Um, it almost reminded me of like the end of Blair Witch, like it was on that level. And uh so that was fantastic, but then I think, and like I said, this is a hard thing that every filmmaker has to deal with. Do you explain? You have to find the perfect balance between exposition, explanation, and letting the audience decide for themselves. If a movie overexplains itself, it becomes very boring, right? That's writing 101. Don't overdo it. But another bad trope of bad writing is especially with independent feet uh independent films, is don't under-explain it. Like, because at a certain point we're not even gonna know what's going on, so there's nothing that we can clam on to, right? You know, I I think tenant is a perfect example of you have to watch Tenet a few times to actually figure out what was going on. And I know a lot of people said that about the first Mission Impossible as well. Like, you have as filmmakers, you have that's that's the secret sauce. That's the midline, the blue line. You have to find that perfect balance of explaining enough, but not too much. Like explaining enough that people know what's going on, but not too much that you can keep the tension, right? So you have to find that mid-ground. And uh, you know, a lot of people do it better than others, but even top-tier directors sometimes struggle with that. I think undertone I for me personally, I would have liked just a little bit more understanding of why this was happening, and you know, there was a lot of debate at when it ended, and I had a couple conversations with other people. I was like, so what did like what did that mean? And because basically, like I said, I'm in spoilers, so uh the last three minutes happen, it's super scary, all this great stuff, it all builds up to this moment, and then and then it just ends, and it cuts to credits. And uh I think that's a spectacular choice, just in terms of like like I was saying earlier, you I don't know what happened, and they don't explain it, and that's a lot of fun just to leave it there. But I would say I just wish I knew, and maybe if I watch it again, I'll get another explanation. I'll I'll sort of be able to piece it more together. Um, but I felt that I was missing just a little bit of like how we ended up here. But that's just I mean, that's that's nitpicky. I I don't think anyone's gonna care. I mean, I've seen reviews kind of touch on this point as well, that it sort of doesn't add up uh right at the end. But again, I think you go on such a ride that that's okay sometimes. And what like teenagers and young people are gonna go see this, they're gonna go see it on dates, and people are gonna be watching this through their fingers, you know, like just like I was doing this at at points. Um, when I thought I saw a character in the darkness, I was just like, ah, like, you know, doing the squinting with the one eye. It's like, I just don't want to be freaked out uh by what by what's about to come out and jump out of the shadows. And uh so I that's what you want. That's what you want a horror film experience to be. You want people so tense from beginning to end. Um, so yeah, Ian made a very specific choice where he ended the film, and I think uh it works for the most part. I would have liked a little more explanation and just a little more like a lot of threads I felt sort of weren't um knitted together. But again, maybe we're better off not having that and just living in that unknown. And that's the great thing about horror. Horrors can get away, uh horror films can get away with that. So I give Ian Tucson a lot of credit and a lot of credit to the Black Fawn guys for putting this together. I think this was a I think this was a great film. I hope it's the success that A24 is banking on. It seems to be getting the hype and recognition that it deserves. So, yes, that's my review of the undertone. Thanks for watching. Uh, if you're on YouTube, please like, subscribe, uh, share, even if you feel like doing that. Um, if you're listening on Spotify, like, subscribe. Uh Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you're wherever you're finding this podcast, I keep seeing it uh pop up in different spots. Um, yeah. I I would greatly appreciate it. So thanks for watching.