What happens when a movie podcast reviews a horror film about a podcaster? Welcome to the meta nightmare. 

This week on The Commentary Booth, Jamie Apps and Corrina Mabey dive into Undertone, the Canadian supernatural horror film written and directed by Ian Tuason in his feature directorial debut. What they find is far more disturbing than your average haunting movie. On paper, it’s about a paranormal podcaster receiving a series of disturbing audio recordings. But the deeper they go, the less it feels like a mystery, and more like a slow, suffocating descent into grief, guilt, and something… not entirely explainable.

Jamie and Corrina examine why this film lives and dies by its sound design, and why you absolutely need headphones or a cinema-grade surround system to experience it the way Toussaint intended. For the review, Jamie watched Undertone with high-end audio, Corrina didn’t, and that contrast shapes a surprisingly different viewing experience.

During the episode, we break down the film's masterful use of negative space and camera work that subverts every horror trope you think you know, the career-defining performance from Nina Kiri reacting to nothing but recorded voices and whispers, and the genuinely haunting concept of a Mesopotamian fertility and miscarriage entity that makes the film infinitely more sinister.

Then there’s the emotional core. Beneath the supernatural elements, Undertone is dealing with caregiving, terminal illness, and the kind of prolonged grief that doesn’t really have a clean ending. It’s messy. Complicated. And, confronting.

Highlights Breakdown:

- The sound-first experience

- Budget vs Box Office Result: $500K to $20M

- Nina Kiri's one-woman show

- The Abyzou mythology

- Grief is the real horror

By the time the credits roll, the conversation shifts to interpretation. What actually happened? Was it possession, psychological breakdown, or something in between? The film doesn’t hand you answers, which might be why it sticks.

If you’re into psychological horror that trades jump scares for atmosphere and leaves you thinking long after it ends, this one’s worth the listen.

This week’s episode is brought to you by

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