Movie: Undertone

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Things That Go Bump In the Night

Plot Overview

“The Under­tone” pod­cast hostess Evan­gel­ine “Evy” Bab­bage (Nina Kiri) has tempor­arily relocated to Wester­land to tend to her coma­tose mom (Michèle Duquet.) Her co-host Justin Manuel (Adam DiMarco) joins her weekly from London at 3:00 a.m.—the witching hour—to taunt the audience with spooky stuff. Currently, they are playing ten audio clips, spread out one by one, that he received anonymously, purported to be the talking in her sleep of one Jessa (Keana Lyn Bastidas) recorded by her husband Mike (Jeff Yung.) They start out innocently enough with children's nursery rhymes but maybe carry a dark under­tone when played backwards.

“Baa, baa, black sheep” ostensibly starts with a question of genetic baggage, “Have you any wool?” white being the dominant color, black the recessive trait. “Yes, sir, Yes sir, three bags full./ One for the master and one for the dame/ And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.” The baby inherits a load from dad, a load from mom, and a load from distant relative(s) that skips generations. Okay. Evy schedules a pregnancy test and finds out she's six weeks along. After considering her options she decides to relocate to Wester­land—her mom being not long for this world—to keep the baby's (partying) father in the loop, but not live with him.

The clips get spookier as they go through them. Played back­wards they seem to reference the demon Abyzou respon­sible for still­births & mis­car­riages. Also Saint Rita of Cassia experienced it and now camps out near expectant mothers to try to get them to share her grief. Inviting tele­phone partici­pation they get a call from some­one who knows Jessa & Mike's sorry story who live just down the road from him. Further­more, he lives in Wester­land making him (them) Evy's neighbor(s.) After trying to suss out meaning from a noisy tape, she starts to hear things in her quiet house. Is it her imagination or what? Professor Seth Horowitz has written:

Neurons that often fire in synchrony on a regular basis, such as those exposed to harmonic sounds commonly found in speech or music, will inter­connect more so that they can more easily influence each other and work together. So some­thing familiar in the midst of noise will jump out of the back­ground by activating a specific population of cells that “recognize” this stimulus. (107)

Ideology

Daughter Evy communicating with her counterpart Justin and audience is reminiscent of, (Prov. 30:1) “The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,”

(Prov. 30:2-3) “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the under­standing of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.” While Agur says he doesn't “have the under­standing of a man,” Evy says, “I don't think I'm fit to be a mother.” She calls the Women's Clinic for help. While Agur says he doesn't “have the knowledge of the holy,” one of Evy's old voice­mails from her mother complains about her missing mass. The mother's house is festooned with religious pictures, crucifixes and statuary. Evy is a lapsed Catholic.

(Prov. 30:4) “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?” Agur's questions encompass three bags full, to wit: “gathered wind in his fists”, “the waters bound in a garment”, and “the ends of the earth established.” Remaining are God's very name and that of His son. Evy has a ways to go on her podcast. Agur made a pretty good stab at it, his good book record being made into movies.

Production Values

“” (2026) was written and directed by Ian Tuason. It stars Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco and Michèle Duquet. Visually it's a one-person film, and Nina Kiri does her best to hold the audience's attention.

MPA rated it R for language. The quiet creepy house did well on the big screen. Scene transitions were often blank screens to down­play the visual in favor of the audio. Runtime ≈ 1½ hours.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

U is an audiophile's delight.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture is quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Horowitz, Seth S., Ph.D. The Universal Sense: How Hearing Shapes the Mind. Copyright © 2012 by Seth S. Horowitz. New York: Bloomsbury, 2012. Print.

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