The Undertone Review: A Nerve-Shredding, Audio Driven Nightmare

Fantasia International Film Festival, Reviews /

UPDATE: Our review was originally written after we screened the film at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival. A year later, our opinion hasn\’t changed! Go see this film with a big crowd at the theatre with the best sound possible. If you\’re Canadian and have access to an AVX theatre, we definitely think it\’ll be worth the premium ticket cost. Our coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival is rolling on, even if the Festival has officially wrapped! One movie I absolutely need to talk about is The Undertone, because it’s undoubtedly one of my favourite movies that I saw at the festival.  The setup is simple: “A podcast host covering spooky content moves in to care for her dying mother. When sent recordings of a pregnant couple\’s paranormal encounters, she discovers their story parallels hers, each tape pushing her toward madness.” The film was written and directed by Ian Tuason and stars Nina Kiri as Evy, the podcast host who moves in with her mother. As usual, this review will be spoiler-free, so don’t be scared to dive in!  My Thoughts If you read our Best Movies of 2023, you’ll know that Skinamarink was #2 on my list. Like that movie, The Undertone is all about doing the most to bring horror back to its base elements of sights and especially sounds. Unlike Skinamarink, though, I think this movie is more accessible. The Undertone is shot simply but to maximum effect. I won’t even describe specific shots because it would lessen their impact. I will say it’s the kind of movie where you’re constantly checking the corners and edges of the frame to make sure nothing is hiding there.  As a seasoned horror movie veteran, I consider movies like this to be the scariest kind I’ve ever seen. It’s easy to drop the audio and then suddenly blast loud music and have something jump into frame, that’s why 90% of horror movies are crammed full of jump scares. But eventually, you start to see them coming from a mile away, and they don’t even impact you. The Undertone, like Skinamarink before it, understands that tension is what really makes an audience uncomfortable. Jump scares are releases of tension, so you may jump when one happens, but it’s not real fear or stress.  This movie uses the frame and sound design to maximize that tension. Every time the main character put on her noise-cancelling headphones to start recording the podcast, I would hold my breath as the ambient sounds of the house went silent and all you could hear was the muffled hum of the headphones, as if I was also wearing them.  The brilliance of this is that it makes the audience feel like a part of the movie, anxiously watching over Evy while she’s recording the podcast to try and see if anything spooky is happening in the house, as if we could burst in to warn her.  The camera work enhances this, too. Simple movements give us the opportunity to scan the house looking for something, anything, that might be where it shouldn’t be.  The fact that I’m talking about all this horror and dread, without even discussing the tapes they’re listening to on the podcast, should really tell you just how much this movie got under my skin. The podcast within the movie is a completely distinct source of dread in its own right too, where they play anonymously submitted audio tapes of a different paranormal encounter. The tapes themselves are creepy as hell, and the characters constantly rewind and replay key moments over and over again to try and hear certain things, which naturally means we the audience end up doing the same thing.  Nina Kiri as Evy is phenomenal in this too, selling everything perfectly, dialing up everything we’re collectively feeling. As our only real onscreen character in the movie, she has to be strong enough to carry you through, and she does it with absolute ease.  Lastly, I have to mention Ian Tuason, who is outstanding in his directorial debut. The things that make this movie so effective seem very simple on the surface, but they’re incredibly hard to actually pull off convincingly, which is why so many other horror directors just rely on jump scares. From nearly the very beginning, Tuason starts ratcheting the tension higher and higher, barely giving you the room to breathe, and just when you feel like it’s safe to let your guard down, it’s not.  Verdict Not only did I love The Undertone, it was confidently a “Best of the Fest” movie for me. This movie proves that you don’t need millions of dollars or elaborate sets to make an incredibly effective horror movie. The tension was so next level that by the end of the movie, I wasn’t sitting in my seat, I was welded to it. Without question, The Undertone is best enjoyed at a theatre, and I’m happy to report that it was just announced that A24 has acquired the rights for this movie, so I hope that means it will be coming with a nice theatrical run too.  When it does, don’t wait around. See this movie on opening weekend with a packed crowd and immerse yourself in this movie. Just don’t expect to ever feel comfortable wearing noise-cancelling headphones at home again.

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\’Sweetness\’ Review – Misery Meets MCR in Emma Higgins\’ Bold Debut About Teen Angst and Obsessive Fandom

Fantasia International Film Festival, Reviews /

UPDATE: This review was written after we screened this film at the 2025 Fantasia Film Festival. We really like this movie, but it\’s best enjoyed with a crowd and some friends! So go support this one if its playing in a theater near you! Writer/director Emma Higgins introduced her debut film, Sweetness, at the Fantasia International Film Festival by saying it was for \”girls who shop at Hot Topic, wear too much eyeliner, coloured hair, people on SSRIs, the emos, for Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance—it\’s for anyone who has ever loved a musician or had a broken heart or [felt] unrequited love. It\’s for the horror fans and it\’s for Canadians.\” It\’s the perfect intro to this gem of a psychological thriller, which I adored. I really hope this movie takes off, and I look forward to seeing it get a theatrical release, so more people get a chance to see it. It\’s a great sign of the current state of Canadian filmmaking! Made with an all-Canadian cast, crew, and production, the movie was shot in North Bay, Ontario and is set in a fictional small town in Ontario, to boot. I make such a point of this because it\’s refreshing to see a movie set and made in Canada that feels this high-calibre. Obviously, there are homegrown cult classic gems like Ginger Snaps (which feels like an influence here, to some degree), but this gives me some hope for the future of the Canadian film industry. This thing is slick, well-shot, cleverly written, and well-paced, with an excellent cast and great balance of tone. The Fantasia crowd was eating it up too, hooting and hollering at the film\’s twists and turns, which only enhanced the experience of seeing it on a big screen. Sweetness follows Rylee (Kate Hallett), a lonely sixteen-year-old girl who\’s bullied at school, is grieving her mother, and has a fraught relationship with her emotionally stunted cop dad (Justin Chatwin) and his new girlfriend (Amanda Brugel). Her only source of solace amidst all of that turmoil comes from the songs of her favourite band, Floorplan, led by a Gerard Way-esque pop star named Payton Adler (Herman Tømmeraas), whose lyrics suggest he may be the only person in the world who truly understands Rylee\’s angst. What starts as a simple story about teenage obsession slowly devolves into cringe-inducing sickly sweet delusion after a chance post-concert encounter leads Rylee to discover that Payton is a dysfunctional drug addict, pushing her to take it upon herself to fix him. I\’m a sucker for stories about desperate people who get themselves into a hole and inevitably end up digging themselves deeper and deeper. Every time I wondered if the movie would go there—it did, and each time, I got more and more on board. Sweetness was the first film at this year\’s Fantasia that really got its hooks in me and had me feeling elated walking out of the theatre after. One of its big strengths is that it knows exactly what it is and delivers on the promise of its premise without overstaying its welcome. That largely comes down to the tight script and balancing act performance from Kate Hallett. Despite what very easily could have tipped over into an unbelievable or hard-to-swallow premise, the film never broke my suspension of disbelief. And every time it upped the ante, I bought in further, which is a difficult thing to pull off. Visually, the movie is also incredibly self-assured, especially for a debut feature on a relatively small budget. It just has a ton of style, from the poster design to the title font to the score and original songs by Blitz//Berlin, which have just the right amount of pop cringe. It all feels polished and adds to the style and tone of the movie. But the real star here, as mentioned, is Hallett as Rylee. The character is a tough one to pull off, because Rylee has to be sympathetic and easy to root for, while descending into more and more questionable moral territory as the movie progresses. In the Q&A after the screening, Higgins said she wrote the character as the heroine of the story—because she is. Rylee believes wholeheartedly that she\’s in the right every step of the way. And the only way a story like this works is if the script is on her side. We, as an audience, may or may not be, but Rylee is the protagonist and the heroine and the driving force. As Higgins elaborated, it\’s the plot that\’s in opposition to her. Rylee\’s the hero of her own story, even though her actions may be less-than-heroic when taken in a broader context. As wild as the film gets, it\’s rooted in the emotional truth of being a teenage girl. A lot of teenage girldom is often dark and difficult and lonely and crazy-making. By tapping into those emotions, we can always at least understand what\’s motivating Rylee, even if we can\’t necessarily condone the outcome. It\’s that tension that the movie holds in perfect balance. In lesser hands, the character could easily have fallen flat and brought the whole movie down with her. It\’s to the film\’s credit that it always treats Rylee as a sympathetic character. She may be an emotional, delusional, grieving, obsessive teenage girl, but the film takes her seriously, which makes us as an audience take her seriously and see her as more than one-dimensional. That\’s not to say the movie takes itself too seriously. Part of why it works so well is that it doesn\’t and has a very dark sense of humour about its subject matter. The film consistently delivers laughs, thrills, chills, sweetness, and violence, making a perfectly balanced cocktail for a good time at the movies. Verdict Sweetness gets a strong recommend from me. This psychological thriller gem has an excellent handle on tone and style, with great performances and an awesome script from writer/director Emma Higgins. It\’s a modern-day

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\’Queens of the Dead\’ Review – A Horror Comedy That\’s Cool, Kind, and Queer as Hell

Fantasia International Film Festival, Reviews /

Tina Romero, daughter of legendary horror filmmaker George A. Romero, makes her directorial debut with her own take on the zombie genre in Queens of the Dead. This horror comedy follows a group of drag queens, DJs, drug dealers, and club kids who have to fend for themselves as zombies flood the streets of Brooklyn during a warehouse party. The film is unapologetically made by and for the queer community, and that\’s really what makes it sing, despite its flaws. If you\’ve ever wanted to see a rag-tag group of gays, girls, and theys—plus a token straight guy—fight for their lives against a horde of shambling, sparkling zombies, then you\’re in for a treat. The zombies here are more glitter and glam than guts and gore. But while some may want a bit more horror in their horror/comedy, the heart and humour is what makes this movie so fun. Queens of the Dead is an ensemble film, and its emphasis on community and kinship makes it stand out among other movies in the genre. There\’s no single hero or final girl here. The hero is really the queer community, and that\’s reflected in the broad and colorful cast of characters. While many of those characters are hilarious and fun to watch bounce off of each other, the characters as individuals feel somewhat underbaked as a result, making it harder to get invested in the individual drama and emotional beats. For that reason, some of the more serious moments that were meant to elicit emotion didn\’t quite land for me. In a way, I wish the movie had leaned even more into the absurdity and comedic side. It is a funny movie, and watching it at Fantasia with an eager and joyous crowd was probably the best way to experience this movie. However, not all of the comedic moments landed, just as not all of the emotional beats landed. I still had a great time overall, but I think a more focused narrative and character work would have made those moments even stronger. If there\’s anyone that\’s close to a protagonist here it\’s Katy O\’Brian\’s club manager, Dre. O\’Brian is an absolute star. She has so much presence and charisma. Between a bit part in this year\’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and her star-making turn in Love Lies Bleeding, it\’s nice to see her do lighter fare like this, where she gets to kick zombie ass but also show some comedic chops. I really hope her career skyrockets, because she\’s a very magnetic performer. Jack Haven is the other big scene-stealer as the ditzy blonde intern, Kelsey. This is a far cry from their role in I Saw The TV Glow, and again, it\’s nice to see an actor show their range and go from a more intense or serious role to something light and fun, where they\’re clearly having a blast and making the audience have a blast with them. Overall, the whole cast is solid. For a relatively low-budget indie movie, it looks great too. It\’s chaotic and colorful, with some fun makeup and costume choices that offer a unique and sufficiently silly interpretation of zombies that is actually pretty refreshing in an era where we\’ve seen every iteration of scary zombies imaginable (28 Years Later is another recent fresh take on zombies, but that\’s more about what it does with its human characters than its zombie design). If you\’re looking for a truly scary zombie movie, you won\’t find that here. This is very much a comedy more than anything else. But it\’s also a beautiful ode from a daughter to her father\’s legacy, in a way that is very clearly true to her own experiences and vision. If nothing else, the movie feels like a love letter to both queer spaces/communities and to the genre that her father built his career on. There are plenty of fun and clever easter eggs that pay homage to George A. Romero\’s films, but Queens of the Dead is, as Tina Romero said in the Q&A after our screening, a movie that her dad would never have made. It\’s her movie through and through, and it\’s a welcome addition to the zombie canon. Verdict Queens of the Dead put a huge smile on my face. It\’s a joyous movie that in some ways lampoons the zombie genre and in other ways honours it. It\’s funny and silly and kind, and it\’s unapologetically gay. If you\’re looking for a fun zombie flick with an eclectic cast of (mostly) queer characters and a sense of humour, you\’ll likely have a good time with this.

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\’Together\’ Review – Alison Brie and Dave Franco Stick Together in this Darkly Funny Romantic Horror

Fantasia International Film Festival, Reviews /

Have you ever felt like you were losing yourself in a relationship? Writer and director Michael Shanks takes that fear and turns it into the central horror of his debut feature Together. Tim and Millie (played by real-life spouses Dave Franco and Alison Brie) have been together for a decade when they uproot their life in the city to move into a big beautiful home in the countryside. Millie is a schoolteacher and Tim is an aspiring musician, but he\’s unsure of his place in the world and in his relationship. When we meet the couple, he seems to have lost his sense of individuality (tellingly, at their goodbye party with friends, Millie points out how cute it is that they inadvertently wore matching outfits—we cut to Tim changing his shirt). He doesn\’t really know who he is outside of his relationship, and he\’s chafing against that—he loves Millie but feels trapped. When the pair encounters a supernatural force in the vicinity of their new home, it puts the limits of their relationship to the test. The marketing of this movie gives a lot of its premise away, but I want to stress that it works best if you go into this one knowing as little as possible. What I can say is that this is a very strong directorial debut from Shanks. It\’s marketed primarily as a horror film, but it\’s also a very funny and very romantic movie at heart. It does a remarkable job of weaving those different threads together and balancing its different tones. There are consistent laughs, but also very effective scares, creepy moments, and body horror, not to mention a genuinely romantic core. Brie and Franco bring their real-life chemistry to the screen to make the film\’s central relationship feel lived in and make us want to root for them, despite the obstacles and struggles they face. A recurring motif in the film is the idea of being oblivious to something rotting right under your nose, like a dead rat rotting away behind a light fixture. The rot creeps in so gradually that you don\’t even know you\’re breathing it in. At first, Tim and Millie\’s relationship seems to have gone the way of the rat. They\’ve clearly lost touch (ha!) with one another, and we wonder if the relationship has simply gone stale after all that time, even if they\’re still in the room, breathing in the stink. But by the end, it\’s clear that Shanks has a more hopeful, if twisted, view of love and relationships. The movie walks a fine line between exposing the flaws of its central relationship and asserting that they\’re still right to fight for it anyway. One of my favourite things about horror as a genre is its ability to take grounded human experiences and emotions and amplify them through metaphor. This film takes the fear of commitment and of sharing your life with someone and amplifies it to its logical extreme as a metaphor, raising questions about what it actually means to build a life together and make compromises and become one half of a unit that is a couple. On top of the great tonal balance and central performances, the visual effects are, for the most part, phenomenal, with a perfect marriage (ha!) of practical and digital effects, aside from one pivotal moment that doesn\’t quite land. Beyond that, the body horror is visceral and effective with just the right amount of restraint. The movie is a little heavy-handed at times, telegraphing certain reveals a little too much. But I really loved a lot of what it\’s doing and had such a fun time with it at Fantasia, where the unparalleled crowd experience really made this a blast to watch. Verdict Together is the perfect horror rom-com for anyone who\’s ever felt trapped, co-dependent, or lost in a relationship. But it\’s also for the hopeless romantics and horror fans. It\’s a remarkably well-balanced mix of genres and tones, anchored by the lived-in chemistry of its leads.

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\’Redux Redux\’ Review: A Standout Thriller at Fantasia 2025

Fantasia International Film Festival, Reviews /

The 29th Fantasia Film Festival is well underway and we’ve been on the ground every day to cover everything you need to put on your radar! Make sure you’re checking out the Screen Love Affair Podcast and follow us on Instagram to keep up with all of our coverage. With that aside, one movie I needed to write about was Redux Redux. I talked a little about it on our Instagram, but I wanted to write an official review of it on the website too to dive a bit more into it.  It’s a family film, in that it was written and directed by Kevin and Matthew McManus and stars their sister Michaela McManus. It also stars Stella Marcus and Jeremy Holm, who we will definitely talk about in more detail later. I know I say this a lot, but I really do mean this here: This is the kind of movie that is best enjoyed knowing as little as possible. Like, I don’t even want to tell you the genre because it can give something away. This review is spoiler-free too, so don’t worry about reading on.  I can say that this is a revenge thriller, just to give you a sense of what to expect, but beyond that, mum\’s the word!  So, is Redux Redux just another revenge flick or does it burn with something deeper beneath the surface? My Thoughts Redux Redux starts off incredibly strong and basically doesn’t let you go until it’s all over. We kick off with our lead, Irene (Michaela McManus) at a fire and then we jump around to her doing some different things that the audience doesn’t fully understand. It’s particularly for the first act that I am being light on the spoilers. You’re immediately dropped into situations and the movie hits the ground running. It slowly becomes a bit more clear what is happening, but I was enjoying the mystery at the beginning quite a lot, even if I already read about the movie so I knew what was actually happening.  Jeremy Holm plays the target of Irene’s revenge, and Holm is very solid in this role. He plays the different sides of his character very well, especially when he has to be more imposing and menacing. Holm and McManus are both great, but the biggest standout for me here was Stella Marcus as Mia. Mia and Irene come together as the movie progresses and it’s really once they come together that the incredibly strong emotional core of this movie starts to shine.  Their pairing reminded me a little bit of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but as people motivated by grief and revenge, and at very different stages of their journeys with those two things. It’s a perfect pairing because not only do they manage to flesh out their own individual stories well, but their own relationship developing is as compelling as anything else happening and every moment spent with the two of them was a blast. Another strong point is the script. I often talk about how movies can struggle to balance their own tone and themes in an organic way that doesn’t feel like the movie is grinding to a halt for a monologue. I’m very glad to report though that no such moment exists in this movie. The more somber moments and beats all work and feel natural for the characters in those moments, which makes this movie feel so refreshing when so many mainstream movies struggle to do this part well.  This was my first experience with the McManus brothers, but I was really impressed with it. They did an absolutely amazing job with a more limited budget, but with such a strong script, I would be really curious to see what they could do with a bigger budget.  Verdict We’re only halfway through the festival, but I’m certain this movie will end up on my Best of the Fest list! Redux Redux is an easy movie to recommend. The violence and action are solid, but it’s really the core characters that shine the most here and make the movie more memorable. It tackles serious themes, but in a way that was more unique and organic than it’s been done before. I was very impressed by everyone involved, but I suspect that you’ll be seeing much more of Stella Marcus in the years to come!

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