Horror fans have been absolutely obsessed with Obsession since its May 2026 release. Curry Barker‘s film, which cost less than $1 million to make, has earned a staggering $400 million worldwide and counting, more than living up to the hype surrounding its release. But Obsession isn’t the only horror movie this year to produce something unique and fascinating on a shoestring budget.
Earlier in 2026, A24’s Undertone received a lot of buzz due to its intriguing premise — the host of a paranormal podcast finds that she may be haunted by an entity that emerged from an audio file. While it had a similar small budget that it more than earned back, Undertone didn’t reach the same great heights that Obsession did at the box office.
But viewers are discovering it on HBO Max, where it’s currently the number two most popular film. If you’re interested in this hidden gem tale of demons and podcasts, you can stream it now. Just make sure you’re wearing headphones or have the sound up to truly lose yourself in the terror.
What Is ‘Undertone’ About?
The best horror movies don’t need to reinvent the wheel. These days, what stands out is a new twist on the familiar. In a Violent Nature took the predictability of a Friday the 13th-type slasher and put viewers in the perspective of the killer. Obsession took the classic Monkey’s Paw story and tweaked the rules.
Similarly, on paper, Undertone is yet another movie where the protagonist is in a dark house at night and begins to hear strange noises. While this idea has recently has been effective in films such as Paranormal Activity, The Night House, and Skinamarink, Undertone takes what has already been done and adds its own fresh — and audio-intensive — spin.
Writer and director Ian Tuason delivers a bare-bones plot focused on Evy (Nina Kiri), a young Catholic woman caring for her dying mother, who now lives, unconscious, in Evy’s home. Thankfully, she has a distraction, even if it doesn’t take her out of her house: her job hosting a supernatural podcast called The Undertone. But she and her co-host, Justin (Adam DiMarco), have their lives turned upside down when Justin is sent a series of bizarre audio clips. As he plays them, the strange recordings turn violent and hint at the demonic. Soon, whatever sinister thing haunts the recordings starts to manifest itself in the dark rooms of Evy’s house.
‘Undertone’ Works Because of Its Unique Approach
Tuason’s release is one of the best horror films of 2026, and its success led to the first time feature film director landing the job of helming Paranormal Activity 8 next year. Undertone did well, even if it was not an Obsession-level hit, with both critics and audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 74% Tomatometer score, and Collider raved about it in our review. At the box office, Undertone made $21 million worldwide — impressive considering it cost a mere $500,000 to make, though a drop in the bucket compared to what Obsession accomplished.
Undertone impressively uses its limitations as strengths. It was made on the cheap without looking the worse for it. Tuason saved a ton of money by filming Undertone in his real-life childhood home in Toronto. It’s where we stay for the entire movie, which becomes more suffocating with every passing minute. But this move doesn’t work solely for budgetary reasons — a slick, glossy Hollywood version of this story with big sets wouldn’t have been effective. In fact, the low budget adds a touch of realness needed for such an over-the-top plot.
The film also sets its sights solely on Evy. Outside some shots of her mother and the sound of Justin’s voice, Evie is the only (human) presence in the film. This pulls us into her loneliness, which turns unbearable when the entity emerges. Tuason builds the tension with what we don’t see in the darkness surrounding Evy. This bare-bones style is actually great at moving the plot forward and pulling us in to Evy’s fear and isolation as she realizes that she and her mother may not be alone.
With such a small set, it is sometimes as if we were watching a one-person play — so it’s not always what we see that hooks the viewer. Instead, the sound of the building horror is what makes Undertone so unnerving. In a silent home, the simplest creak can be a sign of something unimaginable approaching. And once Evy’s headphones go on, and she immerses herself in the ten creepy audio clips she and Justin have been sent, you’ll be afraid to breathe, not wanting to miss anything. The sound design found in the audio files, such as an eerie repetitive nursery rhyme, create a terrifying experience which must be witnessed with your full attention. It’s not a movie you can watch while on your phone or distracted; it demands full use of both your eyes and ears.
Undertone is a devastating slow burn. It’s all about getting under the viewer’s skin with creeping dread. It uses the “less is more” philosophy, getting the most out of negative space, and forces us to imagine what the horror looks like based on what we hear. Undertone is a movie unlike you’ve ever seen, or heard, before.
undertone
- Release Date
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March 13, 2026
- Runtime
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94 minutes
Cast
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Kristen Holden-Ried
Justin
