AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The new horror movie "Undertone" is just as scary to listen to as it is to watch. Evy Babic is taking care of her dying mother and co-hosts a podcast about the paranormal. She's skeptical about all things supernatural. So if you've seen any horror movies, you probably know what's in store for her.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "UNDERTONE")
NINA KIRI: (As Evy Babic) Are you still listening?
(SOUNDBITE OF GLASS BREAKING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) What is this?
(SOUNDBITE OF BANGING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) What if we unleashed something?
(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)
RASCOE: Ian Tuason is the writer and director of "Undertone." It's in theaters this week, and he joins us now. Welcome to the program.
IAN TUASON: Thank you.
RASCOE: So tell me more about Evy. Like, when we meet her, she's very isolated. What does her life look like?
TUASON: Oh, her life is just taking care of her dying mom. She wants to get out of that situation, but she's also feeling guilty for just wanting to get out of that situation, and the only fun that she has is doing this podcast. So once she starts listening to these 10 audio recordings that were sent to her anonymously, and she listens to a young woman who seems to be experiencing something very similar to her. And then, now she really wants to get out of that situation, but she can't for so many reasons. So that's the real horror, is just being trapped and isolated and, at the same time, dealing with such a stressful situation.
RASCOE: And I understand that the movie is inspired by your own experience caring for your family. Can you tell me about that?
TUASON: Yeah. I wrote it while I was the primary caregiver of both my mom and dad. They got sick at the same time at the start of COVID. So I was already stuck because of COVID, and then I had two parents to take care of. I drew from that dark time in my life and then put it onto paper. It was almost therapeutic, in a way. And - well, I discovered later that people really resonated with it because they either have experienced it before, or they're just so afraid to one day experience it with their parents.
RASCOE: The movie was filmed in your childhood home. Like, why set a horror film in such a familiar place?
TUASON: Oh, I was writing the film while caregiving my parents at that house, so I knew the house inside out. I wrote for the house. So when I did my storyboards, it's just me taking photos of every shot that I imagined in the house. There was no other place that we could've made it.
RASCOE: So much of the movie is about motherhood. It's about she's taking care of her mother. Evy is pregnant. The woman on the tapes is pregnant. What were you trying to say about motherhood?
TUASON: Yeah. I wanted to take the safest place and make it haunted. You used to run to your mom whenever you were scared at night, from a ghost or just from a shadow. Yeah. I took that place away when I possessed her mother in the childhood home so - and there is a fear of being a mother because of feeling like you might be trapped or losing your freedom. And that's kind of what happens to Evy when her mom gets sick. She can't leave the house, and she's forced to be there. And there is two exact opposite pulls to being a daughter and being a mother. You could unconditionally love through any hardships, or it could be conditional.
RASCOE: There's a lot of things about "Undertone" that I find went away from the usual horror tropes. First of all, of course, so much of it is about what Evy hears and not what she sees.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "UNDERTONE")
KIRI: (As Evy Babic) Play the next one.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) OK. Here we go.
(SOUNDBITE OF BEEP)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) inaudible.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Jessa.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) inaudible.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Jessa.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) inaudible.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) Jessa, what's wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) inaudible.
RASCOE: You know, and I'm glad that you show the horror of making a podcast 'cause that can be very (laughter) very horrific, so I'm glad you...
TUASON: (Laughter) When you're on a deadline.
RASCOE: Yeah. I'm glad you did that. But really, truly, like, the sounds that people hear hit them in such an intimate and visceral way. And it's different from what people even - like, them watching something on TV or reading it. When you hear it, it hits you in a different way.
TUASON: Yeah. Sound design is the most important aspect of any horror film. I kind of go overboard with it, but any horror film, sound is more important than picture. And that aspect is what hits the hardest, I think, when she's listening to these iPhone voice memo recordings sent to her. And I was - I recorded them on an iPhone, so it sounds like - the texture of the audio does sound authentic. And I made the actors hold the iPhone while running around the house yelling, and, like, everything you hear is what you could imagine seeing. So when you hear a bed creak, they're actually in Mama's bed, they're sitting up. And when - if you hear the floor creak, it's my floor. So I recorded those audio recordings that are sent to Evy in the same house that Evy is listening to them.
RASCOE: So I appreciate the jump scares, and I appreciate the, - you know, somebody jumping out - whoo (ph). But at a certain point, you've seen it so much, right? Like, you've seen the older person walking weird, or they come running into the screen - ah, you know? And you didn't do that, though. Like, a lot of it was you're just sitting there, and the camera's kind of focused on Evy, but then you're looking to the side, like, is there something over there? Is there something over in that shadowy corner? Why make that decision to, like, not focus the camera necessarily on what's the scariest thing?
TUASON: Well, I just looked at what scared me in movies and in other media, like online videos, and, you know, what scared me a lot were EVP recordings of ghosts speaking and whispering. There isn't any visuals there. And then I wanted to take that fear and use that fear. So it's like - it's a fear that the audience has to imagine themselves. They - I can't show you anything scarier than whatever's in your head.
RASCOE: That's Ian Tuason, writer and director of the new movie "Undertone." Thank you so much.
TUASON: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD AND ADRIAN YOUNGE'S "DOCTOR VISIT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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