A24 has reportedly delivered another horror genre success with "Undertone," a chilling film released in 2026. Directed by writer-director Ian Tuason, the movie was produced on a budget of $500,000 and has been praised for its captivating lead performance. Nina Kiri, known for her role in "The Handmaid's Tale," stars as Evy Babic, one half of the "Undertone Podcast" duo. Evy spends her nights caring for her comatose mother, Michèle Duquet, while also co-hosting a podcast with Justin, portrayed by Adam DiMarco. The podcast typically delves into supernatural occurrences, with Evy embodying the role of the believer and Justin the skeptic.

The narrative takes a dark turn when Evy and Justin receive an anonymous email containing ten unsettling audio files. This mysterious delivery forces Evy to confront the possibility that the supernatural phenomena they discuss might, in fact, be real. "Undertone" stands out as an unusual production, largely functioning as a visual one-woman show. The camera predominantly follows Kiri as she navigates her home, moving between her mother's care upstairs and podcasting downstairs. Notably, Adam DiMarco's voice is heard throughout the film during podcast segments, but he is not visually present in Kiri's scenes.

Nina Kiri shed light on the unique filming techniques employed for the movie during a Collider Ladies Night interview. For the scenes involving Justin, a dedicated actor named Ryan Turner was present upstairs during the first week of filming. Kiri explained that they would run lines together between takes, and each podcast scene with Justin and Evy was conducted as a live, real-time phone call, with Turner upstairs and Kiri downstairs. This approach, pre-planned by producer Dan Slater, proved invaluable, providing Kiri with a genuine conversational partner and enhancing the naturalness of her performance.

Another crucial decision contributing to the film's authenticity involved the unsettling audio files central to the plot. Kiri revealed that director Ian Tuason chose for her to hear these recordings (voiced by actors Jeff Yung and Keana Lyn Bastidas) for the very first time as they were shooting the corresponding scenes. This meant Kiri’s reactions were entirely spontaneous and genuine, stating, "Those recordings were so haunting and basically did the work for me, because it was me hearing them for the first time." She emphasized that the quality of these recordings and the actors' performances were fundamental to the film's impact.

The film culminates in a particularly ambitious and "epic oner" – a lengthy, single-take shot – that captures the supernatural consuming Evy’s world on the first floor of her home. Kiri confirmed that this impressive sequence was indeed achieved in one continuous take, a feat that brought both thrill and immense pressure. She described the challenges of balancing the technical precision required for such a shot with the need to convey sky-high emotions. Kiri often worried about technicalities interfering with her performance, recalling a moment when she felt the need to re-do a take, only to be reassured by the crew of its quality. Despite the intense demands, she found the experience of pulling off such a complex shot "thrilling."

Regarding the fate of the characters, while the ending is grim for Evy, Kiri offered her perspective on Justin’s future. She confirmed that Justin remains alive at the film's conclusion, as he didn’t summon the supernatural entities. However, Kiri believes the traumatic experience leaves him spiritually decimated, suggesting, "I think maybe this breaks him in some way. I'm not sure, because he's very breakable." The insights into "Undertone"'s unique production and character developments were shared during Kiri's comprehensive Collider Ladies Night interview.