The host of a popular paranormal podcast becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. A film by Ian Tuason, starring Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Ryan Turner, Ari Millen, Marisol D’Andrea, Austin Tuason, Seled Calderon, Bianca Nugara, Jayda Woods, Sarah Beaudin, Christina Notto, and Jeff Yung.
undertone
Ian Tuason
(2026)
Having recently returned to her childhood home in Toronto to care for her comatose mother (Michèle Duquet), Evangeline “Evy” Babic (Nina Kiri) records her paranormal podcast The Undertone around the witching hour while her co-host Justin Manuel (Adam DiMarco) dials in from London.
Each episode finds the two playing off their contrasting personalities, with Evy as the skeptic and Justin as the true believer, as they dive into all things eerie and unexplained.
One night, Justin brings up a strange email he received from an address he didn’t recognize, [email protected], with the subject line “LOL beware of listening to all.” The email itself contains nothing but a string of random characters and ten audio files, each with an oddly distorted name: 0ne.mp3, 2wo.mp3, 3hree.mp3, 4our.mp3, 5ive.mp3, 6ix.mp3, 707.mp3, 8i9ht.mp4, 9ine.mp3, and 10 3pm.mp3.
Intrigued but remaining skeptical, Evy suspects the email might be some kind of computer virus. Justin however admits he already clicked on the first file. It turned out to be a phone recording of a young couple. He only listened for a short while before deciding to save it for the podcast.
Justin then starts playing the first audio file. They hear a man (Jeff Yung) talking about his girlfriend Jessa (Keana Lyn Bastidas), who has apparently been talking in her sleep. When he tells her about it she doesn’t believe him, so he decides to record her while they sleep. The recording is long and Justin skips ahead to a bump he noticed on the audio waveform, about four hours in. Suddenly they hear Jessa singing “London Bridge Is Falling Down” in her sleep.
“London Bridge Is Falling Down” is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game about the repeated collapse and repair attempts of London’s iconic bridge over the Thames River. The rhyme typically starts with “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down / London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady.” It then suggests building materials like wood and clay, iron and steel, or silver and gold, each failing in turn, ending with “Set a watchman to watch all night.” First printed in the 18th century in Tommy Thumb’s songbook, the rhyme likely draws from real events like ice damage in 1281 or fires in 1633 and 1666 that weakened medieval London Bridges.
Justin notes that the audio goes on for a couple more hours but with no other significant bumps on the waveform. He suggests they move on to file number two. In the second file, the boyfriend mentions that Jessa now believes him about the sleep talking. He continues to record her anyway. Justin skips ahead to the bumps and this time they hear bed creaks and the rustle of blankets. It appears the boyfriend wakes up in the middle of the night to find Jessa no longer in bed. Beneath it all they can also make out a strange piece of music playing in the background. Evy recognizes it as “London Bridge Is Falling Down” played in reverse.
Justin pauses the audio and tells Evy he heard something. Evy, skeptical as usual, says she didn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Justin replays the clip and this time he’s certain he can make out the words “Mike kill all.” Evy isn’t convinced. She explains it could be audio apophenia, that Justin wants to believe so badly he is creating meaning out of random sounds.
Apophenia is the general psychological tendency to perceive significant connections or patterns in unrelated or random data. In everyday life, this can show up as seeing faces in clouds, hearing “messages” in static, or interpreting random events as part of a conspiracy. When people say “audio apophenia,” they’re usually describing the auditory form of pareidolia—a subtype of apophenia where the brain hears speech or music in things like fan hum, white noise, or muffled background sounds. For example, someone might swear they hear whispered conversation in air‑conditioner noise, even though no real speech is present.
If you’re a supernatural horror fan, you’ve probably already guessed that the boyfriend’s name is Mike. And as the files unfold, Mike and Jessa will experience a series of unexplained phenomena before meeting a mysterious end.
Justin believes there are hidden messages buried within the nursery rhyme. With a quick internet search he finds the history of a Eleanor of Provence, Queen Consort of England, who financed the construction of London Bridge. All nine of her children died in childhood and she feared the bridge would collapse unless children were sacrificed to it. She allegedly ordered builders to bury orphaned children alive within the bridge’s foundation. Evy remains skeptical that any of this actually happened. Justin argues that she was the Queen Consort and people would have had no choice but to obey her orders.
Folklorist Alice Gomme suggested the rhyme references “immurement,” where a living person (often a child or young woman) was allegedly buried alive in bridge foundations to ensure stability, reflected in lines like “build it up with iron and steel” and “take the key and lock her up.” “My fair lady” may allude to queens like Matilda of Scotland (wife of Henry I), who managed bridges in the 1100s and faced financial ruin, or Eleanor of Provence, whose spending habits strained bridge funds. A Leigh family legend even claims one of their women was sacrificed beneath the bridge.
Evy pushes back, arguing that any children’s song can be interpreted in disturbing ways. She points out that in “Rock-a-Bye Baby” the baby literally falls to its death. She suggests Justin look up “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” a song her mother used to sing to her as a child.
Evy then tells Justin they should download the song and test it out themselves. Justin plays it in reverse and appears to make something out almost immediately. Rather than saying what he hears he asks Evy if she can make it out too. She says she can’t hear anything. Justin then shares an article about “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” and reads it aloud.
According to the article the song is about a sheep farmer whose entire flock came out black. The black wool was worthless at the time since it couldn’t be dyed other colors leaving the farmer with nothing to sell come winter. He and his family starved to death and were only discovered when villagers found the sheep feeding on their bodies.
“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is a classic English nursery rhyme from the 18th century about a black sheep sharing its wool with three recipients. The standard version goes: “Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool? / Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full. / One for the master, one for the dame, / And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.” A popular idea links it to 1275’s wool tax under King Edward I, where farmers gave one-third to the king (“master”), one-third to the church (“dame”), and kept one-third—symbolizing exploitation. Claims of slave trade ties lack evidence and emerged in 1980s PC debates. No dark origins like human sacrifice appear substantiated, unlike “London Bridge.”
Unlike the darker origins tied to “London Bridge,” “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” lacks any substantiated reverse audio theories. The choice of this particular song feels deliberate, subtly hinting that perhaps Justin isn’t real.
It wants to be heard.
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A film by Ian Tuason, starring Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Ryan Turner, Ari Millen, Marisol D'Andrea, Austin Tuason, Seled Calderon, Bianca Nugara, Jayda Woods, Sarah Beaudin, Christina Notto, and Jeff Yung.
Written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Ian Tuason in his directorial debut, Undertone is a supernatural horror film centered on Evangeline “Evy” Babic, who co-hosts a paranormal podcast with her friend Justin Manuel.
The sound design is exceptional and arguably the most impressive element of the film. The narrative is intriguing as dark theories built around well-known nursery rhymes are always fascinating, though the territory itself is familiar and has been explored before. What sets this film apart is its soundscape which elevates the material to another level entirely.
The film leans heavily on atmosphere which works for the most part. However, for supernatural horror fans the ending may disappoint, particularly when it becomes apparent that none of what unfolds may have taken place in the real world. That said, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of undertone is that all of this was achieved on a budget of just $500,000.
undertone premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival on 27 July 2025, where it won the Gold Audience award for Canadian films. It was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on 13 March 2026, by A24.
