A24 Will Release ‘Undertone’ in the Best-Sounding Venues You Can Imagine

Ian Tuason’s “Undertone” builds its scares entirely based on what you hear and don’t hear. It’s essentially “The Blair Witch Podcast,” and audiences have eaten it up ever since its premieres at both Fantasia Fest and at Sundance last month.

So to make sure you get the chance to hear every minute detail you’re supposed to while watching the film, A24 is planning a series of screenings in the best format for movie theater sound: Dolby Cinema.

A24 will release “Undertone” in over 100 Dolby Cinema theaters as early-access screenings on March 9, prior to the wider theatrical release on March 13, IndieWire can exclusively reveal. The film will play across the entire Dolby Cinema network of screens, and each venue is equipped with a combination of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos sound. The experience is meant to be completely immersive, no matter your seat in the theater.

“Dolby Atmos gave me the opportunity to create a theatrical haunted house amusement park ride for you and your friends to experience together,” Tuason said in a statement to IndieWire. “What’s more fun than screaming your head off with your friends?”

Atmos operates on a 3D plane, putting speakers above you and moving sound vertically in addition to traditional surround sound that only goes horizontally, so it feels like you’re sitting in a dome of sound. It’s probably as close as you’ll get to feeling like you’re listening to it in the headphones the film’s main character is using, even though you’re in a theater with other people.

“‘Undertone’ plunges audiences into a terrifying soundscape and partnering with A24 to bring this chilling cinematic experience to Dolby Cinema allows audiences to experience every whisper, silence, and scream in Ian Tuason’s film,” said Jed Harmsen, VP & General Manager of Cinema & Group Entertainment at Dolby Laboratories. “Immersive Dolby Atmos sound will reveal greater details in each scare in this auditory horror film while the precision of the Dolby Vision picture quality provides sharper clarity in the darkness, making a suspenseful experience like no other.”

This is a big step up for the indie film that first premiered at Fantasia Fest, as the movie was made for an ultra-low budget but has gotten some updates and other touches since it was acquired by A24 and then showed its new version at Sundance last month.

Tuason both wrote and directed “Undertone,” which follows the host of a popular paranormal podcast who becomes haunted by terrifying recordings mysteriously sent her way. The film stars Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, and Jeff Yung.

Speaking to IndieWire at Sundance, Tuason explained that the film is deeply personal, one he shot in his own house as inspired by his experience caring for his parents and turning to podcasts during that period in his life, but also how he meticulously studied the patterns of other horror films to understand their beats and rhythms in order to inform his own.

“And I saw a formula, kind of a rhythm, to the number of creepy parts … leading up to a scare or leading up to nothing,” he said. “I remember color-coding my script. If it’s highlighted green, it’s just a creepy part, like a light turning on. And then if it’s a blue part, it’s a scream, right? … A scream, something like a jump scare. And I just made sure that the rhythm was the same as these other movies.”

You can buy tickets to the film in advance here.