Turning grief into art is a process for many filmmakers, including A24 writer and director Ian Tuason. Undertone. Tuaso’s horror film came after one of the darkest periods of his life. Tuason served as a caregiver to her parents during the pandemic after they were diagnosed with terminal cancer. Tuason returned to his childhood home in Toronto and helped his parents in their final moments. His mother died months after the initial diagnosis and his father two years later.
Ahead, Tuason tells me how he expressed his trauma horror movies. Tuason originally planned the horror story to be a radio play. However, it eventually became the script for his feature film debut, a possession film built around found audio.
In UndertoneEvy (Nina Kiri) is one half of a popular paranormal podcast with her friend Justin (Adam DiMarco). Evy broadcasts from her childhood home, where she serves as a caretaker for her dying mother (Michèle Duquet). For the next episode, Evy and Justin listen to mysterious texts sent from a married couple. Investigating eerie audio files causes Evini’s life to unravel as paranormal forces infiltrate her home.
Ahead, Tuason explains the patience needed to create suspense and dread in atmospheric horror. Sound or lack thereof Undertone the greatest wealth. Tuason tells me about a film that also inspired a big sound decision Undertone. Tuason has produced one of the scariest films of 2026, so it’s no surprise. Paramount hired him to write and direct the next film Paranormal Activity.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Undertone uses effective tempo for atmospheric horror
Patience is key
DAN GIROLAMO: What I admire about this film is that it showed so much patience. I think there’s a natural tendency even in movies today that they have to create a big scare and have a big moment in the first 5-10 minutes to grab the audience. It really takes a long time to create the atmosphere and create a sense of dread with this film. How did you determine the right time to scare the audience during the writing process?
IAN TUASON: Yes. I mean, I’ve watched four or five of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen, and I’ve noticed a pattern. A series of what I call “creeps” – small clues that lead to a bigger fear, it can be a jump scare, or it can be a really scary revelation. Then I started counting them for each movie, e.g Hereditary and Babadook. I noticed the ratio of creeps to scares and how many there are in the film, which seems very similar in these types of films. And then in these other movies, it’s like off. This is a big difference.
I kind of nailed down the formula for the movie I wanted to make, which is a slow-paced, scary movie. So I used a similar ratio Paranormal Activity and The Exorcist but it doesn’t look like much Hereditary and The Babadook. It’s more like jumping back and forth. The ratio is 2 to 1 as opposed to 5 to 1.
I am sure you have lived with this movie for a long time. Is there a scene that still scares you when you watch it again?
TUASON: (Laughs) No. Nothing scares me anymore. I’ve seen it a lot. I mean, I’ve had it in my head for longer than the year it was created. I’ll wake up in the middle of the night and think, imagine something, and scare myself so much that I can’t sleep. Then I write. I think that’s how I came with all my fears Undertone. But yes, once the fear is over…
it’s over
TUASON: Yes. it’s over I’m sick of it. (laughs)
Horror is a genre for personal stories
Ian Tuason turned the tragedy into a film
Why is the horror genre such a good vehicle for a story about death, loss, and grief? I feel like we’ve seen it time and time again: writers and directors use fear to express their feelings. Why do you think you decided to go into the horror genre?
You know, it was a personal movie for me because I experienced it. I experienced caregiving with my parents. It was the darkest period of my life. I could not express that story in any other genre. I could try, but then it wouldn’t capture the essence of the experience, especially since I was doing it alone, right?
I have a sister, she has three children. I am not married. I have no children. Evy was isolated, feeling trapped and struggling with emotions such as guilt. You want to get out of this situation, but you love your parents, and now you’re starting to feel guilty about wanting to get out of the situation. You spiral downward, and any good horror movie is just a descent into darkness.
I love the idea with you noise canceling headphones. For the first time the sound stopped, I even looked around as if something was coming towards me. Walk me through the origin of this in the script. I know you have written many directions there. Did you always want the sound to cut out like this when you first turn on the headphones?
TUASON: No. At first I thought found footage could only be audio. I found some diversions recorded on a tape recorder, I just heard the sound. I listened closer and then expected something scary and it was scarier than what I heard. So I started playing with it first.
Then, I saw Like. (Steven) Soderbergh, I saw him make noise-canceling headphones. I thought it was perfect for the movie. It added another layer of horror that I didn’t know until I saw it when I imagined her home listening to creepy audio files and not hearing what was going on around her. as, and I started writing with that in mind. I got lucky there. Well, I saw it Like. (laughs)
How does Ian Tuason get out of the horror mindset?
Comedy, rom-com or more horror?
Are you the kind of person who likes to calm down by thinking, “I want to watch a comedy or a rom-com” when you watch a horror movie like this? In your experience, what do you like to do after getting the “you know what” scare out of you?
TUASON: Yes, absolutely. I go to comedy. I have to watch a comedy. I need to watch something funny, even if it’s just cat videos on YouTube. Then, it will get me out of there and get me out of that mindset. But I always come back to horror. (Laughs) You want that thrill again, don’t you?
Ride the wave.
TUASON: Cats are very safe.
Undertone It opens in theaters on March 13, 2026.
undertone
- Release date
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March 13, 2026
- Execution time
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84 minutes
- Director
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Ian Tuason
It’s been a famous month for horror
Horror movies are having a moment this month. in a week James Wan’s Billion Dollar i saw franchise is headed to Netflix. Elsewhere, most recently Screaming the film inspired our full rating iconic franchise.
