If you’ve ever found that there is something a little scary about slowed-down renditions of nursery rhymes, then there’s a chance you’ll find new horror flick Undertone utterly terrifying.
The feature debut of writer/director Ian Tuason has generated plenty of buzz since it’s festival premiere last year – although our own 2-star review is on the more negative end of the spectrum – and has just arrived in UK cinemas to frighten audiences on this side of the Atlantic.
It stars The Handmaid’s Tale star Nina Kiri as a woman named Evy, who is caring for her comatose mother and – along with her co-host Justin (Adam Di Marco) – presents a horror podcast where they report on supernatural occurrences that are sent in to them by their listeners.
At the start of the film, the pair begin to look into a series of unsettling voice recordings sent to them by a couple named Mike and Jessa, which include some pretty horrifying versions of London Bridge and Baa Baa Black Sheep.
As the pair begin to research into hidden messages contained within these famous songs, things begin to get a little freaky – not to mention demonic.
Seen the film and need those final moments unpacked? Read on to have the Undertone ending explained.
Undertone ending explained: Who is Abyzou?
Throughout the film, the supposedly skeptical Evy begins to appear more and more genuinely spooked by the contents of the audio files. Meanwhile, we also learn through phone calls that she is six weeks pregnant – although she is currently unsure whether she would like to keep the baby.
When one of the recordings from Mike and Jessa is played backwards, a phrase is heard which suddenly unlocks things: “Come in Abyzou.”
Evy and Justin research this and discover that Abyzou is a demon in European folklore who was said to cause miscarriages and drive mothers to murder their own children out of jealousy.
Naturally, given her pregnancy, this is not exactly the most comforting news to Evy. And this general sense of unease is made even worse by the fact that she is starting to notice all sorts of weird, creepy occurrences around her house, not least the fact that her mother – who has shown no sign of waking from her unconscious state – appears to be mysteriously moving around, and that a statue of the Virgin Mary keeps reappearing in strange places.
When the time comes to play the final recording, Jessa says that she must warn someone who is listening – and it appears that that person must be Evy herself.
We learn through a caller to the podcast that in the time since these recordings were sent, Mike and Jessa were found dead in their house with plastic bags over their heads and crayon drawings of babies all over their walls. What’s more, it was revealed in an autopsy that Jessa had been pregnant.
A further listener to the podcast – named Abby – then calls in a hysterical state, with her child also heard crying in the background. As it becomes apparent that this caller is about to murder her child, the now terrified Evy claims that she was responsible for killing her own mother, and rushes upstairs where the walls are now covered in drawings of both Abyzou and various bloodied infants.
It would appear that Abyzou has been able to enter Evy’s house through the files and is now wreaking havoc on her, although the film cuts to black before we ever find out the exact fate of Evy and her mother.
The film leaves things ambiguous, but speaking to In Review Online, director Tuason explained: “I wanted to find a demon from ancient folklore that killed children. The idea was that Evy doesn’t want to have a child, and maybe she’s unconsciously summoning this demon to take away this burden that she has. That was the original idea.
“And then I found Abyzou, which was a demon from the Testament of Solomon, which is an ancient book, an ancient scripture. She was perfect for this movie. Again, it’s just like nursery rhymes. The Testament of Solomon is passed on through oral tradition.”
He added: “Solomon’s Testament was his oral rendition of what he says he went through. Then that gets passed on from generation to generation until we have this being that exists only in our imagination.
“But since we’re all connected in many ways, in language and culture, who’s to say that this entity doesn’t really exist?”
Undertone is now showing in UK cinemas.
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