Spoiler alert! This story discusses the new horror movie Undertone, which is in theaters now.
It’s been a while since I’ve been so freaked out by a scary movie that I was afraid to stand up from my seat in the theater, but here we are with Undertone. The new A24 movie delivered on the promise of a panic attack-inducing auditory nightmare, thanks in large part to Nina Kiri as Evy, who did the heavy lifting as essentially the only actor we see on screen. One detail in Evy’s story, however, really didn’t make sense to me and ultimately made me question the whole movie.
Evy’s Pregnancy Is An Important Part Of Undertone’s Story
The main “action” of Undertone revolves around Evy’s horror podcast with her friend Justin, who records with her remotely from London. For one episode they’re listening to 10 audio recordings from a couple named Mike and Jessa, who seem to be having an encounter with the demon Abyzou, which causes miscarriages and drives mothers to kill their children. This is especially noteworthy, because Evy learns that she is pregnant herself, and this is where things get a bit weird for me.
I was confused as to why Evy made an appointment with the doctor when she thought she was pregnant instead of simply buying a test from a drug store. For someone who didn’t seem particularly thrilled at the prospect of being with child, she sure involved a lot more people and went through more trouble than necessary. However, I can look past that, because maybe there wasn’t a store close by, or she wanted the privacy of a doctor’s visit. It was the next step that really threw me.
No Doctor Is Calling With Test Results At 3 A.M.
Much of Undertone’s story happens around 3 a.m., with the witching hour appropriate for horror podcasting and also apparently convenient for Justin, being in Europe. To me that is no excuse to have a doctor calling to deliver the results of her pregnancy test at that hour.
Firstly, at six weeks pregnant, all Evy would need is a urine test, and even if she chose not to do that at home, it still only takes three minutes to see those lines pop up. She would have had the results before she left the doctor’s office. Secondly, if for whatever reason they did a blood test, and we still lived in a world where doctors called with test results, he wouldn’t be calling at 3 in the morning.
The doc admitted he didn’t think she’d pick up and just figured he’d leave a voicemail, but that doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m sure there are people in this world who put their phones on Do Not Disturb or leave them in another room when they go to bed. I don’t know those people. If my phone rings at 3 a.m., I’m assuming someone is dead. It was actually so bizarre to me that I began to question …
Did The Doctor’s Call Really Happen?
We see Evy’s slow evolution from supernatural skeptic to full-on victim, but at what point in her journey through the 10 tapes did her reality shift? Was the “doctor” really an auditory embodiment of Abyzou? If so, was Evy even pregnant?
With the movie being about mothers and children and caretaking, I do think Undertone only makes sense if the pregnancy was real. The call was just strange enough that it made me second-guess everything: The doctor’s name was Dr. Ram, as in “Baa, Baa, Black SHEEP,” right? Also, we heard Evy’s mother’s hospice nurse but never saw her. Was SHE real?
Suffice it to say, if my “doctor” ever calls me in the middle of the night, I’m sending them to voicemail.
