Raise my "ears": the audio horror "Poluton" was released in Russia
"Don't be afraid of the dark. Be afraid of silence." With this slogan, "Semitone" was released domestically, one of the most creepy and at the same time ascetic horror films of the year, a Sundance hit and a contender for a place in the annual tops from connoisseurs of the genre. Practically nothing happens in the frame, all the action is concentrated in several rooms of a two-storey apartment in a Canadian suburb. At the same time, it is impossible to look away from the screen, because together with the only heroine of the film, we will hear something that we will not be able to forget soon. At the same time, let's think about the dangers of the Internet, the unpleasant surprises of podcasts and the peculiarities of Byzantine icon painting.
Who is Evie
"All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl," said Jean-Luc Godard. Canadian debutant director Ian Tuason believes that one girl is enough. The horror "Semitone" can fairly be called a monofilm, because practically only the actress Nina Kiri, or rather, her heroine Ivi Babich, will be in the frame. This is a girl in a state of deep depression: her dying mother lies unconscious in the bedroom on the second floor, and Evie, who is trying to be more cynical than she really is, tells herself that "I wish I could hurry up."
A frame from the movie "Semitone"
Evie can leave the house, but the director won't let us out. A nurse can come to her mother, but they won't show her to us. We are "allowed" to see only interiors where Orthodox icons hang on all the walls (more on this below), and, of course, we will monitor how Evie's psyche gradually collapses in a confined space. And we will remember not only Roman Polanski's "Disgust", but also his "Rosemary's Baby", because Evie is pregnant.
The only outlet for the heroine is weekly mystical podcasts, which she records remotely with her buddy Justin. Evie is responsible for skepticism there, and Justin "even believes in Santa Claus." The "semitone" begins with the fact that Justin allegedly receives 10 audio files about a strange couple, where a woman is talking in her sleep, and a man is recording it for some reason. The longer Evie and Justin listen to and discuss this anonymous content, the more ominous events are happening around them.
Where do Orthodox icons come from in horror
Director Ian Tuason highlighted a couple of very interesting things. Firstly, professional equipment makes the sound so hyper-clear that our brain begins to do somersaults. He searches for "hidden" audio elements in familiar tracks (for example, in children's songs), and with them new meanings. For example, Justin passionately convinces Evie that it is possible, with some skill, to hear the calls of magical creatures or other supernatural formulas in classical numbers. In addition, when the sound picture in the headphones is complemented by real noises and voices in the house, the brain is unable to separate them, and now we do not understand whether a demon is raging in the next room or whether noises from the interlocutor's soundtrack have crept into the speakers.
A frame from the movie "Semitone"
Secondly, we've seen horror movies based on "found films" a million times, but why not play the mysterious "empatrishki" that fell into our mail? And in "studio calls," which can also be very mysterious? Anyway, talking online, even with someone we know, is fraught with a lot of esoteric things: we have long been unable to guarantee that it is our friend who is talking to us, and not someone impersonating him, and all verification methods are often powerless here. In 2026, a film like "Semitone" fully responds to the phobias that the virtual space has formed in us.
Add to this Ivy's early toxicosis, her dying mother, who is either conscious or already dead, and the faces of saints who stare at the heroine from Byzantine icons everywhere. And in these looks, Evie sees sadness, reproach, and threat. However, this only works for the Western viewer, because the domestic audience will immediately notice at least Catholic crosses, which for some reason are hung next to Orthodox images. The thing is that, as the director of the film admitted during a Q&A with the Moscow audience, initially the symbolism was Catholic, but then it turned out that the production designer on the project was from Eastern Europe and the actress Nina Kiri was born in Serbia. And Tuason decided to add a Slavic flavor: he gave the character the surname Babich and partially changed the props to Orthodox icons.
A frame from the movie "Semitone"
But in the end, I miscalculated, and this is the only serious drawback of the aesthetic and frightening picture. It's not about the eclecticism of crosses with icons, but about the meaning. The heroine is oppressed by the feeling of guilt that is characteristic of Catholic believers, and the bright Byzantine faces traditionally give hope and promise forgiveness. That is, to the Russian viewer, Ivy's reactions seem strange and uncharacteristic, but the North American one does not notice this, which is noticeable from Western reviews.: there, this color was perceived as an additional feature of the film, which only adds to the charm. Moreover, the characters discuss ancient folklore creatures and artifacts, which is perfectly combined with equally ancient Byzantine writing. Everything seems to be in place.
On the other hand, it is precisely for this flaw that our viewers will only be grateful to Tuason, because he will help to survive this horror and get out of there without a heart attack. Even for viewers who are sophisticated in the genre, the whispers and screams of the "Semitone" have a very strong effect — and there's no point in reminding them that you only need to watch this movie with the original sound on which it's all built? No matter how traditional screamers Tuason uses, no matter how crudely he quotes "The Sinister Dead," no matter how he rolls the camera on a cart around the heroine, we still feel creepy, even if we are able to analyze all these tools coldly and calmly. Maybe we've gotten used to not trusting our eyes, and our ears haven't let us down that often? But at some point, Justin and I want to shout to Evie: let's not include the next track! Maybe we can still save ourselves!
A frame from the movie "Semitone"
However, of course, we understand that we will have to listen to the end. And indulge in all the fears that the Internet has put in us, even though we didn't even know it. And Ian Tuason is already preparing a sequel to "Semitone", inspired by the success of his sound film in every sense.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
