Forget Backrooms, A24's low-budget horror hit Undertone hits #1 after a weekend on HBO Max

Another horror hit has hit streaming

It's been a strong year for horror. While the genre has long been a reliable force at the box office, over the past six months, movies like Obsession and Backrooms have become a phenomenon, surprising the industry with high ticket sales and the glee they draw from a massive Gen Z audience. Now, another low-budget horror hit is causing an impact, this time on streaming, with it climbing to HBO Max's number 1 spot over the weekend.

A24's Undertone premiered in theaters nationwide on March 13th, 2026. Directed by Ian Tuason, the Canadian movie grossed over $21.6 million in the US and Canada, a sum that vastly outperformed its $500,000 microbudget. It follows a couple of podcast hosts who come across a set of audio files detailing a couple's possession, putting them in contact with a paranormal force. The story narrows its focus on one of the hosts (Nina Kiry), who returns home to care for her ailing mother.

“I would say it's a creepypasta movie,” Tuason told Polygon. “Their podcast is a creepypasta podcast, and the 10 audio files that were emailed to them are creepypasta media. So yeah, this movie was built on top of creepypastas.”

Undertone was added to HBO Max on June 26, quickly becoming a streaming hit. The movie is ranked #1 on the platform, performing better than the Glen Powell-led How To Make a Killing, They Will Kill You, and Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, according to the tracking site FlixPatrol.

What's next for Ian Tuason?

The unexpected success of Undertone has made Tuason one of the rising stars of the horror genre. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tuason will be leading a Paranormal Activity reboot, marking the rebirth of the successful franchise that debuted in 2007 and released seven entries in the following years.

The Paranormal Activity movies are found-footage horror, following families and people terrorized by unexplainable entities from within their homes. The scares feel real and invasive, captured through security cameras, camcorders, and night vision lenses. It's a franchise that shares some of the DNA of Tuason's work.

Jason Blum and James Wan are joining the project as producers, with the reboot scheduled for release on May 2027.

“I'm a big fan of the series, so I'm excited for other fans to get hit with some big reveals,” Tuason told Polygon.

Before Undertone, Tuason was known for his live-action VR horror shorts, which were highly viewed on YouTube and landed him a showcase at SXSW. The movie marked his feature directorial debut and has been labeled as part of a movement within the horror genre exploring the creepypastas of the digital era, with the filmmakers influenced by the scary stories they stumbled upon on the internet when they were younger.

“I wasn't consciously deciding to hop on any wave,” said Tuason. “I was influenced by film in general, just wanting to make the best film I could make. Didn't matter which genre I was in — but I love horror. So I wasn't really paying attention to what other people were making when I was making mine. But now that I am, I can see [the trend]. Maybe [horror directors] feel more free to do it because so many other people are experimenting with the genre.”

A new take on the Paranormal Activity world seems like the perfect next step for him.