Variety
Shadow delivers the sort of sleek, swiftly paced freakout that streaming customers will gladly look past subtitles to experience.
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Under the Shadow
1980s Tehran is the rare setting for this horror film. With her husband drafted into the Iran-Iraq war, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her daughter must contend with the stresses of post-revolution, wartime Iran - and a mysterious evil presence haunting them.
"In 1988 Tehran, Shideh’s attempts to rejoin medical school after getting married and having daughter Dorsa are thwarted as a consequence of her politically active history. Her husband is sent off to serve in the Iran-Iraq War while Iraqi air raids draw perilously close to their own apartment. As she is left alone with Dorsa after neighbors and friends flee from a city in chaos, her daughter becomes increasingly ill and seemingly disturbed. Shideh initially dismisses Dorsa’s tantrums over a missing doll, but she reluctantly comes to suspect that they’ve been targeted by djinn—malevolent spirits that steal from those they seek to possess." (Sundance Film Festival)
Less2016Rating: M, Horror and supernatural themes83 minsIran, Jordan, Qatar, UKFarsi with English subtitles
HorrorWorld CinemaFestival & Independent
- Director:
- Babak Anvari (feature debut)
- Writer:
- Babak Anvari
- Cast:
- Narges RashidiAvin ManshadiBobby NaderiRay HaratianArash Marandi
Under the Shadow | Awards
Outstanding British Debut, 2017 BAFTAs
Under the Shadow | Reviews
99%93 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
The Guardian
Under its scares, Under the Shadow serves as an impassioned allegory for female oppression - but Anvari doesn't shortchange horror fans.
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New Zealand Herald
The despair and hopelessness of Rashidi's Shideh is a gripping portrait of a woman left to hold everything together - including herself.
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New York Post
A tightly controlled chiller that carries a whiff of mother-daughter horror classics such as "Poltergeist" and "The Exorcist" ...
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Los Angeles Times
As much a study of a changing society as it is a story of evil spirits. The movie is first fascinating, then terrifying.
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Hollywood Reporter
Anvari deftly builds and sustains tension throughout, crafting a horror movie that respects genre conventions (right down to the safe/not safe ending), while firmly establishing its own distinctive identity.
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