Released: September 30, 2016
Director: Babak Anvari
Screenplay: Babak Anvari
Tagline: "Fear will find you"
Cast:
Narges Rashidi as Shideh
Avin Manshadi as Dorsa
Bobby Naderi as Iraj
Ray Haratian as Mr. Ebrahimi
Aram Ghasemy as Mrs. Ebrahimi
Arash Marandi as Dr. Reza
Tehran, late 1980's. Political activist Shideh is attempting to gain re-entry to medical school, but her outspoken reputation has left her blacklisted. Devastated, she is resigned to return home to her doctor husband Iraj and their stubborn daughter Dorsa. She locks her textbook away and resigns herself solemnly to domestic duties. But then, Iraj is drafted to serve in the war with Iraq, and Shideh must take care of Dorsa all on her own. As the conflict drags on, and strange things begin happening in the apartment building, Shideh begins to suspect that the danger of the outside world is not all that threatens her sanity, her family, and her life.
Under the Shadow is a confident, well-paced film from a debut director that feels seasoned and measured. It's the familiar story of a determined mother trying to figure out parenthood while protecting her daughter from harm but grounded in the specific historical timeframe of Iran in the eighties. This setting allows for layers of nuance and depth unique to the story; sirens blare in the background, characters hide in bomb shelters, dud missiles crash through walls, all of it adding flavor and character. There is danger all around Shideh and Dorsa. But perhaps closer than they realize, as well. Shideh's neighbors believe a specter has latched itself to Dorsa, but Shideh thinks the missing objects and strange hallucinations she's having are a result of her sleepwalking and insomnia.
What's interesting and compelling about this particular mother-daughter dynamic is that Shideh is not the prototypical caring and sensitive mother that horror viewers might be familiar with from films like The Others (2001) or The Babadook (2015). She loves Dorsa, certainly, but she's also struggling with the frustration and resentment at having had to abandon her career as a doctor and become a full-time mother. There's a feminist critique throughout the film that we see in Shideh and Iraj's tense conversations about gender roles, and it all comes to a head when Shideh, fleeing from a terrifying apparition in the night, is reprimanded by the authorities for being in public without her headscarf. She is scolded and must return home in shame, unable to get anyone to investigate what prompted her actions to begin with.
There are several great observations like this throughout the film, none of which are heavy-handed. This allows Anvari to craft a realistic foundation for the supernatural horror that unfolds, telling a tale of the instability of war and the insecurities that citizens face in the midst of conflict. Even watching the film, with the restless camerawork, suggests destabilization, preparing us for a world slowly being enveloped by chaos and shadow.
Under the Shadow
5 - Totally Terrifying
4 - Crazy Creepy
3 - Fairly Frightening
2 - Slightly Scary
1 - Hardly Horror
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