Synopsis
After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.
Your Movie Library
Cast
- Narges RashidiShideh
- Avin ManshadiDorsa
- Bobby NaderiIraj
- Ray HaratianMr. Ebrahimi
- Hamid DjavadanMr. Fakur
- Bijan DaneshmandDirector
- Behi Djanati AtaiPargol
- Aram GhasemyMrs. Ebrahimi
- Soussan FarrokhniaMrs. Fakur
- Arash MarandiDr. Reza
Recommendations
- 100
Empire
A quality ghost story with an unusual backdrop and great performances. - 100
CineVue
Under the Shadow is not only perfectly paced, the storytelling and plotting is emotionally gripping. The director also uses setting and location, composition and framing like a master of horror. - 91
Consequence
The Iranian filmmaker wisely uses the genre to work through themes of oppression, rebellion, and femininity without ever politicizing the film. This is prestige horror, the kind with tricks and treats that arrive with purpose and linger for years. - 91
IndieWire
Under the Shadow smartly observes the emotions stirred up by a world defined by restrictions, and the terrifying possibility that they might be inescapable. - 90
The Hollywood Reporter
Anvari deftly builds and sustains tension throughout, crafting a horror movie that respects genre conventions...while firmly establishing its own distinctive identity. - 83
The Film Stage
Under The Shadow is a rare genre film of emotional and political complexity, one that’s well-acted and directed, even if the psychological horror is front and center. - 80
Screen Daily
The culturally specific elements that Iran-born, British-based first time writer-director Babak Anvari brings to the picture makes this a distinctive spin on a familiar premise. - 80
Variety
Slyly merging a familiar but effective genre exercise with a grim allegory of female oppression, Babak Anvari’s resourceful writing-directing debut grounds its premise in something at once vaguely political and ineluctably sinister.
