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Under The Shadow

Amidst a war torn Iran in 1988 resides Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi). With her husband on the frontline, the loneliness and battlezone that becomes their home draws the attention of something more ominous than the evil of war threatening to change their lives forever.

 

Think THE BABADOOK meets the middle east and as the question of Shideh’s sanity becomes the focal point to the feature, the unfolding mayhem seeks the answers. From the outset, UNDER THE SHADOW is a powerful film and in its revolutionary take on the horror genre also reflects the truth on a side of the world little seen on celluloid. Anvari is a director to watch out for and from his first outing proves that horror speaks in any language.

 

Iran isn’t renowned for its release of horror yet over the past few years has seen an imprint planted firmly in the genre. 2014’s A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT wowed film fans across the world with its artistic yet devastating tale of a vampire in the streets of the middle east. Now comes UNDER THE SHADOW, a film that perfectly blends the atrocities of the world right now with the supernatural.

 

Challenging itself as an insight into a culture that is somewhat exclusive of women’s rights, Babak Anvari’s feature debut is as much a great emotional film as it is a terrific horror movie. The tone is subtle and plays more in line with an emotional drama between the family unit at the centre of the action yet never distracts from letting you know this is a horror film at heart. Its pace may not be to everyone’s standard but it pays off and as the movie evolves, the tension ramps up greatly.

 

With Rashidi’s performance at the centre of UNDER THE SHADOW, she single-handedly delivers a career defining role of a woman struggling to custom to a regime where she is held back from her potential. A strong role that demonstrates this films balance between fact and fiction, beauty and horror, war and peace.

Director: Babak Anvari

Released: 30th September 2016

Running Time: 84 minutes

Age Rating: 15

 

Reviewer: Martyn Wakefield

RATING


Plot: 4
Fear: 4
Gore: 1


R4/5​

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