Review of Under the Shadow (2016) by Brandon W — 16 Oct 2016

Under the Shadow is the directorial and writing debut of Babak Anvari, and it stars Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi in an Iranian horror film about a mother and daughter that stays in their house during the War of the Cities during the 1980s, and the daughter thinks there's someone else inside the house.

I heard about this film on Flixster and when going through the new releases, and I saw this film getting high reviews, which is rare for a horror film. Then I watch the trailer for it, and it got my attention for the film.

When I went through the PlayStation Store for the Flash Sale, I saw that this was in the new releases category, and immediately rented it after it, which was definitely worth the money. I've never seen this actors before, but they were great in this, and the kid actress was not annoying, which is reliving to see that.

Consider that it takes place during a historical event, it's interesting to see what they need to do to hope that it's over, and it put some subtle touches in the film that shows what Iran is about in terms of its lifestyle.

The characters are really three-dimensional thanks to the script by the director, and it gives off to some good chemistry between mother and daughter that may seem similar to The Babadook, but it's different enough to where it's its own version of it.

The atmosphere is effective, and the scares are really good despite the fact that most of them were jumpscares, but they were earned, so it didn't matter to me. There are some dream sequences in here, and they were much better than something like The Boy that did it.

The camerawork is impressive to look at as there's some shots that were unexpected but in a good way. The story is well-told, even though it's probably not an actual true story, and the climax in it is a bit terrifying that makes the film more exciting.

The subtle female uprising is very admirable, especially when the rules in Iran are very different than men. Under the Shadow is a fantastic one that is probably one of those horror films of 2016 that people are going to talk about like The Witch in 2015, and It Follows in 2014.