Under the Shadow

2016 Directed by Babak Anvari

Horror Marathon 2024 Day 4 Film 10

A mother's anxiety grows with the collapse of society around her. It's Iran 1988- with the long war of Iran and Iraq coming to a close she's unable to break out of the oppressive expectations of the current government. She's forbidden to complete her studies to become a Doctor because of her past involvement protesting religious rule. When her husband is pulled away to the front lines to help the sick she's left alone in the apartment with their daughter. The war torn city is bombarded with missiles, creating this wave of people leaving the city. She tries to remain and grasp what's left of her old life, to focus on whatever is left for herself and her daughter.

Most of the film feels like a family drama, played out slowly with bickering over the mother's perceived failures. She's unable to have any control over what's going on in her life. Having a VHS player or going out in public can get her physical punishment. That kind of psychological horror takes physical form in a Djinn that pins itself to the sorrow of her world.

Unfortunately the tension of the narrative didn't connect for me. Perhaps it would have been better simply as a war drama, but the constant reality shifting- what's there around the corner? *sound cue* another jump scare didn't instill much fear - just annoyance. The supernatural force didn't seem match itself to the terror of the sound of bombing sirens in the distance. The horror elements don't seem to come into play well past 3/4's of the film so it just didn't seem to fit with the preceding melodrama. It feels like a movie that would have been more capable of telling its story if it had decided which genre it wanted to be in.