With a remake already in development (no surprise), Under the Shadow is the much buzzed about Iranian horror film that has drawn comparisons to another hyped horror film: The Babadook (which I liked). Even Netflix got their grubby hands on it with plans to release it on the platform sometime in the future. Yes, the hype is definitely strong with this one, so naturally I went in expecting something great, but unfortunately was only mildly satisfied with the end result.

The movie is set in the 80's during the Iran-Iraq War and we focus on a family struggling to survive in the middle of it. While the father (who is a doctor) is forced to lend his talents elsewhere, he leaves behind his wife and young daughter in their apartment building. With the looming fear that the building could be bombed at any minute, the mother-daughter duo eventually find themselves the last ones left, as the other tenants have already fled to safety. They'd leave if they could, but they can't, as something is holding them back--a supernatural entity called a Djinn, who seems to have a grasp on the daughter and it's up to the mother to find a way out before a very real or supernatural death falls upon them.



I can see the Babadook comparisons, as it's more about the characters themselves and less about the monster, but that's also where the similarities end. I'd say this is more of a dramatic character study for the first half, while the second slowly becomes more of a supernatural pic. It's definitely a slow-burner with something ominous always lurking in the background, but we don't see much of that until the third act. Until that point it's all about these characters struggling to survive this war-torn setting and honestly that was more interesting and tense to me than any of the horror elements.

The movie tries to mix this dramatic character study with horror and I applaud the effort, but it just didn't quite work, in my opinion. While this is definitely one of the better and smarter adaption's of the Djinn mythology, the scares are where the movie fails. You've got all the common clichés, pop scares and the obligatory child talking to an invisible friend. Of course the mother doesn't believe in the supernatural until towards the end when she starts seeing things herself and for whatever reason most of the scares are either nightmares or something that occurs while just waking up. Though one particular scene involving something watching the family sleep and disappearing into a crack in the ceiling was fairly creepy.



In the end it's a bit of a mixed bag for me, because it's definitely well shot, acted, and is an overall well done war drama, but it's actually cheapened when the horror elements enter the picture. Regardless, I see much potential with first time director Babak Anvari and the movie as a whole isn't bad.


More of a dramatic character driven drama for the first half, Under the Shadow is an interesting slow-burn effort in mixing genres together, but where it gets the war-torn drama right, it gets the horror wrong. The standard horror clichés are abundant here and sadly much of the real tension and looming threat of death becomes lost when the supernatural comes into play. It's still not a bad watch, but it's ultimately a better drama than it is a horror flick.