Always remember: the horror genre doesn’t exist to entertain you. It exists to highlight all of your various fears and anxieties. Those prickly and uncomfortable thoughts that we have a hard time admitting to ourselves are brought to vivid life by the horror genre, forcing the protagonists of these stories – as well as all the folks in the audience – to confront their phobias directly, without the sort obfuscation and denial we would normally apply to our daily lives. If we have “fun” in the process, that’s great too, but many of the greatest horror movies in history were produced to expose your nerves and/or lead you to catharsis, and that’s not much of a vacation. That’s work.
So it’s tempting to give a serious, impressive allegory like Under the Shadow a free pass just for doing its job. The film is an earnest spook story, about an Iranian woman named Shideh (Narges Rashidi) living in Tehran in the 1980s, when the Iraq-Iran War sent families fleeing from their homes to escape deadly missile attacks. Shideh’s life was rough enough already: she gave up on medical school to focus on raising her child, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), and now she isn’t allowed to finish her studies. Her husband has just been drafted and Shideh and Dorsa are all alone in the apartment, simmering in their tensions.
And then, of course, a Djinn arrives.
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Not the djinn of 1,0001 Arabian Nights, and not the trickster of the Wishmaster franchise, this supernatural force arrives on the wind and tears Shideh and Dorsa apart, removing their most cherished possessions and watching them gnaw at each other. It’s unclear for the longest time whether the djinn is merely a metaphor or a very literal presence, and maybe it’s unimportant. It’s a rough time for both of these people anyway.
Under the Shadow is a thoughtful allegory, a haunted house tale set against a backdrop that the horror genre often ignores. It’s hard enough to be in this horrific situation in the first place, but as a woman in Iran, Shideh doesn’t even have the freedom to flee the house in terror. When she does, neglecting to don her hijab because of the immediate threat, she is arrested for indecency, and told that her priorities are completely out of order. The implication throughout Under the Shadow is that Shideh is a selfish woman, incapable of protecting her child – whom she refuses to take out of Tehran, despite the Iraqi attacks – and deserving of the fate she gets. It’s a vicious sentiment.
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It would be pleasant to report that Under the Shadow eventually transforms into a heroic narrative, in which the powerful female protagonist emerges victorious by claiming her power, but by setting Under the Shadow in the past, the filmmakers remind us that nothing she can do is going to change the society she lives in. At least, not yet. Even if she defeats the djinn she will continue to be marginalized, and it certainly seems as though Shideh is starting to internalize all of that negativity. She might not believe these bitter accusations, but it’s clear from the way she struggles to fight them that she is, at least, afraid that they might be true.
That, really, is the most frightening aspect of Under the Shadow. The film, written and directed by Babak Anvari, boasts some surreal imagery but mostly tells its story in a matter-of-fact manner, without many jump scares or dramatic reversals. And while, again, horror doesn’t exist just to entertain you, it does need to consistently hold your attention. Under the Shadow’s straightforward plot and sparse frights leave the audience a lot of time to develop an objective view of Shideh, and question many of the minor leaps in logic that other horror movies often get away with. The immediacy of her situation is absent, and in its place is a long view of the story and its setting, and while that may be intellectually interesting it’s not nearly as involving – or as scary – as it probably should be.
Under the Shadow shines a light on the horror genre, specifically the way it would play out in environments that storytellers often neglect. It’s a sad and harrowing tale of a woman oppressed on all sides, but the problem is it’s also a supernatural thriller, and it’s not particularly engaging on that level. Perhaps Under the Shadow will appeal to quote-unquote “serious” film fans who would normally ignore horror movies altogether, and perhaps passionate horror enthusiasts will be able to use the film to expand their horizons. There’s a lot of good to be found in Babak Anvari’s film; some of it is just overshadowed.
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William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
