We follow a family in the middle of the Iran–Iraq war. The family consists of three people. The husband, who’s a doctor, must serve in the military because of the war, so the wife has to take care of their daughter. But something strange happens in the apartment above them after a missile lands there without exploding. And the daughter starts acting strangely. She’s talking to an invisible woman. What’s going on?
Under the Shadow is a short horror movie that reminded me of the Japanese film Dark Water and the Australian movie The Babadook. I love both of those movies, and I also like Under the Shadow. This was the second time I watched it, and it’s still a good movie.
What’s interesting about Under the Shadow is that it’s sort of a mix between Dark Water and The Babadook. Is the mother going crazy because of stress, or is there something supernatural about the daughter? One neighbor believes there are supernatural creatures called Djinn. And after telling the mother the story about the demon, her mental state gets worse. But is it because of the story, or the stress she’s experiencing?
The movie starts with the mother trying to get permission to study at the university again to become a doctor. But her past has destroyed that opportunity for political reasons. She’s not going to become a doctor anytime soon.
And then we have the war between Iran and Iraq. That also puts a lot of pressure on her when her husband leaves to defend his country. She’s left alone in the apartment with her daughter, and the neighbors start moving out. After a while, she’s left alone in the building with her daughter. And there’s something strange going on after a missile hits the building without exploding in the apartment above them.
The runtime is just 80 minutes. Under the Shadow burns a little slowly in the first hour before it wakes up in the last 20 minutes. So it’s not a movie for people who must have action on the screen every 10 minutes.
The protagonist and her daughter spend most of their time in the apartment, so this is a movie that, for the most part, isolates the characters from the outside world. And that helps create more tension, dread, and suspense. But we also get to see a provocative scene when she gets in trouble because she didn’t dress correctly when she ran out of the building. I hate that religious nonsense!
I won’t reveal too much about whether the mother is crazy or if there really are some evil supernatural creatures in the building. The movie has some excellent, effective scenes. There are two scenes I loved: one where the protagonist runs out into the living room and something happens on the ceiling, and the other where she runs out of the apartment with her kid and then hears a voice. That’s a fantastic scene!
If you like the two movies I mentioned, I think you’ll like Under the Shadow. It’s a slow-burning movie, but it’s solid and doesn’t give you an obvious answer to what’s going on, and I like that.