Under the Shadow

"Fear will find you."

2016 1h 24m FA

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 757

DramaHorrorWar

Synopsis

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After Shideh's building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits. She becomes convinced a supernatural force within the building is attempting to possess her daughter Dorsa, and she has no choice but to confront these forces if she is to save her daughter and herself.

“Fear will find you.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Narges Rashidi
Shideh
Avin Manshadi
Dorsa
Bobby Naderi
Iraj
Ray Haratian
Mr. Ebrahimi
Hamid Djavadan
Mr. Fakur
Bijan Daneshmand
Director
Behi Djanati Atai
Pargol
Aram Ghasemy
Mrs. Ebrahimi

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Babak Anvari
Writers: Babak Anvari
Languages: Persian
Countries: Jordan, United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

84 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

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Released 10 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

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International production across 2 countries: Jordan, United Kingdom.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Babak Anvari, shot by Kit Fraser. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christopher Barwell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi and Bobby Naderi carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Fear will find you.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt4273292 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Babak Anvari directs. Kit Fraser behind the camera. Christopher Barwell cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Jordan, United Kingdom. Dialogue in Persian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

184 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 10 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: Jordan, United Kingdom.
4Directed by Babak Anvari, shot by Kit Fraser. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Christopher Barwell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi and Bobby Naderi carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Fear will find you.".
8IMDB entry: tt4273292 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "daughter", "mother", "supernatural", "teheran (tehran), iran".

The technical file

Cinematography: Kit Fraser
Editing: Christopher Barwell
Production design: Nasser Zoubi
Costume design: Phaedra Dahdaleh
VFX supervisor: Duncan McWilliam
Sound: Richard Kondal
Runtime: 84 min · 1h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: FA
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Under the Shadow (2016)

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Babak Anvari

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-09-19
★ 7/10
It's the 1980s and aspiring doctor "Shideh" (Narges Rashidi) has found that one of the side effects of the recent Iranian revolution is that she's been kicked out of medical school. They don't need women to be doctors, apparently, so just go home and bring up your daughter "Dorsa" (Mia Sinclair Jenness) whilst your husband "Iraj" (Bobby Naderi) does his bit on the front line of the war against Iraq. Aside from terrifying her for his safety, this also causes a degree of chagrin from "Shideh" as he happens to be a doctor, too. He advises them to quit Tehran and go and live with his much more traditional mother, but she isn't so keen on that idea so decides they will just stay at home. With the missiles and bombs landing all around them, the young "Dorsa" starts to miss her favourite doll, then she develops a persistent fever and finally starts having nightmares about seeing something malevolent that tells her her mother doesn't care anymore. Now upset and confused, "Shideh" has to get to the bottom of a mystery that might well have more to do with the supernatural than with a neighbour downstairs winding up her child. I reckon that most horror movies fall down because there is something too formulaic about them, the beginning, middle then usually quite hysterically performed and scored ending rarely vary from the well walked black-brick road. This is a little different, though, as it bases it's dread on the evil fantasies of another culture altogether and, perhaps more intriguingly, those aspects that slightly fly in the face of more Western interpretations of "Djinn" (or genies). There's no Robin Williams here. On another level, there is an horror of a different sort as we watch a perfectly competent character barred from her vocation by virtue of her sex and caught up in a zealousness that could hardly be described as progressive - and that is quite effectively illustrated by Bijan Daneshman's "Director". With that menacing scene set, though, I must admit that I wasn't at all convinced by Rashidi. As the panic and histrionics build between her and the more plausible Jenness, I felt she was doing it all a little too much by numbers and after a while I just didn't much like her character at all, either. For a film that's so much about soul and possession, she turned in something remarkably soul-less and I was never persuaded that she wasn't just acting. Still, this effectively shies away from ceiling-spinning special effects and relies more on the psychology of fear to tell it's tale - and I reckon it's well worth eighty minutes.

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