The best horror film at this year's Sundance Film Festival was without a doubt Babak Anvari's debut feature. Similar to Jennifer Kent's The BABADOOK (2014), this Britain- based Iranian filmmaker has crafted an insanely terrifying and emotionally charged nightmare that had people screaming out loud as well as covering their faces for much of the film.
Set in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), a young mother Shideh (stunningly portrayed by the mesmerizing Narges Rashidi), attempts to hold her family together as the walls of the world are literally falling down around her. Combining surreal psychological terror, heartbreaking social issue trauma, and downright face- slapping shocks, Anvari has achieved not only one of the scariest films of the decade, but a call for action against the looming horrors for women within their family, in their career, and in their war-ridden cities. NOTE: Make sure to experience Under the Shadow in a loud, surround sound theater.
Review taken from my 2016 Sundance Film Festival wrap up at www.48hills.org
Set in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988), a young mother Shideh (stunningly portrayed by the mesmerizing Narges Rashidi), attempts to hold her family together as the walls of the world are literally falling down around her. Combining surreal psychological terror, heartbreaking social issue trauma, and downright face- slapping shocks, Anvari has achieved not only one of the scariest films of the decade, but a call for action against the looming horrors for women within their family, in their career, and in their war-ridden cities. NOTE: Make sure to experience Under the Shadow in a loud, surround sound theater.
Review taken from my 2016 Sundance Film Festival wrap up at www.48hills.org