Under the Shadow
Vertical Entertainment | Release Date: October 7, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Observer (UK)Mark KermodeOct 14, 2020
With this terrific feature debut, Anvari lifts the veil on his heroines’ hidden lives and leaves us all dreaming with our eyes wide open. Read full review
100
Total FilmJamie GrahamOct 7, 2016
Full of shivers and subtext, this is scarily good. One of the films – horror or otherwise – of the year. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyOct 7, 2016
Under the Shadow, a Farsi-language debut feature written and directed by Babak Anvari, creates a world where reality itself is suspect. In a year filled with great first features, add Under the Shadow to the list. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayOct 6, 2016
The movie is first fascinating, then terrifying. Read full review
100
CineVueMartyn ConterioOct 5, 2016
Under the Shadow is not only perfectly paced, the storytelling and plotting is emotionally gripping. The director also uses setting and location, composition and framing like a master of horror. Read full review
100
EmpireKim NewmanSep 26, 2016
A quality ghost story with an unusual backdrop and great performances. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnJan 31, 2016
Under the Shadow smartly observes the emotions stirred up by a world defined by restrictions, and the terrifying possibility that they might be inescapable. Read full review
91
ConsequenceMichael RoffmanJan 31, 2016
The Iranian filmmaker wisely uses the genre to work through themes of oppression, rebellion, and femininity without ever politicizing the film. This is prestige horror, the kind with tricks and treats that arrive with purpose and linger for years. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyJan 31, 2016
Anvari deftly builds and sustains tension throughout, crafting a horror movie that respects genre conventions...while firmly establishing its own distinctive identity. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisOct 6, 2016
Under the Shadow is a skilled, chilling feature debut that might follow you around a while after seeing it. Read full review
83
The Film StageJohn FinkJan 31, 2016
Under The Shadow is a rare genre film of emotional and political complexity, one that’s well-acted and directed, even if the psychological horror is front and center. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 14, 2020
It is elegantly shot and very well acted. A definite frisson. Read full review
80
SlashfilmAngie HanOct 14, 2020
Under the Shadow is a tragedy as much as it is a horror film, and the heartbreak lingers long after the fears have been shaken off. Read full review
80
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoOct 5, 2016
Under The Shadow marries haunted horrors with period-piece importance for a deliciously dark ghost story. Read full review
80
Screen DailyWendy IdeJan 31, 2016
The culturally specific elements that Iran-born, British-based first time writer-director Babak Anvari brings to the picture makes this a distinctive spin on a familiar premise. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangJan 31, 2016
Slyly merging a familiar but effective genre exercise with a grim allegory of female oppression, Babak Anvari’s resourceful writing-directing debut grounds its premise in something at once vaguely political and ineluctably sinister. Read full review
75
Paste MagazineBrogan MorrisOct 14, 2020
Anvari is making a stifling period drama, a horror movie of a different sort that tangibly conveys the claustrophobia of Iran during its tumultuous post-revolution period. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenOct 14, 2020
It works itself up into a fine froth by the climax, and even manages to score some political points against the repressive Iranian regime in the process. Read full review
75
The PlaylistKenji FujishimaOct 10, 2016
Though the film doesn’t quite overwhelm as horror, the thematic implications are dense enough in this case that it ends up leaving a lingering aftertaste anyway. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithOct 6, 2016
Any parent who has ever scrambled desperately to find a doll to appease a wailing child as though it were a life-and-death situation will appreciate the wit of this multilayered, dread-soaked chamber piece. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Oct 5, 2016
There’s still something exciting about seeing familiar tropes placed in an unfamiliar context — in this case, a nation ravaged by violent conflict and stifled by fundamentalist law. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianMar 16, 2016
The film's horror is spookily and movingly expressive of the tenuous position of women in 1980s Iran. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneOct 10, 2016
Precisely thirty-six times more interesting than “The Girl on the Train.” Where the conceit of that movie feels timid, cooked up, and culturally thin, Anvari’s is nourished by a near-traumatic sense of history, and, in terms of feminist pluck, Rashidi’s presence, in the leading role, is both gutsier and more plausible than the combined efforts of all the main performers in Taylor’s film. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla DargisOct 6, 2016
War may be terrible, but for a woman like Shideh there’s no horror like home. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovOct 5, 2016
Make no mistake: This is a horror film right to its core, although the nightmare comes both from without (the war, the state decrees regarding how Shideh must dress in public, even when fleeing incoming missiles) and within (the unknown but entirely evil Middle Eastern djinn). Read full review
More From This Movie

83 Critic Reviews

7.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL