The actress that plays lead is fabulous, the story is phenomenal. I would love to go on and on about how thoroughly I enjoyed this piece of work but I am afraid to give any spoilers. Watching with subtitles is the way to go, however I know some folks are not fond of them so they would steer away from it solely for that reason, however netflix has dubbed a lot of foreign movies with a long list on language audio. Check it out, so expertly done,

From a quick reading of the plot and the poster the first impression may be that of another paranormal themed horror of mediocre quality but if you add the country of origin (Iran) and a difficult and traumatic setting like that in this country during the war against Iraq between 1980 and 1988, then you immediately understand that probably it is not the usual horror. And in fact, despite some elements that refer to that horror cinema already seen and reviewed, used and abused in Hollywood, "Under the shadow" demonstrates with much courage to be much more, something that the genre served with a lot of need, a film that is not limited only to scare, to anguish and disturb (and all this does so optimally, even if not impeccable in the first half) but that tries to give to everything a meaning that is profound, how much enough, but above all that it can give to the various jumpscare and to the dark and disturbing atmosphere an purpose that goes beyond that of instilling fear and fright. Babak Anvari with his very mature and in many moments, as already said, courageous director gives the film the gift of acting as a metaphor, not excessively veiled, that criticizes the society of that period but has not undergone many changes over the years including the current ones, a cold, cynical, disrespectful and claustrophobic society, especially for women, the absolute protagonists of this movie. Really extraordinary a scene in which the terror in the form of veil imprisons almost to stifle or otherwise separate the mother with her daughter, to indicate a society that rejects the unconventional ideals of the first and that tries to protect the child with its own restrictions so as to remove her from the mother and bring her closer to the unfair want of a society too much influence from a religion that in radicalism to women takes away more than giving.

No plot, lack of script, not scary at all.I didn't even realized where it all began, then suddenly there appeared the ghost, a vengeful one. No cause, no motive. The lead role was very annoying, reckless and stubborn. Well, if she was meant to be it, then it was a good acting. Because you'll realize all the troubles and problems occurred because she was being so selfish and self-centered. As the story, it lead to nowhere. Like i said before, it had no plot. Well, the conflict between the lead role and another character was forced, it was actually no conflict at all, but since she's an annoying person so she had to be the person who was always correct and "the victim". The story went slow with some unnecessary scene, it seemed to be put there only to add the length of the movie. It's a boring drama that put a failed-horror flick to gain rating. No need to add this to your watch-list.

I have to admit it: I didn't expect too much from an Iranian horror movie that I should watch with English subtitles.But I was wrong! This great horror movie is the tangible proof that the making of a really scary movie doesn't need massive budget, rivers of blood or huge special effect. The 80's setting was completely reconstructed ( the fitness work out has been a jump in time!), the actors really realistic, the atmosphere is distressing,dark,tense and full of bad omen.I jumped on my sofa 2 or 3 times and I had continuous goose bumps....I even forgot that Iwas watching a movie with subtitles. "Chapeau" to the art director and to his team .