A woman performs CPR on an elderly man inches away from a live missile that could explode at any moment. This sort of visceral, real-world danger haunts every second of director Babak Anvari’s horror film Under the Shadow. Setting the film in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s infuses a sense of dread through every scene most of which take place in a claustrophobia inducing apartment building. Bomb alerts blare suddenly, sending the tenants on a mad dash to the basement where they can wait out the attacks. As if the wartime setting wasn’t threatening enough, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) is terrorized by demonic entities that want to possess her daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi).

Under the Shadow will attract comparisons to The Babadook for its mother/child central themes and understandably so, but Shideh represents a shattered psyche that deals with more than just motherhood. Reeling from the recent death of her mother, she attempts to gain re-admission into the university in hopes of continuing her medical studies. It was her mother’s desire that she became a doctor but she is denied due to her activist past during the Iranian Cultural Revolution before the war. Her husband Iraj (Bobby Naderi) however is already a practicing doctor, having made the decision to stay in school during the revolution while Shideh abandoned her studies. With the revolution over and her studies no longer being an option, Shideh faces an identity crisis made worse by her feelings of rejection and loss while being under constant attack by the war and the supernatural forces haunting her home.

The multitude of emotions breaking Shideh down makes her increasingly susceptible to the dark forces at work on her mind, especially when she's slowly left behind by her neighbors leaving the complex to flee the war, and her husband is called away to serve in the military. Anvari wisely chooses restraint in depicting these evil entities called Djinn. Mostly appearing cloaked in robes and blankets and sometimes taking on the voice of her husband, their actual existence is clouded by their personal attacks on Shideh, preying on her growing feelings of guilt and inadequacy as a mother. A complex character like Shideh demands an on par performance and Narges Rashidi proves marvelous and a treasure, matching that depth with her harrowing depiction of a woman coming unhinged. An excitingly fresh genre mash-up, Under the Shadow offers a taut singular experience in psychological terror.