Horror october #27
Oct. 27th, 2017 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beer_good_foamyAll the best horror movies are metaphorical on some level. The best monsters represent something.
The winds of the Djinni blow wherever fear rules.
Under the Shadow flips that upside down by essentially remaking Dark Water in the middle of Tehran during the Iraq-Iran war. Shideh has to give up her medical studies because, well, so when her husband is drafted to serve at the front, she's left at home in her flat with her daughter and whatever neighbours haven't yet escaped the city ... and as bombs and rockets rain down, morality police patrol the streets threatening any woman who doesn't behave modestly, she starts to believe the Djinni are after her child. After all, she's in a world where hellfire can literally fall on her head at any time, where seeing pale children who walk around in a daze without speaking is perfectly normal, where she's forced to hide herself to even go outside in the name of Values ... so when every horror trope becomes normal, does it matter if the monsters are real?
I love that we're in a world where we can debate if the greatest Iranian horror movie of recent years is this or the equally brilliant A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. I prefer the latter for style, but Under the Shadow packs a good punch.
The winds of the Djinni blow wherever fear rules.
Under the Shadow flips that upside down by essentially remaking Dark Water in the middle of Tehran during the Iraq-Iran war. Shideh has to give up her medical studies because, well, so when her husband is drafted to serve at the front, she's left at home in her flat with her daughter and whatever neighbours haven't yet escaped the city ... and as bombs and rockets rain down, morality police patrol the streets threatening any woman who doesn't behave modestly, she starts to believe the Djinni are after her child. After all, she's in a world where hellfire can literally fall on her head at any time, where seeing pale children who walk around in a daze without speaking is perfectly normal, where she's forced to hide herself to even go outside in the name of Values ... so when every horror trope becomes normal, does it matter if the monsters are real?
I love that we're in a world where we can debate if the greatest Iranian horror movie of recent years is this or the equally brilliant A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. I prefer the latter for style, but Under the Shadow packs a good punch.
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Date: 2017-10-29 07:06 pm (UTC)