‘Masterpiece’ horror war film with 99% score now streaming on Netflix | Films | Entertainment

It’s not often a film manages to mix horror and war, but one that does exactly that is now available to stream on Netflix in the UK. The film, which has a 99% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, has been called “a masterpiece” and described as one of the most powerful and original horror films of the last decade.

Set in the middle of a real-life war, the story follows a mother and daughter trapped inside their home as something evil begins to haunt them. But with bombs falling outside, there’s nowhere to run. The movie was the debut feature from Iranian-born director Babak Anvari, and was produced by British company Wigwam Films.

It was released in 2016 and went on to win several international awards. It was also the UK’s official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year.

On Rotten Tomatoes, one reviewer wrote: “It’s a masterpiece that combines both horror and war in the best way. It simply has to be watched.”

Another said: “The genius of the film lies in the way it builds up the tension, slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, until I suddenly realised I was wound up so tightly I wanted to scream.”

The film is called Under the Shadow. It takes place in Tehran in the late 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, a time when many families were living in fear as air raids targeted major cities.

Starring Narges Rashidi and Avin Manshadi, it shows how fear, isolation and conflict affect both adults and children, with a supernatural twist.

One review said: “It’s just very raw, very real, but it’s shot very beautifully, and the acting is superb.”

Another added: “Under the Shadow is a skillful slow burn of a movie, intermixing quiet, suggestively stacked details with an increasing number of unsettling shocks.”

Film writer David Rooney, from The Hollywood Reporter, said: “It’s a gripping thriller about a mother and daughter under supernatural siege, which also doubles as a potent allegory for the anxieties of war, political turmoil and a society that oppresses women.”

He added that the director “builds and sustains tension throughout, crafting a horror movie that respects genre conventions while firmly establishing its own identity”.

Well-known critic Mark Kermode also named Under the Shadow as his favourite film of 2016, and many others have called it one of the most important horror films of the decade.

Under the Shadow is available to stream on Netflix UK.