Directed by Babak Anvari
Jordan/UK | Farsi w/ English subtitles | Fiction | 2016 | 86 min
Film Source: Vertical Entertainment
Showtime: Saturday, October 29 | 9:00 p.m. | FH
Part of the VTIFF After Dark Spotlight
Director Babak Anvari’s first feature film will surely draw comparisons to The Babadook. As in that contemporary classic, there’s a great deal lurking under the surface. It’s 1988 in Tehran. The Iran-Iraq war continues on, with daily bombings. The country’s bloody revolution slowly tears a mother and daughter apart. As they struggle to stay together in the midst of these modern terrors, a mysterious evil stalks through their apartment, threatening their grip on reality. This claustrophobic combination of the evils of man and the supernatural create a gripping, visceral horror experience. ~EF