Under the Shadow (2016)

In 1980s Tehran, Shideh is barred from continuing her education to become a doctor due her former activism. Her husband is called to serve his yearly duty in the army, so she's cooped up in her apartment with their young daughter Dorsa and the threat of air raids constant. After a missile bursts through the roof of their building but fails to explode, strange things begin to occur. Dorsa's favorite doll goes missing and a new child in the building tells her that she needs protection from djinns. Shideh often hears things and glimpses movement in her apartment. Dorsa has conversations with people unseen by Shideh.

The mood was oppressive and the overall effect one of true fright. Though there are a couple of jump scares, they weren't overused. Instead, we begin to feel dread and concern. When you add in the extreme patriarchal setting of Iran in the '80s, you have a recipe for a satisfying horror movie that doesn't rely on shocks.

B-