The Movies That Changed My Life: ‘Under The Shadow’ Director Babak Anvari

Horror generally doesn’t get the respect it deserves at the Academy Awards, which makes it all the more remarkable that the U.K. selected Babak Anvari‘s “Under The Shadow” as its entry for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards this year. This speaks not only to the film’s quality, but also how deeply its themes resonate, ringing out far beyond its expected genre borders.

Starring Narges Rashidi, Bobby Naderi, Avin Manshadi, Ray Haratian, Hamidreza Djavdan, and Soussan Farrokhnia, “Under The Shadow” tells a tightly-wound, increasingly nerve-jangling story that revolves around heroine Shideh and her family living in Tehran during the escalating tensions of the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. When her husband is called to the front lines to serve as a medic, Shideh is left alone to care for her daughter. As the war draws closer, Shideh’s anxiety increases when it become apparent her home is being haunted by an evil djinn (spirit).

READ MORE: The 25 Best Foreign Horror Films Ever

Doubling both as a horror tale and a metaphor for wartime worries, “Under The Shadow” is one of the best genre films of the year. When we reached out to Anvari to share his Movies That Changed My Life, it wasn’t a surprise to see some iconic horror flicks pepper his selections. “Under The Shadow” is now playing, and you can see more entries from our recurring feature right here.

1. The first movie you ever saw
I can’t remember… I was always around television and films as a child, and I grew up around film lovers. My older brother has always been obsessed with films and TV as well. But I think it must have been some Disney animated film. Probably “The Jungle Book” or “Sleeping Beauty” or something else. I loved Disney cartoons when I was young.

2. The first moviegoing film experience you can remember
I think my first cinema experience was watching an animated film called “The Last Unicorn.” It came out in 1982, but it was screened in Tehran, where I grew up, some years after. From what I remember, my uncle gathered all of the children (my cousins, my brother and I) and took us to see it. It was a fun day out. But there was a demonic, fiery red bull in the cartoon that really scared me as a child.

3. The best moviegoing film experience you ever had 
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind“!! Hands down! I always wanted to watch it on a big screen. When I was around 16 or 17, a small cinema in Tehran managed to find prints of some of Spielberg films from before the revolution in some storage at an old cinema. So they screened “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” one evening to a small crowd. I was obviously obsessed with Spielberg, so my brother and I went to watch it together. I was so excited that my heart was beating fast. And as soon as the film started, my brother turned to me and whispered “The moment you’ve been waiting for? It’s happening now!” I can’t describe the joy. I was so focused on the film —I didn’t want to miss a single frame. It was awesome!

4. The first film you saw that you realized that you too could be a filmmaker 
Spielberg and Tim Burton both inspired me to become a filmmaker as a child. It’s hard to tell exactly which film, because I went through a period of religiously watching Spielberg and Burton films when I was young and thinking that this is what I want to do! I want to tell stories like them! But if I want to be specific, I think it was the ‘Indiana Jones‘ films.

5. The first movie you became obsessed with
A toss up between “Jurassic Park” and “Batman Returns.” I was around 10 when I watched them both and I think I watched both more than 20 times in one year. “Jurassic Park” was the definition of a great sci-fi in my head. I learned about DNA through watching this film, and I was in awe of Spielberg’s ability to create tension and juxtapose it with more tender and funny moments. And “Batman Returns” was just so cool! I loved the dark tone of the film. Michael Keaton was a great Batman and I was infatuated by Michelle Pfeiffer‘s Catwoman.