10: Under The Shadow (2016)
The heaviest subject matter thus far this month, something I needed to psych myself up for, Under The Shadow is melancholic horror from Iranian-born writer and director Babak Anvari, set in Iran at the height of the war with Iraq in the 1970s and 80s, with an already understandably stressed and worn out protagonist before creepy things start happening around her home that she deals with badly on top of bombs falling on it.
It uses supernatural horror to heighten the down-to-earth terrors of the situation, and vice versa - I could easily see a purely realistic drama version working, and there’s a moment where she runs from the building and is arrested for not wearing a headscarf which made my blood boil.
From the title and marketing I was imagining spending more time with that missile literally overhead, but the cracks in the ceiling it leaves behind add to the overall menace.
The medium: Netflix
Gameability: Playing a noncombatant in a war zone could add to overall threat, if treated sensitively and sympathetically as it is here.
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