Under the Shadow builds tension with patience to chilling results — a Popcorn Frights film review

It’s been a long time since a jump scare has genuinely grabbed me and left me unnerved in the pit of my guts the way Iranian writer-director Babak Anvari succeeded with his patiently executed and thought-provoking debut feature Under the Shadow. This carefully crafted movie will have its Florida premiere at this year’s second annual Popcorn Frights Film Festival (Tickets for Florida’s premiere horror movie fest Popcorn Frights on sale today; a chat with the fest’s creators), and it’s bound to be a surprise hit of the festival. It’s also one of those rare horror films that crosses over in appeal to fans of foreign language cinema, as it doesn’t overdo the cheap scares with gore and harbors an insightful connection to a particular culture and history, in the case Iran of the late 1980s.

Tickets for Florida’s premiere horror movie fest Popcorn Frights on sale today; a chat with the fest’s creators

With an incredibly successful inaugural year behind them, Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman have been busy at work keeping the Popcorn Frights Film Festival going year-round. It’s been a busy series of months, full of screenings — including some free ones — for genre fans looking to enjoy some classics and new releases. But now comes the second annual fest, expanded to almost a week and featuring more movies than the previous year.