A group of refugees is dropped off at the Turkish-Bulgarian border by a rough smuggler. As they enter Europe under cover of darkness, the group is set upon by armed border guards. The men and women are beaten, shot, and mauled by dogs, their screams and cries for mercy echoing in the night. One young man, Kamal, escapes fleeing into the dark wilderness to be pursued by vicious gangs of “immigrant hunters”, society’s new breed of anti-immigrant Nazis.

These events are chronicled in Europa by writer-director Haidar Rashid. The son of an Iraqi father and an Italian mother, Rashid began writing stories inspired by the real-life stories of refugees in press articles and information he researched while growing up in Florence, Italy. However, as Rashid traveled to Bulgaria to interview human rights lawyers and Bulgarian authorities, he learned that reality is much harsher than his fiction.

“There is a collaboration between the police, the smugglers, and the refugee-hunters,” says Rashid of the widespread corruption on the borders. “And it is a huge trade. The same people who used to deal in drugs now deal in refugees. “The claim that refugee hunters are motivated by politics is not true because for them this is business. They know that the refugees carry their life savings, so they rob them. For them, the refugees are a cash machine.”

Rashid has addressed the topic of refugees in his previous dramas. As he learned more, however, he rewrote his script, to reflect the horrors refugees face as they cross the European borders.

“I am not a fan of horror movies, and I never made one before,” Rashid comments. “But I felt that the refugees’ experiences on the European borders are horrific, so it felt natural to discuss it in a horror movie and address it in that way allows for the majority of the audience to watch the film and find something gripping in it.”

Film genres, such as horror, are global, and watching Europa brings to memory Hollywood horror movies such as the popular Hunger Games movie series. Kamal, played by a British actor of Libyan heritage, Adam Ali, is lost alone in the forest for three days, with his life in constant danger. So, he climbs trees and takes shelter in their branches and leaves to avoid the refugee hunters who kill and loot anyone who falls in their grasp. There is no escape. There’s no one to give him help or shelter.

While some drama movies rely on creating empathy for their heroes, horror movies raise the viewer’s fear. At the beginning of cinema, these films were escapist stories, separate from reality. In the 50s, however, horror movie producers started using the genre as a metaphor to probe into contemporary issues familiar to the audiences of the time.

Pioneering the trend was1956’s  Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which tells the story of aliens who replace American citizens with obedient mechanical duplicates. The story was a metaphor for America’s fear of the spread of Soviets communism during the beginning of the cold war.

The most prominent director in utilizing the horror genre to address political issues of the time was the creator of the modern zombie movie, George Romero. This started with his first film, 1968’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968 where he handled racism in the United States. The theme continued throughout the Of the Dead series as Romero explored reckless consumption (Dawn of The Dead 1978), the disasters that arise from the human’s inability to communicate (Day of The Dead 1985), the United States’ arrogance and its failure in the war on Iraq (Land of the Dead 2005), and the media’s lies and lack of transparency in (Diary of the Dead 2008).

Horror movies usually have only modest production costs and rarely fail at the box office. The dependency on the universal instinct of fear makes the genre one of the most popular and attractive to international audiences. This base-level appeal, however, also makes them less desirable to critics and the least likely genre to receive cinematic awards.

A notable exception is the movies of Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro also uses horror to explore political issues, specifically the exploitations of the oppressed throughout histories such as the Spanish Civil War in Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water. Both films were nominated for and won multiple prestigious including a Golden Globes for Best Director.

“Every action and decision in a horror film is political. I have to decide, from who’s perspective am I telling the story? Do I tell it via a boss or a spy, or an agent, or a scientist? Or from a woman’s perspective, but not any woman, one who cleans toilettes and empties trash?” explains del Toro.

“Two choices make for two different political standings in our community. This is why I believe that horror movies are a mirror or a dark mirror to society. And I produced some of the greatest and most memorable legendary scenes for the cinema, and I see them as beautiful, strong, and tremendously worthy competitors in cinema.”

Other examples of acclaimed political horror movies have emerged recently, most notable of which are those by Jordan Peele. His directorial debut Get Out tackled the gruesome racism against black people in the United States, earning award recognition, critical approval, and enormous profits in the global box office.

“What happens in the cinema is very interesting,” Rashid comments. “Like the movie Get Out, it leaves you in real shock with its use of the horror genre to mirror current political and social issues in the United States. Its success, and the movies of the ’70s which did the same, are definitely inspiring.”

Rashid did not want the movie to be fantastical or even metaphorical. He enhanced its realism, sequestering himself and the crew in the Italian forest where they filmed until the end of the shoot. The goal was to live the isolation suffered by Kamal and lend that authenticity to the actors’ performances.

“Ali and I have a common interest regarding identity, which served in unifying our visions of the movie,” Rashid comments. “We found a way to motivate each other. I tried to create a connection between him and the camera that could be symbiotic as much as possible. And I wanted to focus on the details and the little things while fear comes from the outside, so his eyes were the most important part of his performance.”

Rashid keeps the camera directed at Kamal’s face, emphasizing the expressions that convey every second horror that he feels and exaggerates the sound of his breath. By keeping him trapped in the frame, creates the feeling of claustrophobia which enhances the viewers’ connection with the character and his fears. In contrast, the hostile environment and Kamal’s pursuers go largely unshown.

“I wanted to create Kamal’s full experience through sounds that come from all sides.” Rashid clarifies. “So, most of the film events are heard rather than seen”.

It’s a frequently used horror film technique to hide the monster in order to build fear and tension in the viewer. The prototypical example is Steven Spielberg’s Jaws which famously didn’t show the shark until the end of the movie and became one of the most successful movies in the history of cinema.

Though refugees experience the horrific events shown in Europa, they do not let it stop them. When Turkey responded to the refugee crossings by shutting down its borders with Europe, they looked for other ways. These days, thousands of them travel into Belarus crossing the European borders opened for them by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Despite the harsh cold that kills dozens of them, these refugees continue their attempts to cross and face the Polish and Lithuanian border guards.

Europa is dialogue-free and does not explore the reason that motivates these people to risk their lives to migrate. Instead, it is left for viewers to interpret during a scene where Kamal has a panic attack at the realization that he has to return to Iraq.

“This was not the purpose of the film. The refugee’s decision to risk his life is a personal choice,” Rashid comments. “My goal in making the movie is to tell Europe about the way they treat people who lost everything and needed their help whether in Bulgaria, Italy, or France. Meanwhile, they promote liberty and democracy and the respect of human rights.”

Europa premiered at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight where it received critical acclaim and it is set to represent Iraq in the Oscar’s Best International Film category.