Director: Fereydoun Jeyrani
Cast: Navid Mohammadzadeh, Elnaz Shakerdoost, Pardis Ahmadieh
Khafeghi is a 2017 Iranian crime-drama-horror film directed by Fereydoun Jeyrani, running 107 minutes. It follows a husband who brings his wife, suffering from severe neurotic distress, to a psychiatric institution — and what unfolds within those walls takes a dark, unsettling turn.
What is Khafeghi about?
Masoud is a man caught between duty and desperation when his wife's deteriorating mental state leaves him with few choices. He arranges for her admission to a psychiatric facility, believing institutional care will provide what he cannot at home. Once inside, the environment itself becomes a source of dread — the facility's routines, its other residents, and the staff all press in on the couple in unexpected ways. As Masoud tries to navigate his wife's treatment, the line between care and control grows increasingly blurred, and the horror is as much psychological as it is situational. The film builds steadily, using its confined setting to amplify a sense of suffocating unease that gives the film its name — Khafeghi, meaning suffocation or suffocating tension.
Cast & crew
Navid Mohammadzadeh, one of Iran's most recognized contemporary actors, leads the film as Masoud, bringing his characteristic intensity to a role that demands emotional restraint under pressure. Elnaz Shakerdoost plays the wife at the center of the story's psychological torment. Pardis Ahmadieh rounds out the principal cast. The film is directed by Fereydoun Jeyrani, a veteran of Iranian cinema with a long career spanning drama and genre work.
Context & significance
For diaspora viewers, Khafeghi occupies an unusual corner of Iranian cinema — a genre production that draws on the tradition of psychological horror while staying rooted in recognizable domestic and institutional Iranian settings. Iranian genre cinema is a smaller body of work compared to the country's celebrated art-house output, making films like Khafeghi notable for their willingness to work within horror and thriller conventions. Themes of familial obligation, the mental health system, and the helplessness that comes with watching a loved one struggle are likely to resonate broadly. The film is a relatively rare example of Iranian horror that centers a personal, domestic crisis rather than supernatural elements.
Where & how to watch
Khafeghi is available to stream on K-Time. The film plays in its original Persian-language audio. Watch on your TV, phone, or computer — no VPN required, no geo-blocking, no extra download needed. Cancel your K-Time subscription anytime.