Genre: Horror/ Thriller/ Romance
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marnò, Dominic Rains, Rome Shadanloo, Milad Eghbali, Reza Sixo Safai
Description: In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.
Review: Nowadays vampire movies are sappy fairytale-like love stories, with drooling teenagers and cringeworthy dialogues. “Let the Right One In” gave this an original twist. And with Ana Lilly Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”, it looks like the genre is rising again. Horror, romance, Indie, western, all with a feminist touch.
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” opens with Arash, looking like James Dean, lighting a cigarette. He picks up a cat and walks to twon with him. It looks like the American suburbs, until Arash passes a ditch with human bodies. Bad City sounds as terrible as it is.
At night Bad City turns into a hunting area for a vampire: a youngs woman with posters of American pop idols on her wall, listeing to hip music and wears red lipstick. Her black and white striped shirt disappears under a black chador. In a city where woman are ruled by men, she is the only female power. She seduces the men and then they become her victims.
Director Amirpour has a history as a visual artist, cartoonist and singer of an Indie band. And in her debut film (!) you can definitely feel these influences. Interesting wide shots, a fantastic soundtrack. The icy and artsy atmosphere dominate the film and keep it interesting. There isn’t a lot of dialogue, that makes it even more interesting.
When you see the mix of all the genres, you wouldn’t think it’s a directorial debut. What a great first film for Ana Lily Amirpour.
Rating: 4/ 5
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