A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

I imagine that nobody was "ready" for this film when it arrived. For starters, it's set in Iran but made in the USA; that's why the on-screen credits are in English but the dialog isn't. Outside sources tell me the actors speak a pidgin Farsi, so it probably has limited popularity with Iranians. Seemingly the only reason for the setting is a whim of the debuting Iranian-American director, Ana Lily Amirpour. Who, admittedly, would be hard pressed to get it made in the real Iran.

If nobody had told me that AGWHAaN was a horror, I'd have had no idea for the first 24 minutes. For all that time, it's a deliberately monochrome, deliberately paced study of unwholesome characters in a bleak town called Bad City. (It sounds to me like they pronounce it "Bahd," so it must not be intended as the English adjective, except maybe for a pun.) These characters include young drug dealer Arash, his junkie father, a mean pimp, a tired prostitute, and an impish boy. And then there's the titular, severely laconic, unnamed "girl" in the black cloak, who stalks...well, I'm tempted not to tell you, but enough ads and reviewers have given it away already....

Yeah, while no character says so directly, she's a vampire. Not the kind who makes other vampires; she just kills her victims with a single neck bite. And she's never scarier than when she moves supernaturally fast toward a neck, in defiance of the aforementioned deliberate pace. Wherever she goes by day, she appears too independent for a Renfield-type assistant—perhaps the best vampire recommendation for feminists.

I've noticed that most vampires have a maximum of two driving interests: blood and company, whether fellow vampires or thralls. In this regard, the present girl (who could be anywhere between 20 and 2,000) bucks the trend. She likes music, skateboarding, jewelry, and, oh, visual exploration of others' belongings. She even has an evident code of ethics, sometimes helping the needy or merely threatening the mildly guilty with a display of powers.

I can kinda see why Arash, the second main character, would develop an attraction to her. I don't think he ever figures out her secret. In truth, the revelation of her nature to the viewer does only so much to change the tenor of the story.

In the end, I'm not sure what to make of the film. Considering how it stretches about 20 minutes into 101, I'd assume it has an artsy point, but all that comes to mind is something obvious about all the unsavory walks of life that come out at night. Maybe it aims only for moody cinematography with occasional frights.

I find it rather telling that AGWHAaN enjoys a much higher rating on Rotten Tomatoes (96%) than on IMDb (a moderately respectful 7.1). My vote favors the latter. If you like to brood, this is a promising flick for you. If you want an honest-to-goodness horror, you'll find it only fitfully satisfying.