2014 A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

• Directed by:  Ana Lily Amirpour
• Written by: Ana Lily Amirpour
• Stars: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh
• Run Time: 1 Hour, 41 Minutes
• Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGmTdo3vuY

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

This was strange and dreamy, with deliberate elements of classic black and white horror like Nosferatu and spaghetti westerns, set in the Middle East but somewhat vague on exact location and time – almost like an alternate universe and timeline. But there is definitely a vampire. And romance. With a great soundtrack. We thought it was very interesting.

Spoilery Synopsis

We watch a man take a cat out of someone’s yard. As he walks through the streets, and the credits roll, we see that it’s not the classiest part of town; it’s downright sketchy. He gets to his very nice car and drives away. 

We cut to Hossein, an old man, injecting himself with heroin, or something close. His drug dealer, Saeed, comes to the house and wants money; young Arash, whom we saw earlier, sticks up for his addicted father. His father owes so much money that the dealer takes Arash’s car in payment. 

The next day, Arash takes up bicycling to get to his job as a gardener for a rich girl.  She comes onto him, but he knows better than to go for that. 

Saeed, the pimp, talks to Atti, the prostitute, about her getting too old for this stuff. He refuses to pay her and throws her out of the car before calling her a hag. 

A girl walks home alone at night, gets home, listens to music, and works on her makeup. She goes out again and walks past Saeed, who likes what she sees. They go to his place, and she watches as he snorts coke. He dances and gets down to the music, but she just sorta stands there looking creepy. Suddenly, she sprouts fangs and bites his finger off. Then she goes for the neck, and he’s done for. She collects his watch and jewelry before wandering around the apartment to look at his things.

Arash comes to the apartment; he’s stolen some valuable earrings and wants to trade them for his car back. The Girl hears him on the intercom and comes down. Arash soon finds Saeed’s body and takes his car keys back, along with drugs and money. 

In the morning, Arash disposes of Saeed’s body and takes over his business. As the spaghetti-western trumpet music plays, we catch up with all the characters. 

Old man Hossein wants to be friendly with old hooker Atti, but he can’t pay. He spots “The Girl” on the side of the road and thinks he can do better with her. He gets weirded out and runs away, so she picks on the young local beggar-boy instead. He, too, runs away, but she goes after him just to be scary. She also steals his skateboard. 

At a party, Arash’s former boss, “The Princess,” is there, and she buys some X from him. She convinces him to take one, and he’s not used to the stuff, so that’s rough. Arash walks home alone at night, completely stoned. The Girl sees him and approaches. He tells her that he’s lost. She explains that they’re in “Bad City.” He’s just come from the costume party dressed as Dracula; she’s intrigued and invites him to her place. 

At her place, she puts on some music, and he nearly passes out before approaching her for a kiss. The night goes well. 

Atti, the prostitute, walks home alone at night. She sees Arash’s car, and, thinking it belongs to Saeed, scratches it with her keys. She soon sees that she’s being followed by The Girl. The Girl offers a bunch of Saeed’s valuables to her. The Girl goes out for dinner a bit later, eating a homeless man. 

Arash and The Girl stand outside as he asks her out for a hamburger. He offers to pierce her ears, and she lets him do it. He gives her the earrings from “The Princess.”

At home, Hossein starts going into withdrawal, and he’s having long conversations with the cat. He believes the cat is Arash’s mother, come to taunt him. Arash gives him some drugs to calm him down. The old man hires Atti for entertainment and ties her up before injecting them both with the drugs. The Girl comes in and kills the man before dragging the body away. The Girl and Atti talk afterward. The Girl takes the cat with her. 

Arash asks the beggar-boy if he saw what happened, and the boy says he doesn’t know. He goes to The Girl’s apartment and tells her to pack her things; they have to leave Bad City. He recognizes the cat in her apartment and realizes that she had something to do with his father’s death. Plus he sees her scoop the pile of men’s watches and jewelry she’s collected into her travel bag.

They drive off into the night until he pulls over in the desert. They come to an understanding and drive off again. 

Brian’s Commentary

It’s an Iranian-vampire-spaghetti-western film, shot in California, and it’s all filmed in black and white. There’s not a huge amount of subtitled dialogue, but the soundtrack is hauntingly impressive. It’s purposefully vague as to when this takes place; it’s not really our world at all. 

There are some graphic novels that accompany the movie, which also describe the film’s visuals, featuring a very comic-booky and artistic style. I’d give this one a thumbs-up for the soundtrack alone. It’s slow, mysterious, stylish, and very cool! 

Kevin’s Commentary

This was awesome. The soundtrack is great. I really liked everything about it. It’s always refreshing to see something new and different done with the vampire genre, and this one is a winner.