A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

I was looking for horror movies to watch for Halloween. I am so glad I stumbled across this film. It was on several lists of scary films. I didn't find it to be frightening, but I was mesmerized by it. The only thing I knew about the film going into it is it is hailed as the first Iranian Vampire Western. The only thing I knew was that I did not know what a Vampire Western was.

It isn't a western movie in the way that Americans or Italians make westerns. Maybe they don't mean that kind of western, or perhaps the definition of Western movie is changing. There is a vampire.  Instead of horses there is a car, and a skateboard. There is a villain, maybe several villains, there is an anti-hero, or maybe two. Almost everyone is also victim. The story teller, the camera, lets the viewer decide most character's status of villain, hero, or victim based on motivations and actions.

Filmed in black and white, the movie is dark and brooding. It moves along at a stroll. There is the time tested story of boy meets girl. There is not much to this story, it is mostly mood. I watched and came away with a feeling of woman empowered. Another might see woman as other and threatening.

Don't expect a typical horror movie or vampire story, or a western. There is little more than a raid a ride and a rescue. It is how the story is told in its sets, mood, atmosphere, camera angles, and the imagery that make this worth seeing. It is a wonderfully told story that unfolds at its own pace and leaves judgment up to the viewer.