Billed as the first Iranian vampire Western, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a stylish and inventive take on the vampire genre that also takes in pulp novels, film noir and the Iranian new wave. In short it’s an incredible genre mash up that still manages to be far more than the sum of its constituent parts. In an Iranian ghost town that is home to pimps, prostitutes and other sordid souls, a boy meets a girl and a love story begins to blossom. However, when vampirism is involved the course of true love never runs smooth. Propelled by a mix of Iranian rock, techno and Ennio Morricone inspired riffs, writer and director Ana Lily Amirpour’s debut feature nestles nicely against Nadja, Let the Right One In and even What We Do in the Shadows.
“★★★★★ A bloody triumph…”
– The Guardian
“★★★★ The film is so stylishly shot, and performed with such swagger, that it transcends its own pretentiousness.”
– The Independent
“★★★★ By turns funny, vaguely creepy and too cool for school, A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night is certainly unusual — but also seductive and strange enough to stick in the memory like a fever dream.”
– Empire
“★★★★ Equally cool and cruel, stuffed with subtext, this ‘Iranian fairytale’ weaves its spell to a flip, hip ending. Amirpour is one to watch.”
– Games Radar