A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

In a fictional Iranian town called Bad City a young woman walks the streets at night in a chador; she is a vampire. Her path crosses with Arash, who is looking after his drug-addicted father and is caught in the grip of a pimp named Saeed. When the vampire kills Saeed, Arash's life improves, until her part in his father's death complicates what is between them. Ana Lily Amirpour directed. The film is in Farsi and in black and white. The town is not in Iran. To avoid filming restrictions there it was shot in Taft, California, over twenty-four days. Part of the funding came through Indiegogo, where 290 backers gave 56,903 dollars after the 55,000 dollar goal was passed in August 2012. It was shot digitally with anamorphic lenses. Its visual language draws on German Expressionism, Nosferatu in particular, on spaghetti westerns and on graphic novels. It premiered at Sundance on 20 January 2014. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 96 percent and Metacritic at 81, with critics singling out the visual style and the feminist tone. It has come to be called the first Iranian vampire western. Who it is for: viewers who take atmosphere over plot and like slow, stylised horror. Who it is not for: anyone wanting tension and pace. The film moves through long silences and would rather be looked at than frighten you.