Review of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) by Art S — 21 Sep 2015

What have we here? A moody B&W vampire flick with Iranian actors and all the dialogue in Farsi (but actually shot in California, not Iran)? Clearly, it's made by hipsters (the involvement of VICE magazine is the first tip-off) and thus, I'm reminded of other films in this sub-genre: Abel Ferrara's The Addiction (1995) and Michael Almereyda's Nadja (1994), and their cousin, Jim Jarmusch's more recent Only Lovers Left Alive (2013 - in color).

There are some good moments here but, as with all of these films, the pace can be slow and things might feel a bit pretentious at times (this latter flaw is possibly attributable to the director's zeal at making her first film).

There's probably more emphasis on drugs and drugged out states than most viewers would be comfortable with and the Bad Seed-esque music also lends itself to that alienated cool stance. And, in the end, if you came for horror/spookiness, you find that the film is really about two lonely teenagers needing to find connection rather than about vampires anyway.

Try your luck.