A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night–Vampire Movie Countdown to Halloween part 4

by Cecilia Duvalle | Oct 30, 2017 | BLOG POSTS

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is probably the most artsy vampire film I have ever seen. It’s in black and white, so that’s part of it. The film plays with light and dark, angles, focus..everything.  It’s a slow movie. There’s one scene that we both were squirming in our seats asking each other “HOW can they move SOOOOO slow?”  And, we were able to do that, and talk over many of the scenes because there is very little dialogue.

Silence is so much a part of the story it becomes its own character. It builds tension and discomforts the viewer. We’re so used to words, words, words! All the time WORDS! and explosions and action. This film is the exact opposite of most every contemporary movie.

The story takes place in “Bad City”–a nebulously awful neighborhood where people are seen throwing random bodies that lie abandoned and ignored in a ravine. Here’s what the “experts” had to say:

Guy Lodge of Variety said in his review that “Ana Lily Amirpour’s auspicious debut feature is a sly, slinky vampire romance set in an imaginary Iranian underworld”.^[1] Andrew O’Hehir of Salon called the film “the year’s biggest discovery” and praised its feminist themes.^[13] Boyd van Hoeij, in his review for The Hollywood Reporter, praised the movie, saying “this moody and gorgeous film is finally more about atmosphere and emotions than narrative – and none the worse for it”.^[14] Drew Taylor of Indiewire graded the film A− and said that it gives “the impression that you’re witnessing something iconic and important unfold before you”                                           –From Wikipedia