A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night

When Bela Lugosi spoke of the "children of the night" in the 1931 Dracula, it's doubtful he meant a chador-clad bloodsucker on a skateboard. But that's what we have here, in the first Iranian vampire film. Set in a sleazy Arab backwater aptly named Bad City (but actually shot in California), the story follows Arash (Arash Marandi, oozing James Dean cool but looking like young Benicio Del Toro) as he tries to get on in spite of his debt-ridden, drug addict dad. Meanwhile, the Girl (Sheila Vand) prowls the streets dispensing death (to a vicious, coked-up pimp) and hair-raising advice (to one terrified child playing way past his bedtime). But when a partied-out Arash (in Dracula fancy dress, no less) encounters the ghoulish gamine, a sweet and tentative friendship begins, though you're never quite sure whether Arash will discover her secret in time to survive it. Dripping with hipster style and shot in moody monochrome, director Ana Lily Amirpour's scintillating debut feature is awash with nods to her film forebears: the weird texture and soundscape of early David Lynch; the odd Ennio Morricone-like flourish on the soundtrack; and even classic Marx Brothers. It's as beautiful and hypnotic as its enigmatic heroine.