Set in a fictional, Iranian ghost town, a mostly silent, skateboard-riding, Middle Eastern female vampire (!) stalks the streets and night and lures various characters to their deaths. They’re mostly scum, though, including a douchy drug dealer (Dominic Rains) and a pathetic elderly junkie (Marshall Manesh) who owes money to the junkie, to name but two. But then she meets the junkie’s nice guy son, Arash (Arash Marandi), and an unusual relationship begins. Or something.
Peculiar, melancholic vampire film from L.A-based British-Iranian debut writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour (who apparently comes from a short film background, including a short film version of this film) will be completely maddeningly elusive and drawn-out. I mean, if you resisted “Under the Skin” (which I really liked, despite my usual aversion to Scarlett Johansson), stay well away from this film. Also, if you’re looking for something horrific, you probably won’t find that here. It’s technically a horror film, but more eerie and weird than scary or disturbing, hell some have even called it a vampire western (That just makes me think of “Near Dark”, though, and this is nothing like “Near Dark”). The only truly disturbing scene, and it’s the best scene in the film, involves the vampire woman happening upon a young boy. I’ll say no more than that. While not quite a good film, I think this one’s far from a bad film at least.
Stunningly photographed in B&W by Lyle Vincent (filmed in California, by the way, not Iran), and to a certain extent it’s compellingly unusual. It might remind you at various stages of Mario Bava (“Black Sunday”), Jesus Franco (“Vampyros Lesbos”, “She Killed in Ecstasy”), and Jose Mojica Marins (“At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul”), but it’s also got its own, more modern vibe too. Silence is effectively unsettling, but the music score is cool too, with occasional Morricone-esque touches. I also really like the choice of title, because it sets up expectations of a victimised woman that are cleverly subverted. The woman (played by Sheila Vand) is the predator here. Although it’s not a burqa or hijab, her shroud-like garment obviously is meant to evoke that kind of ‘oppressed Islamic woman’ cliché, but with a twist. So that was a clever wardrobe choice.
It’s the kind of frustrating film that I found myself rather enjoying…up to a certain point. All the druggie stuff was frankly useless to me too, though some will probably dig that sort of thing. It’s got a definite something, but ultimately not enough of something to make it entirely worthwhile. I was going to say that perhaps it worked better as a short, but to be honest, it’s not entirely underdone, so I don’t think it would be fair to say that.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The film works up to a point, so it’s three quarters of a good film, let’s say. It ultimately doesn’t go anywhere, so you end up disappointed when it reaches its lack of a destination. At any rate, it’s the only film you’re likely to see involving a Middle Eastern vampire woman riding a skateboard, that is produced by Frodo Baggins. So there’s that, I guess.
