Spook Out! Day 12 ~ A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (in Farsi w/English subtitles, 2014)

Amazon Says...
"Strange things are afoot in Bad City. The Iranian ghost town, home to prostitutes, junkies, pimps, and other sordid souls, is a place that reeks of death and hopelessness, where a lonely vampire is stalking the towns' [sic] most unsavory inhabitants. But when boy meets girl, an unusual love story begins to blossom...blood red."

I Say...
A) You've said too much, Amazon, B) That's an impressive run-on sentence, and C) You need to work on your apostrophe placement...

Horror Type...
Vampire, Thriller, Drama

Main Players...

Sheila Vand as The Girl (The Vampiest Vamp Who Ever Vamped)

Arash Marandi as Arash (The Persian Fonz)

Masuka The Cat as The Cat (Meow)

I liked...

• the cinematography. Shot in gorgeously noir black and white, the setting, the framing, the lighting, the angles--GAH, the EVERYTHING makes this film a luxurious feast for the eyes
• The Girl. So menacingly stylish, so effortlessly compelling--I've never found an antihero as morosely, forbiddingly sexy as this gal! (WTF is not to love about a skateboarding vampire???)
• Arash, her lovably goofy, yet sincere love interest. He's got his flaws (more on those in the next section) but he's still the heart and soul of this movie
• the hilarious scene in which The Girl comes upon a very high Arash, who's lost and staring up at a street lamp. How she gets him moving is adorbz!
• how it explores our connections to others: how we're drawn and repulsed, how we make and break them, how we endure and how we fail. As in life, the "whys" sometimes remain mysteries...
• how the director uses the stereotypical attributes of females/female victims--silence, stillness, downcast eyes--to render the Girl utterly terrifying
• how The Cat ratchets the tension up in pretty much every scene featuring him
• the soundtrack which (forgive me) really rocks my kasbah
• how the movie really takes its time...

The Meh...

• ...although it does take a little too long here and there, and its hypnotic hold really start to work on you. Shaving off a few minutes would've alleviated the soporific effect
• Arash, whom I love, is concerningly impetuous and rash. This is due to his youth, no doubt, but some of his actions do bother me
• I'm left with a ton of questions! (As I noted earlier, the "whys" remain mysteries.) The biggest one arises toward the end, when Arash fails to confront The Girl about a very suspicious, and serious, coincidence--it's clear that he's bothered by it but, apart from a bit of a quiet fit, he doesn't address it directly. Say what, Arash? I know you've got the warm and fuzzies for her, but still! I would do anything for love, but I--well, you know...

Would I recommend it...?

Heck yes! This is a fabulous film full of girl-powah! It's more of a drama/thriller than horror, though--no jump scares and I don't remember any gore, really. There's one disturbing scene about forced drug use but it's not, IMO, exploitive. It's more creepy than scary (that noted, if The Girl had interrogated me the way she did a street urchin in the film, I'd have definitely soiled myself).

Miscellany...

• A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has been described in various places as an Iranian vampire spaghetti-western--and it totally is. However, it was shot, not in Iran, but in California
• the film's writer/director, Ana Lily Amirpour, has a cameo as "Skeleton Partygirl," and doubles for The Girl in some of the skateboarding shots
• the bones of the movie came to Amirpour when she tried on a chador, like The Girl wears in the movie (not a hijab, as some reviewers have asserted)
• this was a re-watch for me. I'm ding-dang-donged if I can recall when I first watched this, but it was long enough ago that I forgot all the particulars--though I never forgot how much I heart this film

Ratings...

My Grade: A- as a drama/thriller, B as a horror movie

Rotten Tomatoes Scores: Tomatometer=96%, Audience Score=75%

Details, Schmeetails...

I Watched A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Amazon (the Rotten Tomatoes page linked above provides links to other streaming platforms)

Check it out on IMDb

Learn more about it on Wikipedia (Contains Spoilers)

This concludes Day 12 of

Thanks for reading and come back tomorrow...

IF YOU DARE

Vampire Bite Blog Hop!

'Cause what better way is there to celebrate Valentine's Day but by talkin' 'bout vamps? (What? Blood's red!)

Author Jolie Du Pré of Precious Monsters hosts the Vampire Bite Blog Hop today, for which all participants have to do is in some way blog about vampires. Click here and scroll down to read others' Vampire Bite posts.

For my entry, I'm exhuming a brief examination of the dark romance of Bram Stoker's Dracula, as portrayed by the eternally smexy Frank Langella. (Woof!)

*     *     *

(Originally posted as Dark Romance #1 ~ Dracula on November 30, 2011.)

Given the premise of this bloggy-blog (that I'm a goth mom who digs the dark and creepy, even in romance), I thought I'd do a series based on some dark romances I have luuuuurved. (Be warned - thar be SPOILERS below, so if you've not yet read the book/seen the film under discussion, but intend to, you may wish to give this post a pass. Just sayin'.)

Still here? Kewl.

I decided to start with Dracula, but not the book, oh no. I recently re-read the Bram Stoker tome and must assert that there just ain't nothin' sexy or romantic about it. Yeah, sure, Jonathan Harker experiences a bit of lusty-lust for Dracula's wives and whatnot, but all that amounts to is his intense desire that they kiss him. Big whoop. There's no back-story connecting Mina Harker with Drac's supposedly long-dead bride, as the Coppola film tells it (though I must give props to the flick, as it's one of the more faithful adaptations of the novel; moreover, it doesn't drop the one American character Stoker featured, Texan Quincey Morris, who, along with J. Harker, dealt the killing blow to the dastardly Count).

The Dracula I want to focus on today is Frank Langella in the 1979 film of the same name, which was adapted from a play, which was adapted from the book (whew!) and merrily screws around with not only the characters but also their names. Here, it's Mina who first succumbs to Dracula's unholy allure and Lucy upon whom Dracula sets his fangs at for his...uh...Unlife Mate. Another departure from the book is that the end may not really be the end for the Count, 'cause this Dracula's a BAMF.

*Ahem* Anyway.

Langella plays the Count tall, dark, and spookily swoony (woof) and, with his debonair Old World mastery, steals every scene he's in. But what really interests me about this film is the feminist edge of Lucy, who deplores the very idea of woman's subjugation to man. By the time Drac's worked his monstrous mojo on her, however, she can't wait to be under his...thumb. (Frankly, neither could I. Did I mention woof?)

The dark romance of it all: Dracula determinedly preys on Lucy, it's true, but she isn't his victim; she's a ready, willing, and eager participant in his deadly dance. He seduces her but never has to bend her to his will. He charms her with his conversation, his savoir faire, his sex appeal (woof!), and he exerts himself to win her because of her strength, her intelligence, and her beauty - she is his equal, excepting one teeeny, tiny detail. Lucy doesn't so much fall as she leaps into the fire, and not due to deception or coercion, but from her own desire to burn. She never embodies her own ideals as much as when she willingly chooses to join the ranks of the moldy undead. It's the joining of his dark power to her independent spirit which rocks the Casbah for me. And they might have enjoyed a happier end but for the interference of her father, her fiancé, and Van Helsing who, essentially, restored their masculine authority over Lucy when they "saved her" from the Count, her own wishes notwithstanding (and girlfriend wanted to hook up with the bloodsucker, for realz!). To which I say Booo, patriarchal bossiness! and Yay, Girl Pow-ah!

Tagged with The Lucky 7 Meme!

Mina Burrows, blogger and fellow lover of Austen, Stoker, and Poe (and a fellow "Mina," as well!), has tagged me with The Lucky 7 Meme. Thanks for the shout out, lady!

Here's how to order! Uh, I mean...here's how it works. 

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines as they're written-- no cheating!
4. Tag 7 other writers
5. Let them know!

Well, allrighty, then: here are 7 lines from one of my WIPs, a paranormal romance/pseudo-memoir tentatively titled There Are Monsters. Constância, a reluctant 21st century vampire, tries to work through her grief over the loss of her parents by journaling about her drastic transformation during her senior year of high school in 1987. In this snippet, the 7th line on the 77th page is the end of a section, so to give you 7 lines, I had to trip into the next section (and a little into the 8th line, just to complete the thought - don't shoot me!)

Back in Anne’s room I ripped my top off, hung it on the doorknob, and jumped back underneath the bedclothes.  Aching for Tristan, and from whatever the Change was working within me, I rocked myself back to an uneasy sleep.

#

Mom was a real pleasure to deal with when she picked me up Saturday morning.  Surly, sarcastic, and accusatory by turns, she made the ride from New Rochelle to Mount Vernon only slightly less painful than the bacterium working its way throughout my system.  It took every ounce of self-restraint I possessed (and some I didn’t) to hold my tongue and not lash out at her.

And now for the tagging!

If you've been following along, you'll know I tossed my hat in the ring for Cherie Reich's 2nd Annual Flash Fiction Blogfest this week. My little romantic tale, Mom Guilt, didn't make it to the final round, but I had a blast writing it, as well as meeting other brave and creative bloggers. I thought I'd give props to 7 other participants whose stories I especially enjoyed (click on the red links below to read their groovy, fewer-than-300-words, entries):

Surrender to the Sea by Andrea Teagan

Footloose by Jamie Gibbs

Lightning Flashed (untitled) by Jennifer

A Choice at the Crossroads by Chris Fries

Seasons by Christine Rains

Lightning Flashed (untitled) by Joshua

Lightning Flashed (untitled) by Angeline Trevena

I hope you do check them out, as they're all terrific in their own, special ways! And to the good people whom I've tagged - if you've recently been tagged with the Lucky 7 Meme thing and/or you're not up to doing it for the time being, no worries; I really just wanted to showcase your work for this blogfest! :-)