Those of us out there who are convinced there's no creativity in horror just need to turn our sights onto the burgeoning indie circuit. In the past few years, due to being forced into smaller budgets and dealing with less-than-stellar distribution, filmmakers with something to say have been delivering some extremely interesting and exciting takes on our beloved genre. Add director Ana Lily Amirpour's name to the list of artists to watch with her debut feature, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. It takes your traditional vampire film and tosses it onto its head by containing a completely Iranian cast, is shot in black and white, and uses Persian instead of English for the dialogue - even though the film was shot in California. It's a film that takes chances adding equal measures of James Dean adoration, inspiration from westerns and bleak urban decay mixed with one of the more unique bloodsuckers in recent memory.

The story opens by introducing us to Arash (Arash Marandi) who lives in a crumbling industrial town simply dubbed "Bad City" and is trying his best to carve out a life while dealing with the fact his father is a junkie who owes the local drug dealer/pimp Saeed (Dominic Rains) so much money that his car ends up being taken as a form of payment. Also drifting through this wasteland of misery is aging prostitute Atti (Mozhan Marno) and a mysterious girl that seemingly only comes out at night. Well, it turns out our chador wearing girl (Sheila Vand) is a vampire who wanders through the city selecting victims while spending time at her apartment listening to 80's music and pretending to be normal to distract her from her affliction.

Soon enough Arash and her paths intersect and they begin a friendship that becomes a somewhat awkward love story. Of course, the truth is due to come out, but all our characters go through various strife and disasters on the way to a loose, but satisfying, finish.

Thanks to the film's narrow narrative structure, and small cast, Amirpour manages to give everything an otherworldly vibe. We know that Bad City completely lives up to its name but it just doesn't feel like a place that should exist. It's a place where nothing seems to go right and people are trying to get grips on their empty lives. Our main characters are both dealing with different issues and them being drawn together just feels natural. This does push the horror elements to the background at times but when they are up front and centre there's a lot of effective moments - not only does Vand's nameless bloodsucker have a distinct image due to her ethnicity and garb but her first actual appearance is one that will stick with you thanks to some purposely overwrought sexuality mixed with quick violence and the cool idea that her fangs are retractable. There's also a pretty amazing moment where she mirrors the movements of the town drunk and plentiful beautifully staged long shots.

Vand, who prior to this appeared in Argo and various shorts, is great here. She has minimal dialogue in the first half of the movie and creeps on the edges of the screen most of the time but when she's given the opportunity to unleash her inner vampire - like the amazing moment where she threatens a local youngster telling him to "Be a good boy" - she's electric. Marandi is also noteworthy in his role as we feel his desperation and depression with his life. He reacts to his surroundings in sometimes harsh ways but is completely different in the presence of her. Character actor Marshall Manesh is also quite effective as Arash's addict father.

Much like this year's The Witch, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night will not be for everyone - and I'm fine with that. Those who are going to consider this "boring" or complain about the lack of colour and subtitles aren't what I would consider to be true film fans in the first place. This is an art house film. It's not action-packed. It moves at its own pace. It's a strong debut by Amirpour that's worth noticing and I'm extremely curious about her upcoming sophomore effort, The Bad Batch, a cannibal movie set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland starring Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey. (Chris Hartley, 3/14/16)

Directed By: Ana Lily Amirpour.
Written By: Ana Lily Amirpour.

Starring: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marno.