Indie
[BD Review] ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ Stagnant Storytelling
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was featured as part of the 2014 Sundance Film’s Festival’s NEXT slate, a category which claims to celebrate “an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling”. Then why did the movie’s story seem so poorly told? Writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour’s starkly photographed vampire tale crosses the line between languorous and plodding, building up rich veins of mood that are wasted with pretentious pacing that kills any consistency of tone. I realize A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is an entry in a category of experimental films, but even experimental films are required to keep the audience engaged in some way or another.
The titular character in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is ‘The Girl’ (Sheila Vand), a lonely vampire who wanders the streets of Bad City, an semi-abandoned town in Iran. When she meets Arash (Arash Marandi), the frustrated son of a heroin addict, the two form an unlikely friendship that soon blossoms into romance. It’s like Let Me In…if Let Me In was cranked down to 33 RPM and everybody spoke Farsi.
Perhaps most disappointing is A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night‘s maddeningly unexploited potential. Shot in a evocative black and white, it looks and feels like a vampire movie. A good one. Vand is excellent as ‘The Girl’, putting out a vibe equal parts seductive innocence and knowing menace. With a few more plot points and tighter pacing, Amirpour’s creative endeavor might have earned a rightful place alongside bleak vampire think-pieces like Martin or Midnight Son. But as it stands, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night represents little more than stagnant storytelling.
Her House of Horrors, the horror division of Independent Production House WOMXNOGRAPHY, has launched its Bite Size Short Grant Program, ahead of its film festival Dollhouse of Horror, which will take place in March 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.
The Bite Size Short Grant Program awards $2,000 film grants to female-identifying and queer horror filmmakers. Shorts must be able to be made for $2,000, with a minimum runtime of 8 minutes. Submissions are now open on Filmfreeway, and are being judged by a panel of horror lovers and content creators.
The 2024 Bite Size Short Grant Program judge lineup is as follows:
“James H. Carter II- A documentary director, film producer, podcaster, marketing specialist, and writer. James is the founder and co-owner of Creepy Kingdom. Creepy Kingdom was founded in 2011 and is a multimedia website, and production studio specializing in creepy content. Their primary focus lies at the intersection of childlike fantasy and the macabre, covering horror films, theme parks, haunts, and much more. Beyond their extensive media coverage, Creepy Kingdom hosts events, offers original merchandise, and engages in film production under the Creepy Kingdom Studios brand producing original films like “Foolish Mortals”, exploring Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” fan culture, and “Georgie”, featuring Tony Dakota from the original “It” miniseries.
“In addition to founding Creepy Kingdom, James has won awards for his documentary work, including the award-winning “Foolish Mortals,” which has earned him recognition. He has been featured on Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween special.
“Ashleeta Beauchamp is the editor-in-chief of Peek-A-Boo! Magazine, a cheeky horror magazine created to uplift marginalized writers, artists, models and other creators within the horror community. She also runs The Halloween Coalition, a community group to provide support and marketing for horror and Halloween events around the Southern California area.
“Titeanya Rodríguez is a multi-hyphenate creative, and the founder and owner of HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, home of DOLLHOUSE OF HORROR and the horror division of WOMXNOGRAPHY. As a fellow storyteller and a self-proclaimed artivist, Titeanya’s mission is to create opportunities for women of color and queer women, across film, tv, sports, music, and beyond. She is also the creator of the BITE SIZE SHORT grant program.”
Winners will have a one-night theatrical screening at Regal Cinemas. Submissions Close April 8 at Midnight. Winners will be announced on May 27, 2024. Shorts must be shot and through post-production by June 30, 2024. The screening will take place on July 8, 2024, in Los Angeles, CA.
WOMXNOGRAPHY, HER HOUSE OF HORRORS, and Rodriguez are represented by Azhar PR, Granderson Des Rochers, and Kinsella Holley Iser Kump Steinsapir.
To submit your short to the Bite Size Short Grant Program, go to the FilmFreeway link here.
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