November 1, 2014 -- There have been roughly a billion vampire stories, books, movies TV shows, but never a movie quite like this. This Indiegogo-funded movie was filmed in the United States, but the language is Persian (with English subtitles) and it is set in Iran, a country not noted for its feminism, but yet it features a woman character who is independent and has power over the men she meets.

The story takes place in desolate place, Bad City, dominated by an oil refinery. Arash (played by Arash Marandi) is a gardener who drives a beautiful classic Thunderbird. A young boy who begs on the street (Milad Eghbali) keeps asking Arash for money. When he says he doesn't have any money, the boy asks how can he not with a car like that. Arash says, “Do you know how many days I had to work to buy this?” Answering his own question, he says, “2,191 days.”

Arash's father is a drug addict who owes money to a drug dealer. Because of this, the drug dealer takes away Arash's prized car. Arash steals a valuable pair of earrings from a wealthy employer and plans to use them to buy back his Thunderbird, but when he gets to the drug dealer's house, he finds the drug dealer dead. He takes his car back and also takes a briefcase full of money and drugs he finds near the man's body.

Arash starts selling the drugs and suddenly has a lot of money. He goes to a costume party dressed as a vampire, takes some ecstasy and gets lost on his way home. He meets a strange, beautiful woman (Sheila Vand of “Argo”) on the street, a vampire, the same one who killed the drug dealer and who Arash saw leaving the house as he went in, but he doesn't seem to remember her. The vampire invites Arash to her home. Perhaps she intends to kill Arash, but is instead captivated by him.

Arash is in a dream-like state from the drugs. He is attracted to this strange, beautiful woman. Later, he puts a note on her door, inviting her to meet him near the refinery. He signs the note “Dracula.” The mysterious woman shows up at the appointed time, but refuses to have a relationship with him. The are connected by music, the music Arash plays on his car radio and the music the woman played for him at her home.

A series of events, involving Arash's father, a cat Arash picked up as the film began, and one of the vampire's victims conspire to intertwine the fates of Arash, the vampire and the cat. Exactly how this happens can't be fully explained in words, and it is not rational, but in the film it completely works. A lesser filmmaker simply could not have made this story work so elegantly. Much of this story is conveyed by images alone. This is a masterwork.

This is a low-budget black and white movie, funded in part through the Internet crowd-sourcing site Indiegogo, and filmed mostly in California. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Ana Lily Amirpour previously made a series of short films I haven't seen before. This is her first feature-length film, and it blew me away, despite the limitations imposed on this film by a low budget.

There have been many low-budget vampire movies, but I have never seen one with such a haunting sense of romanticism and repressed desire. It is a tale of isolation and loneliness. It has a message of feminism and social justice. This is a vampire who comforts the afflicted while afflicting the comfortable. She befriends and defends a down-trodden prostitute. She is also a lonely vampire. These two people, Arash and the vampire, are drawn together despite their vast differences. The story asks the question, if a human and vampire can get along, why can't people of different colors, cultures and religions get together, too?

This story is deceptively simple, but it raises many thought-provoking issues about people and cultures and puts them in a new light, using the vampire genre. In doing so, it far surpasses the genre. It conveys a mood of danger and dread at times without ever resorting to cheap theatrics like blood, and sudden, loud noises. All the killing, and sex in the movie is done in a fairly low-key way. A lot is done off-screen. The details are left to the imagination, an effective kind of restraint seldom seen in this genre.

Cinematographer Lyle Vincent deserves credit for the the haunting look of this film, but most of the credit goes to writer/director Ana Lily Amirpour. The acting in the film is also good (especially by Sheila Vand) but this film is all about the look, feel and mood created by images. This is one of those cinematic gems that makes up for all the crap you see in the movies most of the time these days. It makes it all worthwhile. This film rates an A.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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