A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT: Every Good Boy Does Fine

March is Women's History Month, which Post-Credit Coda will take as an opportunity for weekly reviews of films by female directors. Of all the reviews I've written in 2+ years, only four and a half of the movies have been directed by women. Women are slooooowly starting to receive better on camera roles in Hollywood, yet the lack of female directors is a continuous blight on the industry. Unskilled and inexperienced men are typically given far grander opportunities while proven, talented women are ignored. Despite the adversity, some women still manage to bring their projects to fruition. Let's hope that in the future this becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Other Reviews in this Series.

Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Writer: Ana Lily Amirpour
Cast: Sheila Vand, Arash Marandi, Marshall Manesh, Mozhan Marno, Dominic Rains
Runtime: 101 mins.
2014

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night has, first and foremost, a killer title. Amirpour could have easily gone with something bluntly evocative like The Vampire, but instead she went the route of a flashy eight syllable name that makes this movie something of a commitment to bring up in casual conversation. Marketers hate that sort of thing, but as this article about naming conventions suggests, we wouldn't want Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to be called The Dream, would we?

The title also perfectly plays upon our preconceived notions. When presented with the image of a girl walking home alone at night, especially in the context of a horror movie, we assume she will be the victim of some perverse attack. Every signifier in that string of words is meant to evoke vulnerability. The joke's on us, though. In this movie the girl is the aggressor, the shadowy figure out for blood.