This woman-directed Iranian vampire western is arresting, even as its culturally transgressive early spell gets broken by a narrative thread that snaps in the first act. Sheila Vand mesmerizes as a skateboarding, hijab-sporting vampire haunting the streets of Bad City.

The Girl meets the boy, Arash (Arash Marandi), who drives a classic Thunderbird while dressing and acting like James Dean. A surprising, familiar face—Marshall Manesh, who is best known as Ranjit, the driver in “How I Met Your Mother”—appears as Arash’s drug-addicted dad, who is in deep with a local thug. After a quickly resolved clash with said local tough, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night meanders through a ‘60s-influenced go-go movie world in which any “Mystery Science Theater” fan will feel at home.

The film portends explicit violence but even seems to lose interest in that angle. An ear-piercing is nearly as violent as the latter half gets, and the horror film’s most frightening scene, involving a young street urchin (Milad Eghbali) has no blood at all.

Even so, this award-winning film does not disappoint; writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour loads her feature debut with more style than most films can handle. Its black and white cinematography—think New Wave via comic book—is thrilling to behold and amplifies Vand’s mysterious beauty. She is far from a monster, despite her horrific, empowering actions.

I would love to see Vand’s Girl run into Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton’s ancient vampire lovers from Only Lovers Left Alive, just to see what would happen.

Amirpour is a stunning talent, and her second feature is already intriguing, just based upon what she has done here in her debut.