Handlung

In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire.

An Iranian Vampire Western, shot in black&white and with a killer soundtrack... it's a love story about two tortured souls in a desolate Iranian Ghost-town called 'Bad City', where a lonely vampire is stalking the towns most depraved denizens.—Anonymous

The film opens with a scene of a vast wasteland, Bad City, populated with oil drilling machines and a palpable sense of being a quasi ghost town. Here, Arash a lonely teenager with a drug addicted father who consistently owes money to a dealer, tries his best to make a living working as a gardener for a rich family. Unknown to him, the city is inhabited by a lonely young vampire whose name we never learn. She acts as a sort of vigilante, choosing to feed from those who she considers "bad", killing them without mercy. When one night she runs into Arash, she will finally know the possibilities that love offers, and that even in Bad City, shines a small glimmer of hope.—Adriana Delgado

In Bad City, Arash is a young man that lives with his father Hossein, who is drug addicted, and he brings a stray cat home. Arash has a car that he bought after working for many years. One day, the drug dealer Saeed, who is also a pimp, takes Arash's car to pay the debts of his father. Saeed abuses of the prostitute Atti and soon he meets a young lonesome woman and takes her home. However she is a vampire that attacks abusive men and homeless and she kills him. Meanwhile Arash steals a pair of earrings from his employee and goes to Saeed's house to get his car back, but he finds Saeed dead. He brings his car and a wallet with drugs and money with him and starts dealing drugs with the users. He goes to a party dressed of Dracula and two girls give drug to him. Arash wanders through the streets completely lost and he stumbles with the vampire that brings him home. The vampire meets Atti and then Arash schedules to meet her during the night in a sort of date and he gives the pair of earrings to her. In the morning, Hossein trashes the pictures of his wife and Arash gives money to his father and expels him from home. Hossein takes the cat and goes to Atti's house and abuses of her, forcing Atti to use drug. The vampire attacks Hossein and kills him. Soon Arash finds the body of his father dumped in a wasteland and he decides to go away from Bad City with the girl. When he meets her, he finds the stray cat at her home. What will Arash do?—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

What happeneds when you accidentally meet a good guy on his first night off his face - and you've been the girl protecting the women and children in a bad city from bad men - Well, you fall in love, or do you, or do you simply gain a new perspective? As a lonesome young female vampire who's had to get a bit creative with the locals from time to time. Do you let this get in your head? Shot in black and white with slow direction and fantastic lighting this modern vampire love story gives a slightly different interpretation on the popular teenage vampire genre. Pay attention to the small props the director pays to past Vampire and Dracula classics. One such moment will flash a smirk across the face of anyone who's ever watch Bram's Dracula. It's brilliant. If Fellini made a teen vampire love story, I'm certain it could look a little like this. Grab a fork and sit forward for a dark, but enchanting Iranian version, of a spaghetti western teen vampire flick. But bring your own cheese. It's meaty.—Simone Shizzallmafizzall

It is almost night in Bad City, Iran. Arash (Arash Marandi), a rockabilly-styled young man, stands outside smoking and looking between the slats of a fence. He grabs a cat (Masuka) from within the fence and leaves. On his way back to his car, he passes by Rockabilly (Reza Sixo Safai), a trans woman, who watches as he walks by. The background music slows as Arash walks over a bridge with ditch full of corpses below, unfazed. He reaches his car (a vintage 1957 Ford Thunderbird) and is bothered by The Street Urchin (Milad Eghbali), a young boy, who asks for money. Arash tells him he has no money and that he had worked and saved his money for 2,191 days (6 years) to afford his car. He drives off. After a shot of an array of pump jacks presumably extracting oil, we cut to an unkempt middle-aged man watching TV. This is Hossein (Marshall Manesh), Arash's father. He injects a syringe of heroin between his toes and lies back. There is a loud knock at the door. Arash opens it to see Saeed (Dominic Rains), his father's heavily tattooed drug dealer and local pimp. Hossein doesn't have the money to pay Saeed, who has come to collect on Hossein's drug debt. Arash suggests that it's Saeed's fault that Hossein got hooked on heroin the first place. Saeed picks up the cat somewhat threateningly and asks whether it's a boy or girl and its name. The cat meows in protest before Saeed lets it go. Saeed tells Arash that his father is an everyday man who just can't afford his vices, like drugs and women. Saeed leaves, taking Arash's car as payment. Arash decides to go after him, but it is too late and Saeed drives off. Arash punches a wall in frustration and injures his hand. Later, Arash rides his bike to work, now with a bandage-wrapped hand. He is a gardener and handyman at a large, palatial house. A young woman called Shaydah (Rome Shadanloo, "The Princess"), Arash's employer, calls him inside to fix her TV. In her room, she is on the phone with a friend discussing a costume party she is planning on going to. Shaydah has a large bandage over her nose, appearing to be healing from a recent cosmetic nose surgery. Arash tells her the TV will take a while to fix and asks her to leave him alone to work on it as it would be inappropriate for Shaydah to be alone with a boy in her bedroom. Shaydah is incredulous and teases Arash before leaving. Arash sees a pair of fancy earrings and quietly steals them. At night, Saeed is showing off his (Arash's) car in front of Atti (Mozhan Marnò), a prostitute, in an empty parking lot. He tells her to get in, where she hands him a wad of cash. Saeed counts and pockets all of it, to Atti's protest. He questions Atti about her age and desire for a family before she performs fellatio on Saeed. The Girl (Sheila Vand) appears and watches for a moment before leaving, dressed in a distinctive striped shirt and chador. Saeed is startled and pushes Atti out of the car without paying her. He tells her to stop crying and calls her a hag before revving the engine and driving off. Next, we see The Girl leaving a convenience store with a bag. She walks to her apartment where she is listening to music and dancing with her veil off. She applies kohl and lipstick, preparing to go out again. Back in her veil, she passes Saeed on an empty street and attracts his attention. He throws away his cigarette and speaks to her, but The Girl says nothing back. He reads her face, then takes the Girl to his apartment. It is a quite modern flat. He puts on music and sits on the couch, snorting some cocaine before smoking again. He spends a moment counting his money out of a briefcase on the table, then closes it, setting a gun on top. He snorts more cocaine and turns the music up before lifting some dumbbells while The Girl watches, saying nothing. He unzips his sweatshirt and showcases his dance moves. The Girl still doesn't reply, and seems interested in looking at the decoration of the flat. He offers her cocaine before snorting more himself. The Girl taps the cymbal on a drum kit in the apartment, drawing Saeed's attention again. He approaches The Girl to attempt to have sex. When he caresses her mouth, she bares her fangs. She smiles at him seductively and slowly takes his finger in her mouth before biting it off. Saeed screams in pain. The Girl jumps on him and drinks his blood. Outside, Arash has arrived to talk to Saeed, wanting to trade the stolen pair of earrings for his car back. The Girl finishes feeding on Saeed but sticks around for a little longer, stealing his watch and jewelry and checking out his CD's. She hears Arash leave a message on Saeed's answering machine. Arash waits outside while smoking a cigarette and sees the Girl leaving the flat. They stare at each other silently. The Girl leaves and Arash enters the flat. He stares at Saeed's blood-stained corpse for a moment and retrieves his car keys from Saeed's pocket. In the briefcase by the sofa, he finds drugs, money, and a gun. Back home, Arash takes a glass of water to his father who tells him that it'd be better if he died and left Arash alone. Arash tells him to drink some water. His father talks about wishing to drive with Arash in a convertible. At his desk, Arash pets Masuka. The briefcase is next to them on the desk. Meanwhile, The Girl is having a bath and rises slowly out of it. Outside, oil drilling machines pollute the scenery. Plumes of smoke rise into the air. At the bridge, Arash throws Saeed's body into the corpse-filled ditch from the beginning of the film. On the street, Arash stands on the corner quietly selling packets of drugs. The Street Urchin watches from a far, looking curious. At a doctor's office, Arash has his broken hand properly put in a cast. He pays in cash. At the palatial house, Shaydah, The Princess, takes the bandage off her nose and admires herself in the mirror. Arash, back in his car with aviator sunglasses on, drives by a field oil pumps. At home, Hossein walks nervously around. He needs a fix, but doesn't have anything left. Masuka stares at him. Back on the street at night, Hossein is following Atti. He asks to talk to her, citing how much money he has paid her over time, but she ignores him. Finally, Atti dismisses him and tells him to come back when he has money. Hossein sees The Girl across the street and thinks about approaching her. She mirrors his movements and they start walking in the same direction, starting, stopping, and facing each other over and over. Hossein gets scared and finally runs away. The Girl lets him go. Next, The Girl sees The Street Urchin and follows quietly behind him. He stops to eat a piece of candy, pausing to look behind him but there is nobody there. He picks up a skateboard and turns around to find her in front of him. She blocks his path for a moment but he runs in the opposite direction. A short way down the street, he runs into her again. The Girl asks him if he is a good boy. The boy says that he is, but she presses on. She insists that he should not lie to her because she could take his eyes out and feed them to the dogs, while baring her fangs. She tells the boy that she will be watching him until the day he dies and that she will come for him if he isn't a good boy. The terrified boy says that he has heard her and he runs away, dropping the skateboard. Later, The Girl skates down the street with her cape billowing behind her. At home, Arash takes some hot soup to Hossein, but his father is rude and only wants his "medicine". Arash sadly looks at a portrait of his parents when they were younger, then opens a drawer to find an old tube of lipstick. Later, Arash is listening to music and cutting up a dark piece of fabric, making his Dracula costume. At the costume party, Shaydah greets Rockabilly and other party goers before asking the DJ something (presumably where to buy drugs). He tells them to find Dracula. Shaydah and her friend Shirin (Skeleton Party Girl, Ana Lily Amirpour) approach Arash and are surprised to see it's him. They tell him they're looking for X (ecstacy). Shirin tries to pay but Arash refuses, saying it's on him. Shaydah asks Arash if this is his new job, then asks for another pill. Arash refuses, but gives in and Shaydah feeds the pill to him. Later, Arash is high on the dance floor and is staring at Shaydah. Arash tries to kiss her, but he gets rejected and she dances with somebody else. Arash looks sad and dazed. Shaydah asks if he's OK but he does not respond. Outside, Arash is staring at one of the street lamps, still clearly dazed from the drugs he took at the party.The Girl skates by but stops in front of him. Arash asks the Girl where they are as he is lost. She replies that they are in Bad City. He says that he lives in Bad City, but that this street is not familiar. Arash approaches The Girl and introduces himself as "Dracula". He says he won't hurt her, and leaves. The Girl follows him in silence, staring intently. He stops and asks her why she is here, and why both of them are here, and sighs. He says he's never felt like this before and takes her hand, noticing it's abnormally cold. He swings his cape around them both and hugs her. Arash asks her to sit down with him on the street, dropping to the ground. The Girl says that they can't sit down in the middle of the street, but they could go to her house as she lives nearby. Arash tells her he's not feeling well enough to walk. The Girl pushes him on her skateboard and takes him home. At The Girl's apartment, she puts on a record while Arash is flopped on her bed, still somewhat dazed from the drugs. He gets up once the song starts and spins the disco ball hanging from The Girl's ceiling. He stares at it as it slows down, then slowly approaches the Girl, still facing away from him at the record player. The music gets louder as she turns around to face him. She tilts his head back, staring at his neck before leaning in to listen to his heartbeat. It is implied that they have sex. In the morning, Rockabilly dances with a balloon in an empty space between buildings, the last remnants of the night's party. Back at home, Hossein wonders why Arash won't eat his fried eggs for breakfast. Arash tells him he's tired and that he spent the night with a girl but doesn't know her name. Hossein asks him a series of questions and Arash says he doesn't know to every one. Hossein calls him an idiot before telling him "Congratualtions, Handsome". Arash smiles slightly. On the street at night, Atti scratches Arash's car with a key believing it to be Saeed's. She notices The Girl watching her and moves on. Atti realizes that the Girl is stalking her, but she stops when she stops. Eventually, Atti faces her and asks why she is following her. The Girl says nothing but shows Atti the jewelry and watch she stole from Saeed when she killed him. Atti takes The Girl home with her where she questions where The Girl got the watch and jewelry. Atti offers The Girl a plum. She takes one but does not eat it, instead playing with it as Atti talks to her. Atti assumes that the Girl wants to become a prostitute and has come to her for advice. The Girl doesn't speak at first, but then she says that Atti doesn't like her job. Atti asks her why she is following her, and the Girl replies that she knows everything about her, that Atti doesn't know what she wants anymore, and that she can't even remember really wanting something. Atti says that idiots and rich people are the only ones who think things can change. The Girl says that Atti is saving money but doesn't know what she wants it for. Atti asks if the Girl is a thief, and she replies "no". Atti asks what she is then. The Girl does not reply. Later at night, The Girl feeds on an anonymous homeless man. When she returns home, she finds a note from Arash on her door. It reads "Meet me at the power plant tomorrow at 10:00 PM - Dracula". The Girl dreams of Arash walking forward through a dark tunnel, the only light at his back. He stops midway through the tunnel. The Girl and Arash meet outside the power plant. Arash has brought her a hamburger. She doesn't eat it while Arash has already started munching his. He remarks he's never known someone who didn't like hamburgers and that he still doesn't know her name. The Girl says that he doesn't know her. He asks what the last song she listened to was and she says it was Hello by Lionel Richie. He says that sometimes sad songs hit the spot. He reaches into the car to start playing some music, then says he knows something else about her. He caresses her ear and he tells her that he knows her ears are not pierced. He gives her the earrings he stole and says that it's a pity that she can't wear them. The Girl gives him a safety pin to make a hole in her ears. Arash is a bit surprised but sanitizes the pin with his lighter and pierces The Girl's right ear. The Girl quickly turns her head after, reflexively baring her fangs from the pain but trying not to let Arash see. Arash asks if it hurt and says they don't have to do it but she insists and offers her other ear. This time she braces herself and doesn't react. Arash admires The Girl and leans in to kiss her but she stops him, saying that she has done many bad things. Arash says she doesn't know what he's done either. She begins to leave but Arash runs in front of her, asking if a big storm was going to come over the mountains, would it matter or change anything? She pauses but leaves anyway as a train rumbles and passes by next to them. Later, Arash walks sadly down the street and returns home. The next morning, a stray dog walks around the ditch where Arash left Saeed's corpse. At Arash's house, Hossein is having a breakdown likely induced by drug withdrawal. He screams at the cat, asking it what it wants. It seems he thinks Masuka is the reincarnation of his dead wife, Arash's mother, returned to torment him. He looks at the photos of her Arash has on the table and starts blaming her for all her problems while he throws them to the floor. The noise wakes Arash who is frustrated by Hossein's continuing antics. Hossein asks Arash what he wants him to do, to which Arash responds that Hossein is supposed to be his father. Arash is fed up and tells Hossein that if he is only interested in getting his "medicine", he wants him to leave the house, take the cat, and never come back. He throws a few wads of cash at Hossein. Upset, Hossein takes the cash and Masuka and leaves. A bent spoon hovers over the flame of a lighter as the drugs in it liquefy and bubble. A record begins to play. In Atti's apartment, Hossein tells Atti that he wants her to dance for him like the old days. Atti removes her outer dress, dancing for Hossein in her slip while lit dramatically from behind. Back on the bed, Hossein wants her to do heroin with him, likely intending to overdose. Atti refuses and gets up but Hossein pushes her back onto the bed, using his belt to hold her hands together and injecting her anyway. Atti goes limp and slumps over on the bed. Hossein doses himself sadly, then lies down and hugs Atti from behind. Atti hovers on the edge of consciousness as Masuka watches. Outside, The Girl passes by but stops, jumping in through Atti's window. She drags Hossein off the bed and away from Atti, now awake, and feeds on him. Atti and Masuka watch, not particularly bothered. She helps the Girl get rid of the body, dragging it down the street in the night and depositing him in an alley. From above, The Street Urchin looks down at them from a window. They hurriedly leave. Back at Atti's apartment, she smokes a cigarette and tells The Girl to take the cat with her. In the morning, The Street Urchin brings Arash to Hossein's body. Arash is upset and repeatedly asks him if he saw somebody, holding the boy by the jacket. The Street Urchin says he did not. Arash lets go. Back at home, the shattered portraits of his mother and father are still strewn on the ground. Arash begins packing a suitcase with his CDs and cassettes, the contents of the briefcase, and leaves in his car. The Girl has the same dream of Arash walking down a dark tunnel, though this time the camera zooms in on him where he stops. She wakes up as the camera gets close to Arash. She finds Arash waiting outside her door and lets him in. He tells her they have to leave the city and to pack her things. He holds her hand to his chest and asks her to come with him, then begs her not to leave him alone. The Girl stays silent and pulls her hand back before turning around to remove her pajama shirt and change into her usual striped one. When she turns back around, she smooths her hair down, tucking it behind her hears to show the earrings she is still wearing. She picks up a big handbag and begins to pack as Arash sits on her bed. Masuka comes out from behind a trunk and Arash realizes The Girl has something to do with his father's death. He watches as she scoops handfuls of jewelry into the bag. She puts on her cape and grabs Masuka, staring back at Arash. Under a full moon, Arash drives through the night down an empty road with The Girl and Masuka sitting next to him. He stops on the side of the road and gets out. Her nervously paces in front of the car in the light of the headlights before getting back in. The Girl and Arash are silent, both staring straight ahead as Masuka settles in between them. Arash puts a cassette in and a song starts to play (Yarom Bia by Kiosk). He and The Girl finally look at each other. Arash starts the car and they drive off into the night.