While I do consider myself a connoisseur of Vampire Literature and Films, I am the first to admit that very few vampire films show originality and that the majority suck*. However, I was so very pleasantly surprised by the Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In). Set in the bleakness of 80s socialist Sweden, the film tells the tale of a lonely, bullied, 12-year-old boy named Oskar who befriends a sickly-looking girl who, having recently moved into his dreary block of flats, only comes out at night.

The friendship between the two is both tender and disturbing. As people in the neighbourhood start to disappear, Oskar and the cutely-name Eli (perhaps a reference to the famous Elizabeth Bathory) grow closer together. She suggests Oskar fight back against the nasty bullies at school, and empowers the boy to embrace the violence he has only imaged so far.

Shot with tungsten-tinged film and using a very short depth-of-field photography style, the mood oozes off the screen and into your spine. A pre-pubescent love story mixed with terrifying horror, this film is one of the most original vampire tales in a long time.

4/5 Stars.

*Get it? Clever, eh?