This pitch black, coming-of-age, vampire romance from Sweden was a hit with critics and audiences around the world. It was the recipient of multiple awards at film festivals as well as winning the Saturn Award for Best International Film. It currently carries a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Director Tomas Alfredson was struck by the unique romance between young Oskar and the eternally childlike vampire, Eli, as well as the harsh, realistic, uncompromising dramatization of bullying. He worked directly with author John Ajvide Lindqvist to develop Lindqvist’s screenplay.

In John Ajvide Lindqvist’s original novel, Eli was actually a boy who was castrated at the same time he was transformed into a vampire. While it is not overtly stated in the film, a brief shot of Eli ‘s scarred genitalia would seem to reflect this unspoken plot point.