Oskar (Hedebrant) is a 12 year old loner, bullied at school he is full of suppressed rage. Eli moves in next door – she’s a bit of a misfit too and they become friends. She encourages Oskar to stand up to the bullies. As the two young people find solace in each other Oskar begins to notice unsettling things about his only friend, yet the subtlety of Eli’s attraction draws him in and the audience as well, encouraging Oskar and us to overlook and forgive the increasingly violent manifestations of Eli’s secret.

Alfredson’s starkly beautiful film is as moving and shocking as it is gripping. Together with John Ajvide Lindqvist, who developed the screenplay from his own novel, the director delivers a slice of adroit social comment mixed with a heart-breaking coming of age story that also happens to be a vampire movie. The powerful direction, inspired performances by the young leads particularly Leandersson, the sparse screenplay and the evocative snowscapes combine to create a film of striking atmosphere and mood that will stay with you. Its intelligence and sincerity knock Hollywood’s contemporary horror films into a cocked hat, and many critics have compared the internationally acclaimed Let The Right One In to Herzogs celebrated Nosferatu (1979).

The 43-year-old director Tomas Alfredson has made a gorgeously bleak film, though never at the expense of the story. Rob Gonsalves, e-FlimCritic.com

An utterly engrossing film, Alfredson has put together a visually, narratively and thematically gripping piece of cinema that will surely endure as one of the classics of both the vampire genre and as a study of the negotiating pitfalls of childhood. Jacob Powell, The Lumiere Reader.

Full of blood-curdling shocks, but it will also make you swoon with sadness and sigh with happiness. Sukhev Sandhu, The Telegraph.