Vampire stories have been told on screen for so long now, the creativity has thinned dramatically, and now we get hollow geysers based in gore (“30 Days of Night”) or hammy, overtly allegorical creations like HBO’s “True Blood.” Consider the relief, then, when a nuanced, even subtle, vampire picture finds its way to the screen. You know the film has a separate set of priorities when the scariest moment doubles as its sweetest, when one child asks another, without fear or judgment, only a remote apprehension in the worry of hurting feelings, “Are you a vampire?” Tomas Alfredson’s tale of a bullied 12-year-old Swedish boy, Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) and his unexpected friendship with a female peer who feeds on human blood, Eli (Lina Leandersson), is more of an adolescent love story than anything else, horror with a longing heart. John Ajvide Lindqvist adapts his own novel and uses a fair amount of common vampire mythology, the most compelling of which is the notion that you must first invite a vampire into your house before it can enter (the title has a nice double-meaning). Hoyte Van Hoytema uses Sweden’s snowy landscapes in much of his compositions to display a romantic creepiness that’s compounded by the film’s patient pace and eerie quietness—snowfall keeps the volume down. A scene of regrettable CGI distracts, but it’s mostly forgotten with the film’s brutal, possibly unfair comeuppance, and a stunning final scene of choice, of love, of protection. Another teen-vamp romance hits screens this year, “Twilight,” but it’s unlikely that film will feature an image as memorable as Eli’s giant green eyes. Children are fragile, even if they’re undead. 114m. (Tom Lynch)
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