Who would have thought a Swedish suburb in the 80s and vampires go so well together? Then again, Blackeberg seems like a depressingly bleak place to live so maybe it's not that surprising. When I saw the Swedish film at a screening of a local film club, I just thought "what the hell did I watch...?", but it grew on me after a few days when I couldn't stop thinking about it. That's usually a sign for me that there's something special going on.

This isn't about cheap thrills (like so many modern horror films nowadays are), but there's some serious social critique as well. The fact that the author himself grew up in Blackeberg gives some credibility to it. Life is grey: the bums hanging out at a local diner have no more sense of direction in their lives than regular divorce families have, not to mention the bullies Oskar is tormented by, who take out their anxiety on others and surround themselves with bad influence. Not even Eli gets real satisfaction from blood, because it's just something that needs to be done in order to stay alive.

Despite the bleakness, there are some glimpses of humour here and there. Unlike in films, I can usually take anything in books, but a few scenes were damn repulsive. One of them, however, made me laugh out loud because the image in my mind was just too amusing. Or maybe it was just my sense of humour, and everybody else were completely horrified :D It just reminded me of the Evil Dead type of films, where something is really disgusting but also oh-so-funny.

I also loved the author's interpretation of vampires. Although I'm usually more old school in this one, Eli is one creepy creature when she's hunting. Really unusual. It's like she's a modern vampire, but at the same time traditional and avoids all the clichés. Along with the descriptions of Oskar's dad's alcoholism, the way Eli starts to learn how to behave and play like a child again is the most touching thing in the book.