Upon Eli's arrival, those types of stories get a local spin. Hakan is Eli's own personal Renfield, finding victims to exsanguinate to feed her. And when he fails at that task, Eli is obliged to take matters into her own... teeth.

Eli spares [Oskar] her wrath, even when the lad misguidedly offers to seal their friendship with a blood ritual. Their relationship starts to take on the cast of puppy love when Oskar invites Eli to be his girlfriend.

If you expect Let the Right One In to be a combination of young romance and supernatural kitsch along the lines of Twilight, expect a seriously rude awakening. While Oskar gains some degree of sympathy initially, he's ultimately a decidedly creepy little dude who assumes a look of beatific ecstasy even as he's being thrashed by his schoolyard nemesis. And his affection for Eli isn't entirely redemptive. After all: If Eli is a monster and Oskar is devoted to Eli, what does that make him?