Vera and Vanja are two vampire sisters struggling to survive in the suburbs of Stockholm. Their peculiar relationship is shaken when Vera stabs and feeds on the leader of a skinhead biker gang in the toilets of a nightclub. The girls escape, knowing the bikers will be looking for revenge. While the distant roar of the motor­cycles becomes a chilling menace, Vanja reveals to Vera her secret plans: she wants to leave their outcast lifestyle and run away with a human with whom she’s fallen in love.

Not Like Others might not attain the virtuosity of cult classic Let the Right One In, another Swedish vampire drama, but it is surprisingly absorbing and thought-provoking. The supernatural element is suppressed; here the vampire becomes a mere outcast forced to feed on blood to subsist, and Vera uses a blade, not her fangs, to kill her victims. As in Romero’s Martin, we can never be too sure about the real nature of the girls and the word “vampire” only appears in the original Swedish title, Vam­pyrer. Unlike in current mainstream vampire adaptations, Vera and Vanja don’t possess superhero-like qualities either: their vulnerability, especially when contrasted with the raw violence of the skinhead gang, justifies their existential angst, which in turn makes them more sympathetic. Wisely, director Peter Pontikis makes their advers­aries voiceless, their faces hidden under biker helmets. They become a shapeless menace, invested with an almost supernatural quality – always knowing where the girls will be next and riding in like harbing­ers of death.

With stark atmospheric settings and realistic performances, Not Like Others leaves out the gory details, concentrating instead on the complex relationship of the two sisters. Understated and minimalist, this film might well be the perfect antidote to the Twilight trend: these characters genuinely have a reason to feel angsty.