History Film / LetMeIn

* undyingLoyalty: [[spoiler: Despite their relationship having deteriorated, it's shown that Thomas ultimately possesses this for Abby. After crashing a car whilst attempting to kill another victim for her, Thomas chooses to burn his own face off with acid rather than risk Abby being found and killed, and let's her feed on him both to end his agony and also to tell her to go on and live without him.]]

* PsychopathicManchild: Thomas displays many childish traits, like getting extremely jealous of the attention Owen receives from Abby. When he leaves a note for Abby, it's misspelled, saying "I'm sorry Abby", and the writing is in a very childish scribble. Justified, as the film heavily implies he's been her familiar for decades since he was a child and with no contact with anyone besides someone stuck as a 12 year old, he didn't have a lot of opportunity to mature.

* ManOnFire: Virginia again, although this remake shows it more gradually compared to the other versions.

* AdultsAreUseless: Tragically, it's a running theme in the film that almost every adult in Owen's life totally fails to protect him, or even notice just how much pain he's being put through. The only adult character who's useful at all is Mr. Zoric the gym teacher. He's the only adult to show Owen any care/attention and encourages him to exercise to get stronger and he's the only teacher who sees what a monster Kenny is.

* FailureToSaveMurder: When Abby attacks the policeman, he reaches out to Owen for help, but Owen backs away and closes the door, letting Abby finish him off.

* TheRunaway: By the end of the film Owen decides to run away with Abby. Considering how horrible his life was in Los Alamos and Owen mentioned how deeply he hated living there and wanted to leave you can't really blame him.

* {{Sadist}}: Kenny, he goes beyond being a simple schoolyard bully to this trope. It's obvious he loves causing Owen as much pain, mental and physical, as possible and as frequently as he can.
* SadisticChoice: The climax involves a sadistic contest of Owen being held underwater; if he can spend 3 minutes below the surface he just gets a cut on his cheek but if he can't spend 3 minutes below the surface, he gets his eye gouged out. Mind you he is also being held down by a bigger teen's hand which could also drown him instead. Ultimately it's subverted through a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]], as Owen's vampire lover comes to even the score.

* ScreamingWarrior: When Owen is being drowned by the bullies Abby comes to save him. The first sign that she's there is the scream of primal rage she emits before she breaks through the skylight. She continues to scream throughout the entirety of the massacre.

* ShirtlessScene: Owen's seen shirtless twice, at the beginning of the film where he's practicing his fantasy of killing his bullies in the mirror wearing only his pajama bottoms and later when he's changing into his swimming trunks.

* ShrinkingViolet: Owen's a rare male version due to the constant bullying he endures. As a consequence he's painfully shy, reserved, and quiet.

* SuicidalSadisticChoice: When Owen's ambushed by Kenny and the bullies in the swimming pool they present him with two choices either he should hold his head under the water until he drowns or let one of his eyes be destroyed. Although, judging by how Kenny's brother, Jimmy, was forcibly holding his head down it seems that he was always planning on just killing Owen.
* SuperStrength: Abby, due to being a vampire. At first she's shown to be strong enough to wrestle a muscular man to the ground before snapping his neck, but by the end of the film you see how strong she really is. She rips Kenny's brother's head clean off his shoulders and she literally rips the other bullies apart.

* TeensAreMonsters: Jimmy, his sadism and cruelty even scared the other bullies. He was going to kill Owen for defending himself against his brother. Kenny and his friends might count, as they're in the same class as 12-year old Owen, but look older than he is.
* {{Telepathy}}: One of Abby's powers, as shown in a deleted where she shows Owen how she became a vampire. She gazes into his eyes as she puts him into a trance, and he's shown the very violent attack Abby endured from the vampire who turned her. When Abby breaks it off Owen looks traumatized and clutches the exact spot on his neck where Abby was bitten heavily implying he literally felt what she went through.
* TheFogOfAges: Abby, she genuinely can't seem to recall her own age. When Owen asks her age she says 12, "more or less" and later she says she's been "12, for a very long time" implying she's forgotten or lost track of how long she's been alive. That or she's just being evasive to not scare Owen.

** The Good. Owen, an innocent, timid, gentle, boy who's victimized by nearly every other force in the film, from the bullies who assault him to his parents who neglect him.
** The Bad: Abby, while she doesn't derive any pleasure from it and she's required to drink human blood to live, she still kills scores of innocent people throughout the film.
** The Evil: Kenny and the bullies, they torture Owen every day for no reason other than cruelty.

* TookALevelInBadass: A moderate example with Owen. While he remains a shy, withdrawn, little boy throughout the film, he does become more assertive and ready to defend himself, at Abby's encouragement. In the beginning of the film he makes no effort to fight back as the bullies hurt him but, halfway through the film, he splits Kenny's ear with a metal pole when he tried to hurt him, and when they ambush him at the pool his first instinct is to grab his knife.

* VillainProtagonist: Abby counts, she kills many innocent people without remorse. The only decent trait of hers is the kindness she shows to Owen.
* VillainsWantMercy: Kenny, despite gleefully abusing Owen, physically and mentally, for the entirety of the film, and getting his brother involved to attack Owen and only offering a very meek protest when he realized Jimmy was actually going to kill Owen, has the audacity to beg Abby for mercy when she massacres the bullies who were drowning Owen.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Averted initially with Abby. At first, she wants Owen to stand up to his bullies on his own, although she promises him if that doesn't work she'll defend him. When he does so and the bullies retaliate by attempting to either drown or mutilate him, she literally rips them to shreds.
* WeirdnessCensor. A variant with Owen regards to Abby's behavior. He certainly notices how odd her behavior is, asking why she doesn't wear shoes in the snow, remarks how odd it is she never appears in daylight nor knows very famous pop culture items like a Rubik's cube, and when he confronts Abby he immediately asks whether she's a vampire, implying he had already guessed, judging by her behavior. It's simply that Owen's so desperately lonely that he's willing to overlook those traits as long as Abby will be his friend.

** Thomas, he's treated like a slave by Abby and he endures a lot of verbal abuse from her without complaint. He's even willing to pour concentrated acid over himself to protect her. He does lose his temper and screams at her but it's after she admitted to just leaving one of her victims out in the open and expecting him to clean it up, so it's rather understandable.
** Owen counts as well. He endures a lot of abuse from the bullies without fighting back until Abby encourages him to. When Kenny wounds his face, he orders Owen to lie to his mother about what happened. Owen terrified agrees and is seen doing just that. Part of Owen's character development is becoming less weak willed and submissive. Later in the film he stands up to Abby when she blocks him from leaving when he finds out she's a vampire.

** Virginia, who is not only vampiric but getting rapidly burned by the sun.

* FightUnscene: None of Abby's massacre of the bullies is portrayed onscreen.All the audience hears is their screams. The camera is focused on Owen the entire time when he's underwater and when he's recovering from being almost drowned to death.
* {{Flight}}: Abby claims to be capable of flight. Although she's never shown flying on-screen there's evidence to support her claim. In the scene where she massacres the bullies you can see Kenny being dragged underwater from Owen's point of view and notably he's far too deep in the water for Abby to have dragged him from along the pool's edge. Also, after killing Thomas at the hospital while leaving from the window ledge rather than crawl back down she's shown jumping with the sound of wings flapping being heard.The sound of wings flapping can be heard in the pool scene too, when the bullies hear Abby enter the building through the skylight and when the massacre ends.

** When Abby notices the cut on Owen's cheek and inquires what caused it, Owen, ashamed, admits that he's being bullied. Abby then tells him that he needs to fight back, when Owen points out there's three of them, she advises him to use the knife and when Owen asks what he should do if that isn't enough she promises she'll protect him. This exactly how Owen interactions with the bullies play out for the rest of the film, he defends himself against Kenny by hitting him with a stick, when they come for revenge Owen grabs his pocket knife and when they overpower him, Abby intervenes and kills them.
* FourthDateMarriage: Sort of. It takes a very short length of time from Abby and Owen meeting each other to Owen being willing to run away with her. In the 5th scene they have together Owen announces to her that he "likes her, a lot". In their 6th after Thomas sacrifices his life to Abby she's grown so fond of Owen that she goes to him for comfort. She sneaks into his bed to cuddle with him and he asks her to be his girlfriend, which she agrees to.

* GeekPhysique: Owen's implied to be rather nerdy, with his room having an outer space theme, and he is very skinny. In the scenes in the film where he is shirtless he looks downright underweight, with his ribs being fully visible. The script mentions that Owen is rather embarrassed at how scrawny he is.
* GenderFlip: Abby here is 100% female. Her counterpart in the book and Swedish film, Eli, was a castrated boy who for his/her reasons presented or was assumed to be a girl.
* GoodWithNumbers: A possible case with Owen, when asked about his age he immediately answered to the exact day "12 years,8 months and 9 days" implying he calculated the exact figure almost instantly in his head which would be rather impressive for a 12-year-old or sadly it might be that he hates his life so much he keeps a count of how old he is until he turns 18 and can leave his home behind.

* HateSink: Kenny, he is by far the most disgusting and evil character in the film. To the point he makes Abby a vampire who kills many innocent people throughout the film look sympathetic. For starters he bullies Owen horribly, hurting, degrading and humiliating him as often as he possibly can for no reason other than cruelty. Instances of this include whipping Owen bloody with a metal antenna, threatening to rape and drown him at a frozen lake, and attacking Owen until he wets himself. He's a coward who never attacks Owen alone despite the fact he's about twice his size and when Owen stands up for himself he needs the support of his older brother before he goes near him again.

* HeroicSacrifice: Thomas, when his attempt to kidnap another man for Abby goes wrong he ends up crashing the car he was in and people start to close in on him, knowing he's about to be caught, and not wanting to be interrogated or ID'd as it would risk exposing Abby, he proceeds to empty a bottle of acid on his face.
* HorrorHunger: Abby is shown to get ravenously hungry for human blood, to the point it overwhelms her better judgement. She kills and eats a human jogger when she gets hungry enough without thinking to hide the body afterwards. Later in the cellar scene with Owen, after he tried to initiate a friendship pact by cutting his thumb she immediately looks at him like a predator spotting prey and nearly kills him.

* IDoNotDrinkWine: During their first date, Owen excitedly offers to buy Abby some of the sweets he loves so much. Abby, knowing it will make her sick, declines as politely as she can. However, seeing that this hurts Owen's feelings she accepts to please him. The very next shot in the film is of Abby being violently ill in the car park of the shop.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: At the start of the film, Owen is desperately lonely and spends the majority of his time outside of school playing with puzzles on his own at the courtyard of his apartment complex. When Abby warns him that they can't be friends when they first meet Owen looks absolutely heartbroken. Throughout the film, despite it being obvious there's something odd about Abby (i.e. walking barefoot through the snow, the loud arguments she has with Thomas) Owen doesn't care as long as he has companionship in his life.
* ImmortalImmaturity: Abby isn't a fully grown woman in a girl's body, like in most vampire media, but rather a child whose mental development was put in stasis when she became a vampire. In her own words "I'm twelve, I've just been twelve for a very long time".
* ImpossibleTask: The sadistic test the bullies put Owen through in the pool. If Owen, a scrawny boy, can hold his breath for 3 minutes they'll simply cut his cheek, if he fails they'll gouge one of his eyes out. Although judging by how Kenny's brother very strongly held his head down under the water, it seems more that Jimmy's intention was always just to drown him and presenting Owen with a "test" was simply a way to mentally torture him before he died.

** Abby herself counts, despite being a vampire for centuries. Notably, when she kills the jogger she just leaves the body there in the open to the extreme frustration of Thomas. The detective who was investigating her murders was able to find where she lived very quickly. Justified by her ImmortalImmaturity, Abby is stuck with the mental/emotional maturity of a 12-year-old.
* InformedFlaw: The bullies chosen insult for Owen "Little girl" and "she" doesn't make a lot of sense. Nothing Owen says or does throughout the film indicates that he's particularly effeminate.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Both of Owen's parents, they're both incredibly self-absorbed and show no consideration towards their own son.
** Owen's mother, she's a self-pitying alcoholic who doesn't notice or care that her son is deeply miserable and is being horribly abused at school and shows him no concern or attention throughout the film.
** Owen's father, the movie implies he hadn't physically seen Owen in months. When Owen discovers Abby's a vampire he calls him for advice, only for his father to assume he's being manipulated by his mother and starts berating him for listening to her. It could be argued that he's genuinely concerned for his son's well-being and worried about his care under his mother, considering she's an alcoholic and religious fundamentalist and he mentions she has "issues" but that just raises the question of why he isn't the one taking care of Owen.
* KarmaHoudini: While she does have sympathetic qualities Abby still kills multiple innocent people throughout the film and she gets away with absolutely everything by the end. Her situation has even improved as she has an adoring new boyfriend.

** In his first scene he sexually harasses a girl at the swimming pool.
** He whips Owen in the eyes with a wet towel before attacking him until he wets himself. Then sings about it as loudly as possible to humiliate Owen.
** When he sees Owen writing a letter for Abby, he follows him into the bathroom. He then demands Owen shows him the letter, when he doesn't he proceeds to whip Owen with a metal antenna so hard then it leaves a bloody wound on Owen's face.
** On a field trip he plans to throw Owen into a frozen lake. When Owen picks up a stick to defend himself Kenny threatens to rape him with it.
** At the end of the film he enlists his older brother help to attack Owen. While Kenny shows hesitation when it became obvious that Jimmy was planning on actually killing him, he was gleefully taking part in the assault beforehand. Dragging Owen roughly over the tiles of the pool area as he screamed in pain/terror.
* KubrickStare: Abby does one while feeding on the man in the tunnel.
* LighterAndSofter: Ironically in the same film that didn't mind showing more blood several characters are less morally murky in this film than the book and Swedish film. Owen is still a bullied kid who has a knife who thinks about attacking his bullies, yet he doesn't do a fraction of the stuff book Oskar did, like shoplifting or setting a fire at his school. Thomas is separated out from Hakan by dropping all the pedophile storyline in favor of him having met Abby similar to how Owen did when he was younger.

* MoodWhiplash: Due to the film being a mix between a PuppyLove romance tale and a brutal horror story this happens frequently. Notably, there's the cellar scene which changes from an awkward date scene to an extremely tense scene, where Abby goes from excitedly waiting for a kiss from Owen to almost killing him.
* MoralityPet: Owen to Abby. Throughout the film, Abby shows herself to be an extremely ruthless character, willing to send Thomas out to kill people, treats Thomas like a slave and is willing to kill people herself to stay alive but she is kind and protective towards Owen.

* MuscleAngst: Implied with Owen. When looking out into the apartment complex through his telescope, he spots a muscular man lifting weights. He then proceeds to look down at his own very scrawny chest looking rather ashamed. At the end of the film when Owen goes swimming while walking through the locker room in his trunks he looks very self conscious at having his scrawny body bared around the much more muscular, athletic students.
* MustBeInvited: The movie universe takes this rule very seriously. When Abby violates it, the results are very bloody. Also, vampires have to specifically get a invitation every single time they enter a home. Abby had already gotten Owen's permission to enter into his apartment earlier, when she sneaked into his room, but she had to ask again.
* NiceGuy: Owen is a sweet-natured kid who has had a ''really'' shitty life. This is most apparent in his scenes with Abby where hes very kind and sweet to her, as seen when Abby comments she cant remember her birthday and consequently doesn't receive any presents, Owen instantly offers her his Rubik's cube, despite him barely knowing her and it being his favourite toy.
* NightmareFace: Played deadly straight with Abby. Thomas's face is also horrifying to look at after he pours concentrated acid over himself.

* NoSocialSkills: Abby, due to centuries being an undead vampire living in isolation with only her familiar, Thomas, who's implied to make most of their living arrangements, as company. She doesn't recognize major pop culture items like a Rubik's cube, she's very cold and standoffish to Owen when they first meet. She also doesn't seem to recognize how odd her behavior is, she walks around in her bare feet in the snow despite how odd it makes her look, after Thomas dies and she goes to Owen's room for comfort she sneaks into his bed after stripping naked and doesn't understand why Owen is shocked.
* NonAnswer: Abby gives rather vague or cryptic answers when Owen asks her questions. When Owen asks her what her true age is, she only responds that she's been 12 for a "long time". When Abby tries to tell Owen they can't be boyfriend and girlfriend because "she's not a girl" i.e. she's a vampire, not a human, Owen understandably gets confused and asks her what that means. Her response is to claim she's "nothing", which backfires on Abby as Owen thinks she's just making excuses to not go out with him and gets upset.
* NonHumanLoverReveal: A puppy love version. When Owen and Abby are cuddling in bed, Abby tells him she's not a girl, as in she's not a human but a vampire, which just confuses Owen. Later when they're in the cellar, Owen finally sees what Abby is when he tries to initiate a friendship pact which causes Abby's HorrorHunger to kick in. She assumes her demonic form and throws herself to the ground to lick Owen's blood off the floor with a elongated tongue, to his horror.
* NotNowKiddo: A tragic version. After realizing what Abby is Owen goes to his parents for comfort. Only for his mother to be passed out drunk and when he calls his father he completely ignores Owen's questions to make it about his divorce.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The word "Vampire" is used exactly once in the film. After Owen figures out that what Abby is he asks her whether she's a vampire. She herself doesn't seem to recognize the term and just replies that she needs blood to live.
* NothingIsScarier: Abby's slaughter of the bullies. During the entirety of the scenes the cameras focused on Owen's emaciated back covered in blood but you can hear what's happening. From the bullies' screams of terror and the sounds of their flesh being ripped apart and thrown into the pool, to Abby's own inhuman roars. Throughout the scene you can hear the sound of wings flapping, Abby was never shown to have wings when seen in vampire form so the audience can only guess what she looks like as she kills the boys. Most disturbingly at the end, when Owen has recovered from his near drowning Abby's bare feet, drenched in blood appear and she picks him up by his head to look at her. When he does he looks to be in awe and fear, which could just simply be through the trauma of almost dying, but Abby's face is never seen once, so what exactly could Owen be looking at?
* OddFriendship: Owen and Abby's relationship, she's a ruthless vampire while he's a meek, timid boy.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Besides the obvious example of Abby, who is centuries old but stuck in the body of a twelve year old, there's Kenny and his friends. Despite being in the same class as 12-year-old Owen; they look like they're years older than he is. The school might allow split-grade classes (which some schools do) or they may have been held back.
** Owen, as well. He looks very young, and his voice is very soft, for a boy who is only a few months from becoming a teenager. He could easily pass as a 10 or 11 year old.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Abby doesn't age, she's strong enough to rip a human body to shreds, she's capable of putting people into trances and invading their minds, she's strongly implied to be able to fly, sunlight instantly causes her skin to blister and burn, she's bound by extremely strict rules regarding her need to get someones permission to enter her home (she needs verbal permission each individual time and if she doesn't she starts bleeding to death), if she goes without eating she starts to smell, she doesn't feel the cold, she can't consume any food without making her sick, she seems to enter into a sort of hibernation rather than sleep when she rests, she had a demonic form she assumes when her bloodlust overwhelms her. Also, in this film vampiric bites are extremely infectious, all that's required to turn someone is to bite them, which means when Abby kills she usually snaps her victims' necks so they won't turn.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: The bullies were in the process of drowning Owen before Abby broke in and killed them. While some gave some very weak protest to Kenny when it became clear he was actually going to kill Owen they still gleefully went to the pool with the intention of assaulting and torturing Owen. Needless to say they deserved everything Abby did to them.
* ParentalObliviousness: Owen's mother. She is completely ignorant of her own son's life. She doesn't notice how horribly he's being abused by bullies, despite the fact he shows up with wounds at their apartment and is obviously miserable and desperately lonely. Notably, after Owen's called to the principal's office after defending himself against Kenny, all she can state is that he's "a good boy", never bothering to inquire why exactly her gentle, quiet son would attack someone.
* ParentalNeglect: Neither of Owens' parents give him any attention or consideration, beyond his basic material needs. His father mentions he hasn't seen him in months and in the one scene they walk he plainly doesn't care or notice that his son is crying. His mother frequently ignores him so she can drink.
* PaperTiger: Kenny, who acts like he's tough despite the fact he and his friends are ganging up on a boy who is considerably smaller than he is, and the first time Owen stands up to him by hitting him with a stick he goes down crying like a small child. Notably, he leaves Owen alone for the rest of the film until he has his older teenage brother backing him up.
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: Abby due to her nature as a vampire living a nomadic life for centuries is shown to be very ignorant of modern culture. She doesn't know what video games are and despite loving puzzles, she doesn't know what a Rubik's cube is to Owen's shock and confusion.

* PragmaticVillainy: Kenny's friends, Mark and Donald. While they enjoy hurting Owen nearly as much as Kenny does, they still have the sense to try to restrain themselves so they can get away with it. They notably point out to Kenny how stupid it is wounding Owen's face when his mother will want to know what happened to him, they tell Kenny to leave Owen alone when they know Mr. Zorić is watching them harass him and in the pool scene they both start to panic when they realize that Jimmy is planning on killing Owen.
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Due to the AdaptationDistillation of this film this affects the story even more than the original, and may be a deliberate [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope. Whereas a lot of Abby's victims in the book had distinct personalities and backstories here they're mainly extras so the audience finds it hard to care when they die at her hand. This coupled with the increased focus on Owen and Abby's relationship makes her seem more sympathetic than she really should be. Owen, for the most part, seems to realise her killing people is wrong, judging by his phone call to his father. However, he quickly accepts Abby's nature because she's the only person who's ever been kind to him.
* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: A very tragic case with Owen, despite being a kind, innocent boy he was already showing signs of snapping from the abuse he was enduring at the hands of Kenny (i.e. fantasizing about killing him constantly, even re-enacting it with a knife) and Abby's appearance in his life just accelerated it. By the end of the film no matter what Owen's fate is with Abby, becoming her familiar or being turned into a vampire by her, he's going to end up killing people for the rest of his life.

* PrettyBoy: Owen, he has extremely fine features, a very slender build, big blue eyes and full lips. In the directors commentary, Matt Reeves even mentions that Owen's face is "beautiful". Unfortunately, this works against him. Owen's looks coupled with his small statue are what gets him attention from bullies. It's also probably the main reason Kenny calls him a "little girl".
* PsychopathicManchild: Thomas displays many childish traits, like getting extremely jealous of the attention Owen receives from Abby. When he leaves a note for Abby, it's misspelled, saying "I’m sorry Abby", and the writing is in a very childish scribble. Justified, as the film heavily implies he's been her familiar for decades since he was a child and with no contact with anyone besides someone stuck as a 12 year old, he didn't have a lot of opportunity to mature.

* CatchphraseInsult: Kenny is constantly calling Owen "little girl". It's changed from the book where Oskar was called "Piggy", which considering how Owen is as skinny as a reed wouldn't make any sense.
* ChastityCouple: Due to the film being a PuppyLove story, Abby and Owen as a couple are this trope. Their bonding moments mainly involve long hugs. Abby only kisses Owen twice in the entire film and only then they were two quick pecks on his lips and cheek. Even when Abby sneaks into Owen's room, takes off her clothes and crawls into his bed to snuggle up to him, it isn't portrayed as anything sexual and more like an innocent sleepover.
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Averted with the bullies and Abby being cruel and homicidal.
** Owen's a complicated case, as while he is shown to be a very gentle, naive boy, especially in his date scenes with Abby, he does take part in detailed re-enactments of killing the bullies who torment him every day. His innocence can be best scene when Abby crawls into his bed naked to cuddle with him, he's surprised but doesn't do anything. When he asks Abby to be his girlfriend, she seems hesitant and worried that Owen might want something more than friendship from her only for Owen to tell her nothing would change between them.

**Abby counts as one giving how she murders people on screen. Although she's been a child for a long time.
** Owen could count as an example. He certainly looks the part physically, with his raven black hair, almost inhumanly pale skin and slender, almost malnourished-looking body. He also has some rather unsettling quirks, he softly sings to himself all the time. He regularly fantasizes about killing people and acts it out with his knife. However seeing as he's being tortured every day by bullies and isn't helped or protected in any way, it's probably the only way he knows how to cope with the constant abuse. He's also seen spying on his neighbors with a telescope but that's more due to his sheer loneliness. So he is a very tragic and sympathetic version.

* DarkerAndEdgier: To a degree, while it tones down the moral ambiguity of the film in many ways it's a darker story. For one, the violence is much more explicit. Secondly, Owen's suffering is much more pronounced in this version. To contrast, in the pool scene in the Swedish version the room's brightly lit and Oskar is playing to pop music before the bullies attempt to drown him and when they're killed the violence is mainly obscured. In this version, Owen's chased through a darkened locker room, then dragged screeching before they attempt to drown him. The bullies' massacre is much more graphic and bloody, with Owen's back left soaked in blood by the end of it.

** The finale pool scene starts out bright just like it was in the Swedish film but once the bullies come in they turn out the lights where the entire pool area let alone the pool is ridiculously dark as the violence is about to pick up.
** When the Police Officer kicks the door of Abby's apartment down and starts investigating the apartment is extremely dark due to all the windows being covered in cardboard to blot out any sunlight. The scene is extremely tense as Owen is trying to avoid being caught by the man. It eventually climaxes by the police officer being ripped to shreds by Abby.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The remake has two instances of this, since it takes place in the 1980s. The first being Kenny being forced to do laps for sexually harassing a classmate. If the movie had taken place in modern-day, his punishment would have been much more severe. Another one was Owen being able to buy a knife at only 12-years-old, which would not fly as easily in the post-Columbine society.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Abby, in first few scenes she's incredibly cold and standoffish to Owen. Her first words to him were that they could never be friends. However, when they bond over their shared love of puzzles she quickly becomes a lot more friendly towards him. Soon they start dating and even playing together like normal children.

* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Owen, due to his extreme loneliness, having no friends and being neglected by his mother can be seen looking enviously at happy couples throughout the movie.
* DirtyCoward: Kenny, to be expected of a schoolyard bully. For one thing, he only ever attacks Owen when he is accompanied by two other boys despite the fact he's considerably taller and more muscular than his short, skinny victim. When Owen fights back for the first time, he's quickly reduced to a crying wreck and Kenny doesn't go near him again until he has the support of his older, bigger brother and even then they wait until he's alone and half-naked in the pool before they attack him. He can also be heard begging Abby to spare him when she comes to rescue Owen.
* DirtyKid: Implied initially with Owen at the beginning where one of his first scenes involve him spying on his neighbours as they're about to have sex but it's shown to be more out of curiosity than anything perverted. Throughout the rest of the film Owen is shown to be quite innocent. When Abby sneaks into his bed naked he's shocked and doesn't do anything, later when they're alone in the basement and she asks him what he wants to do he breaks out into a nervous, goofy grin. Plus it should be noted in their relationship Abby is the one who kisses him while Owen seems to prefer long hugs.
* DistressedDude: At the end Owen is ambushed and nearly drowned by his bullies. Only for Abby to save him.
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Towards the end of the film Owen sneaks out from his mothers apartment to spend the night with Abby and it's never made clear what precisely they were doing during the entire night. While their relationship is portrayed, for the most part, [[PuppyLove as very sweet and innocent]]. The scene immediately occurred after Abby and Owen reconciled their relationship before being interrupted by his mothers entrance into the apartment. So while it's rather unlikely they had sex, it's still somewhat ambiguous.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In ''Let Me In'' the bullies try to kill Owen for splitting Kenny's ear, in self defense no less. This is distilled from the book where there was an ongoing series of events to get there, but this is the same level as from the Swedish film.
* TheDogBitesBack: Owen is at first brutally targeted by the bullies until after Abby's encouragement he finally strikes back splitting Kenny's ear in the process.
* DragonInChief: Kenny's brother, Jimmy. Kenny is the main villain of the film, with Jimmy only appearing in two scenes and he attacks Owen at his brother's behest but it's shown he's much more dangerous and cruel than Kenny and the other bullies. To the point they're afraid of him.
* DramaticIrony: When Owen comes home with a bloody wound on his face and tells his mother he got it from falling in the playground she tells him: "You have to be more careful, honey. I hate to see my baby get hurt". Completely unaware that Owen's getting tortured daily by bullies.
* EyeScream: Referenced; Kenny's older brother threatens to put one of Owen's eyes out. Earlier in the film, Kenny snaps a wet towel into Owen's eyes.
* EntertaininglyWrong: The police officer, he has noticed the pattern of Abby and Thomas killings throughout the country and he knows there's something deeply unnatural about them. However, since he doesn't know he's in a supernatural film he comes to the conclusion that Thomas is some kind of satanic cultist.
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Owen, despite being a normal human boy, is extremely pale. He's actually more pale than Abby, who is undead. This coupled with the fact in this continuity he's the one with dark hair and he actually looks more vampiric than Abby does at times.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Owen and Thomas to Abby, if you consider Abby evil. Kenny and Jimmy to each other.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Jimmy is putting Owen through his sadistic test and it becomes rather obvious that Owen is on the verge of dying (Jimmy held him under the water for over a minute and a half before Abby intervened)Kenny and his friends get nervous and ask Jimmy to stop. However, considering how much they enjoyed hurting Owen throughout the film it's hard to tell whether it was truly the bullies having limits on their cruelty or [[PragmaticVillainy they were simply afraid of the consequences that awaited them if they actually killed Owen]].
* EyeScream: Referenced; Kenny's older brother threatens to put one of Owen's eyes out. Earlier in the film, Kenny snaps a wet towel into Owen's eyes.

** In the books Oscar is described as being overweight whereas Owen is very slender. This is probably why the bullies now call him "a little girl" rather than "piggy" like in the book or Swedish adaption.

* AdaptationalAngstUpgrade: Owen suffers a lot more in this version than Oskar did. He's treated much more poorly by his parents. In this version, his mother is an alcoholic who neglects him while in the Swedish version they have a loving relationship. While Owen's father doesn't even make a single appearance, his voice is only heard on the phone while he totally ignores that his very distressed, crying son plead with him to listen to him. Whereas his Swedish counterpart, despite heavily implied to be an alcoholic, made the effort to see him every weekend. Also, the bullying he endures is much more brutal and violent than the kind shown in the Swedish version, which was a lot more childish than the abuse inflicted on him in this continuity. Considering how much more [[AdaptationalHeroism innocent and kind]] he is than in other versions it makes his abuse much harder to watch.
* AdaptationalBadass: A marginal example in the pool scene. In the Swedish version Oskar makes no effort to resist the bullies and even meekly swims towards them when asked. Owen, on the other hand, is more proactive in defending himself, the second he realizes the bullies are going to attack him again, he bolts out of the pool and runs towards his locker to get his knife. It doesn't do much good, as he's a small, half naked boy against 4 teenagers armed only with a small pocket knife, but it's still a much greater effort at protecting himself than Oskar ever did.

** Thomas in this version seems to have been divorced from the clear pedophile storyline of Håkan in the book and the softened version of it from the Swedish film. Here there is a scene revealing that [[spoiler:his counterpart met Abby when he was a child]].

* AdaptationalJerkass: Jimmy is much more of a BigBrotherBully here, mocking Kenny for his injury, and basically threatening him into giving him his keys, which he seemed a lot more casual about in the Swedish film.

** The bullies are also a lot more sadistic in this version than in the Swedish film, whose bullying seemed to be a lot more childish, consisting of pranks and teasing compared to the brutality in this version. For example, their first scene in the Swedish version consisted of flicking Oscar's nose, while in this version they whip Owen in the eyes with a wet towel before attacking him until he wets himself. Also, some of the Swedish bullies only joined in due to peer pressure and didn't derive pleasure from it, while each American bully deeply enjoys causing Owen as much pain and humiliation as possible. This is shown in the respective scenes where they whip Oskar/Owen, in the Swedish version most of them hesitatingly hit him with a thin branch and Oskar barely seems to feel it, while in "Let Me In" they hit Owen with a metal antenna so hard the pain brings him to tears and their only objection is when Kenny hits him in the face, leaving a cut on his cheek, pointing out that his mother will want to know what happened to him.

* AdaptationalModesty: The scene where Abby comes into Owen's bed to cuddle with him after Thomas dies. In the original film Oskar is in his underpants and in the book he was naked while in this version he's wearing a pair of pyjamas.
* AdultsAreUseless: Owen gets blamed for hitting Kenny on the ice, despite acting in self-defense, with the principal threatening to suspend him over the incident. There's no mention of Kenny getting in trouble for threatening to ''drown'' him. Notably, when he's in the principal's office he doesn't even bother telling her what Kenny was planning on doing to him, assuming that neither she nor his mother would believe him.
** Tragically, it's a running theme in the film that almost every adult in Owen's life totally fails to protect him, or even notice just how much pain he's being put through. The only adult character who's useful at all is Mr. Zoric the gym teacher. He's the only adult to show Owen any care/attention and encourages him to exercise to get stronger and he's the only teacher who sees what a monster Kenny is.
** This trope is deconstructed by the film. As the neglect and apathy from the adults in his life leads Owen to believe no one can help him. This is best demonstrated when he tearfully goes to his parents for comfort after discovering Abby's a vampire and both times he's ignored. After that any chance Owen would change his mind or refuse to join Abby in a life of murder is vanquished.
* AlasPoorVillain: Thomas still has a sad ending, despite the fact that in this version he's still a serial killer, [[spoiler: holding a sobbing Abby in his arms and letting her feed on him before falling out the hospital window to his death]]. Especially considering [[spoiler: [[BodyHorror what he does to his face]] [[HeroicSacrifice to keep Abby safe]] beforehand.]]
* TheAlcoholic: Owen's mother, making her a CompositeCharacter of Oskar's parents in the novel and Swedish film. She's seen drinking or holding a glass of wine in almost every scene she's in. She also drinks so much she passes out. In one heartbreaking scene in the film after Owen was almost killed he goes to his mum for comfort only for her to be passed out drunk.

* AssShove: When Owen picks up a metal rod to protect himself against Kenny, he threatens to take it off him and sodomize him with it. Considering how vicious and sadistic Kenny is towards Owen it's very hard to tell if he's making a sick joke or he genuinely means it.
* AxCrazy: Kenny and his brother Jimmy. Kenny's obsession and love of hurting Owen overrides any common sense he might have to the point he threatened and moved to throw Owen into a frozen lake while a teacher was watching. Jimmy is even worse, during the sadistic test in the swimming pool he was holding Owen's head under the water with the blatant intention of drowning him, when the other bullies get nervous about actually killing someone they nervously ask Jimmy to stop, only for him to shriek at them to be silent.
* BadassAdorable: Abby despite being a cute small girl is a centuries old vampire who can tear 4 teenagers apart with ease.

** Despite the fact that Owen is terrified of her vampiric nature and is worried that Abby is evil, he still helps and loves her because she's the only person in his life who shows him the slightest degree of concern, affection or attention. This is seen when Abby kills the policeman, Owen finds it very distressing to watch but he still closes the door when the man is pleading for help and assists Abby in hiding the body.
** A possible interpretation for why Abby is so protective and kind towards Owen. Throughout the film due to Thomas incompetence she's starving and Owen would make a perfect victim to kill and dispose of, he clearly has no friends and is neglected at home by his parents but because he's so sweet and friendly towards her (i.e. offering her his Rubik's cube when he finds out she doesn't celebrate her birthday, hugging her to comfort her after she vomits outside the arcade), she decides to become his main protector and friend.
* BerserkButton: Whatever you do, don't try to hurt the boy the vampire likes. Notably, when she rescues Owen at the end of the film at the pool and starts to slaughter the bullies she screams in pure primal rage throughout the entire massacre demonstrating just how angry Owen's torture and suffering has made her.

* BigBadDuumvirate: The film has two main antagonists. Kenny, Owen's persistent tormentor and the police officer, who is investigating Abby's murders.

* BigDamnKiss: Near the end of the film, Abby kisses Owen on the lips. Unlike other times when Abby and Owen show each other affection such as pecking him gently on the cheek or hugging each other this is the scene where they're shown as more than just friends and as a genuine couple. The scene is both heartwarming and disturbing as it occurs just after Abby kills a man and his blood is still on her lips.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Abby seems very sweet and kind to Owen, but spends the film murdering perfectly innocent people, and it’s revealed that she groomed her present caretaker to kill for her since he was a child, and she doesn't treat him very well. It's left ambiguous whether she'll turn Owen into a vampire or is simply using him to procure blood, but either way she’s doomed him to kill with her for the rest of his life.
* BittersweetEnding: The ending's sweet in that Owen finally escapes his horrible life in Los Alamos and he's starting a new life with Abby, who he loves and has a very gentle, affectionate relationship with. It's bitter in that no matter how their relationship pans out (whether she turns him into a vampire or he becomes her familiar), they'll spend the rest of their lives as nomads committing murder and Owen will never see his parents again (although, seeing as how neglectful and unconcerned with his suffering they both were it's really hard to see Owen missing them in any way).
* BlatantLies: When Owen's mother demands to know where he's been after being out with Abby, Owen unconvincingly claims he's been in the courtyard the whole time. [[ParentalObliviousness She seems to buy it]]. Earlier, after Kenny beats him up and intimidates Owen into lying about what happened he tells his mother that he fell on the playground. Despite the fact he has a gash in his cheek and is obviously very upset about something she believes him.

* ButtMonkey: Owen. The poor guy’s life is a living hell. He lives with his alcoholic mother, his parents are in the midst of a divorce and both are largely absent in his life, and every day at school he's abused, beaten and humiliated by bullies. He's traumatized repeatedly throughout the film: his girlfriend nearly kills him, he sees a man ripped to shreds in front of him and he's tortured and almost drowned at the end of the film. It says a lot about how awful his life was that going to live a nomadic life with a vampire (either as her familiar or being turned by her) is actually the happiest ending he could have had.

* DeathByAdaptation:
** In the book Eli only kills Jimmy and Kenny's counterparts but lets the other bullies live. Here she kills them all.

* MomentKiller: After Owen vents about how much he wants to leave town, Abby tenderly takes his hand, and it seems it might be heading toward a kiss... when Owen's mother calls out to him. Owen's reaction really sells it.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Owen pulls his knife on the four bullies when they corner him in the locker room... which does absolutely no good, as it's too small to do much damage. The bullies laugh it off, overpower him, and throw him into the pool anyway. Also, Owen has been abused by them constantly and he's already utterly terrified of Kenny, so it's only to be expected that he completely freezes when cornered by all 4 of them.

* ThemeNaming: A lot of the titles on the soundtrack album are based on quotes from Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet.

* UndeadChild: Abby says she is twelve years old. However, she has been twelve years old for a very long time.

** Near the end of the film, Abby rips the detective who was investigating her apart in front of a very distressed Owen, then silently comes up behind Owen and hugs him to comfort him, while still covered in the man's blood. However, it's a chilling moment as Owen seems traumatized and is completely passive as Abby wraps her arms around him, as though symbolizing that Owen belongs to her now. Afterwards, she kisses Owen on the lips and gets the man's blood on him.

** Abby is a lot ruder and demanding towards Thomas, than Eli was to Hakan. This is best seen when they lose the blood they had procured for Abby/Eli. In the book, Eli desperately pleads with him to try again, whereas Abby is absolutely furious with him screaming at him in a demonic voice while he cowers on the floor.

** When Abby notices the cut on Owen's cheek and inquires what caused it, Owen, ashamed, admits that he's being bullied. Abby then tells him that he needs to fight back, when Owen points out there's three of them, she advises him to use the knife and when Owen asks what he should do if that isn't enough she promises shell protect him. This exactly how Owen interactions with the bullies play out for the rest of the film, he defends himself against Kenny by hitting him with a stick, when they come for revenge Owen grabs his pocket knife and when they overpower him, Abby intervenes and kills them.

* BigBadDuumvirate: The film has two main antagonists. Kenny, Owen's persistent tormentor and The police officer, who is investigating Abby's murders.

* DirtyCoward: Kenny, to be expected of a schoolyard bully. For one thing, he only ever attacks Owen when he is accompanied by two other boys despite the fact he's considerably taller and more muscular than his short, skinny victim. When Owen fights back for the first time Kenny doesn't go near him again until he has the support of his older, bigger brother and even then they wait until he's alone and half-naked in the pool before they attack him.

* MuscleAngst: Implied with Owen. When looking out into the apartment complex through his telescope, he spots a muscular man lifting weights. He then proceeds to look down at his own very scrawny chest looking rather ashamed. At the end of the film when Owen goes swimming while walking through the locker room in his trunks he looks very self conscious at having his scrawny body bared around the much more muscular, athletic, students.

* StupidEvil: Kenny and his brother's attitude towards Owen. While the other two bullies enjoy torturing Owen, they at least temper their abuse so they can get away with it. Kenny, on the other hand, has no problem with wounding Owen's face or threatening to kill him when a teacher is watching. Kenny's brother is even worse, he was either going to drown or cut out Owen's eye if Abby hadn't intervened with no real plan of how they were going to get away with leaving a dead body or a mutilated, half-blind boy in a public pool.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"She will keep you safe. She will keep you close. She will keep you forever."'']]

** Near the end of the film, Abby hugs a very distressed Owen to comfort him, because she just ripped the detective who was investigating her apart in front of him, while still covered in the man's blood. Afterwards, she kisses Owen on the lips and gets the man's blood on him.

[[caption-width-right:350:''"She will keep you safe. She will keep you close. She will keep you forever"'']]

* BittersweetEnding: The ending's sweet in that Owen finally escapes his horrible life in Los Alamos and he's starting a new life with Abby, who he loves and has a very gentle, affectionate relationship with. It's bitter in that no matter how their relationship pans out (whether she turns him into a vampire or he becomes her familiar), they'll spend the rest of their lives as nomads committing murder and Owen will never see his parents again (although, seeing as how neglectful and unconcerned with his suffering they both were it's really hard to see Owen missing them in anyway).

* AmbiguousDisorder:
** Due to the abuse and loneliness inflicted on him Owen displays several odd quirks throughout the film. He takes part in several re-enactments of killing people including one where he wears a Halloween mask, he seems obsessed with the Now and Later sweet brand including singing the theme tune constantly, scenes where his mother begs him to eat something coupled with how emaciated his body is indicates he has some kind of eating disorder, he wets himself at age 12, he is extremely quiet and shy and he has a habit of spying on his neighbours.
** Kenny, there's something really off about him. His bullying of Owen reaches very disturbing levels of obsession and sadism throughout the film. In the scene where he sees Owen writing notes for Abby he seems genuinely upset at seeing Owen have any pleasure in his life. He then follows him to the toilets and whips him, when Owen summons the very meager defiance of refusing to repeat Kenny's words back to him, his face starts to spasm in sheer rage.

** Owen's a complicated case, as while he is shown to be a very gentle, naive boy, especially in his date scenes with Abby, he does take part in detailed re-enactments of killing the bullies who torment him every day. His innocence can be best scene when Abby crawls into his bed naked to cuddle with him, he's surprised but doesn't do anything. When he asks Abby to be his girlfriend, she seems hesitant and worried that Owen might want something more than friendship from her only for Owen to tell her nothing would change between them. Demonstrating that Owen has a very innocent attitude to dating and just considers it a very close form of friendship.

* WouldHurtAChild: Abby's massacre of Owen's bullies. While they're thoroughly unsympathetic, she could probably have saved Owen without outright killing them.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality. Due to the AdaptationDistillation of this film this affects the story even more than the original, and may be a deliberate [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the trope. Whereas a lot of Abby's victims in the book had distinct personalities and backstories here they're mainly extras so the audience finds it hard to care when they die at her hand. This coupled with the increased focus on Owen and Abby's relationship makes her seem more sympathetic than she really should be. Owen, for the most part, seems to realise her killing people is wrong, judging by his phone call to his father. However, he quickly accepts Abby's nature because she's the only person who's ever been kind to him.

* AssholeVictim: Owen's bullies. [[spoiler:Abby might be rather brutal when tearing them apart, but even if some of them expressed uncertainty about their final attacks on him, they had spent the majority of the movie humiliating, assaulting, or threatening Owen]].
* AssShove: When Owen picks up a metal rod to protect himself against Kenny, he threatens to take it off him and sodomize him with it. Considering how vicious and sadistic Kenny is towards Owen it's very hard to tell if he's making a sick joke or he genuinely means it.
* AxCrazy: Kenny and his brother Jimmy. Kenny's obsession and love of hurting Owen overrides any common sense he might have to the point he threatened and moved to throw Owen into a frozen lake while a teacher was watching. Jimmy is even worse, during the sadistic test in the swimming pool he was holding Owen's head under the water with the blatant intention of drowning him, when the other bullies get nervous about actually killing someone they nervously ask Jimmy to stop, only for him to shriek at them to be silent.

* BadassAdorable: Abby despite being a cute small girl is a centuries old vampire who can tear 4 teenagers apart with ease.

* ButtMonkey: Owen. The poor guy’s life is a living hell. He lives with his alcoholic mother, his parents are in the midst of a divorce and both are largely absent in his life, and every day at school he's abused, beaten and humiliated by bullies. He's traumatized repeatedly throughout the film: his girlfriend nearly kills him, he sees a man ripped to shreds in front of him and he's tortured and almost drowned at the end of the film. It says a lot about how awful his life was that going to live a nomadic life with a vampire (either as her familiar or being turned by her) is actually the happiest ending he could have had.

* BringMyBrownPants: In the remake, the bullies attack Owen until he wets himself.
* BloodOath: Owen cuts his hand and suggests this to Abby. Abby, being a vampire, takes it somewhat less than calmly.

* BittersweetEnding: The ending's sweet in that Owen finally escapes his horrible life in Los Alamos and he's starting a new life with Abby, who he loves and has a very gentle, affectionate relationship with. It's bitter in that no matter how their relationship pans out (whether she turns him into a vampire or he becomes her familiar), they'll spend the rest of their lives as nomads committing murder and Owen will never see his parents again (although, seeing as how neglectful and unconcerned with his suffering they both were it's really hard to see Owen missing them in anyway).
* BigDamnKiss: Near the end of the film, Abby kisses Owen on the lips. Unlike other times when Abby and Owen show each other affection such as pecking him gently on the cheek or hugging each other this is the scene where they're shown as more than just friends and as a genuine couple. The scene is both heartwarming and disturbing as it occurs just after Abby kills a man and his blood is still on her lips.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
** Despite the fact that Owen is terrified of her vampiric nature and is worried that Abby is evil, he still helps and loves her because she's the only person in his life who shows him the slightest degree of concern, affection or attention. This is seen when Abby kills the policeman, Owen finds it very distressing to watch but he still closes the door when the man is pleading for help and assists Abby in hiding the body.
** A possible interpretation for why Abby is so protective and kind towards Owen. Throughout the film due to Thomas incompetence she's starving and Owen would make a perfect victim to kill and dispose of, he clearly has no friends and is neglected at home by his parents but because he's so sweet and friendly towards her (i.e. offering her his Rubik's cube when he finds out she doesn't celebrate her birthday, hugging her to comfort her after she vomits outside the arcade), she decides to become his main protector and friend.

* ChastityCouple: Due to the film being a PuppyLove story, Abby and Owen as a couple are this trope. Their bonding moments mainly involve long hugs. Abby only kisses Owen twice in the entire film and only then they were two quick pecks on his lips and cheek. Even when Abby sneaks into Owen's room, takes off her clothes and crawls into his bed to snuggle up to him, it isn't portrayed as anything sexual and more like an innocent sleepover.

* DesperatelyCravesAffection: Owen, due to his extreme loneliness, having no friends and being neglected by his mother can be seen looking enviously at happy couples throughout the movie.
* DirtyCoward: Kenny, to be expected of a schoolyard bully. For one thing, he only ever attacks Owen when he is accompanied by two other boys despite the fact he's considerably taller and more muscular than his short, skinny victim. When Owen fights back for the first time Kenny doesn't go near him again until he has the support of his older, bigger brother and even then they wait until he's alone and half-naked in the pool before they attack him.
* DirtyKid: Implied initially with Owen at the beginning where one of his first scenes involve him spying on his neighbours as they're about to have sex but it's shown to be more out of curiosity than anything perverted. Throughout the rest of the film Owen is shown to be quite innocent. When Abby sneaks into his bed naked he's shocked and doesn't do anything, later when they're alone in the basement and she asks him what he wants to do he breaks out into a nervous, goofy grin. Plus it should be noted in their relationship Abby is the one who kisses him while Owen seems to prefer long hugs.
* DistressedDude: At the end Owen is ambushed and nearly drowned by his bullies. Only for Abby to save him.
* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Towards the end of the film Owen sneaks out from his mothers apartment to spend the night with Abby and it's never made clear what precisely they were doing during the entire night. While their relationship is portrayed, for the most part, [[PuppyLove as very sweet and innocent]]. The scene immediately occurred after Abby and Owen reconciled their relationship before being interrupted by his mothers entrance into the apartment. So while it's rather unlikely they had sex, it's still somewhat ambiguous.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Abby, in first few scenes she's incredibly cold and standoffish to Owen. Her first words to him were that they could never be friends. However, when they bond over their shared love of puzzles she quickly becomes a lot more friendly towards him. Soon they start dating and even playing together like normal children.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Owen and Thomas to Abby, if you consider Abby evil. Kenny and Jimmy to each other.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: When Jimmy is putting Owen through his sadistic test and it becomes rather obvious that Owen is on the verge of dying (Jimmy held him under the water for over a minute and a half before Abby intervened)Kenny and his friends get nervous and ask Jimmy to stop. However, considering how much they enjoyed hurting Owen throughout the film it's hard to tell whether it was truly the bullies having limits on their cruelty or [[PragmaticVillainy they were simply afraid of the consequences that awaited them if they actually killed Owen]].

* FreudianExcuse: It's implied that the reason why Kenny bullies Owen more harshly than the others is because he himself is being [[BigBrotherBully bullied by his big brother]]. His brother even calls him a "little girl" which is what Kenny has been calling Owen.
* {{Flight}}: Abby claims to be capable of flight. Although she's never shown flying on-screen there's evidence to support her claim. In the scene where she massacres the bullies you can see Kenny being dragged underwater from Owen's point of view and notably he's far too deep in the water for Abby to have dragged him from along the pool's edge. Also, after killing Thomas at the hospital while leaving from the window ledge rather than crawl back down she's shown jumping with the sound of wings flapping being heard.The sound of wings flapping can be heard in the pool scene too, when the bullies hear Abby enter the building through the skylight and when the massacre ends.
* GenderFlip: Abby here is 100% female. Her counterpart in the book and Swedish film, Eli, was a castrated boy who for his/her reasons presented or was assumed to be a girl.

* HairContrastDuo. Abby's hair is blonde, while Owen's hair is black. Interestingly, the stereotypes are switched around. Owen, despite his raven black hair, is the gentle-natured one being shy, innocent, kind and curious. While Abby is the darker character by far, almost totally apathetic to the outside world, she's absolutely ruthless in her pursuit of blood.

* IDoNotDrinkWine: During their first date, Owen excitedly offers to buy Abby some of the sweets he loves so much. Abby, knowing it will make her sick, declines as politely as she can. However, seeing that this hurts Owen's feelings she accepts to please him. The very next shot in the film is of Abby being violently ill in the car park of the shop.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Both of Owen's parents, they're both incredibly self-absorbed and show no consideration towards their own son.
** Owen's mother, she's a self-pitying alcoholic who doesn't notice or care that her son is deeply miserable and is being horribly abused at school and shows him no concern or attention throughout the film.
** Owen's father, the movie implies he hadn't physically seen Owen in months. When Owen discovers Abby's a vampire he calls him for advice, only for his father to assume he's being manipulated by his mother and starts berating him for listening to her. It could be argued that he's genuinely concerned for his son's well-being and worried about his care under his mother, considering she's an alcoholic and religious fundamentalist and he mentions she has "issues" but that just raises the question of why he isn't the one taking care of Owen.
* InnocentBlueEyes: Owen, despite developing several psychological quirks due to the loneliness and abuse he endures, is the most innocent, gentle-hearted character in the film and he has light greenish blue eyes.

* ImpossibleTask: The sadistic test the bullies put Owen through in the pool. If Owen, a scrawny boy, can hold his breath for 3 minutes they'll simply cut his cheek, if he fails they'll gouge one of his eyes out. Although judging by how Kenny's brother very strongly held his head down under the water, it seems more that Jimmy's intention was always just to drown him and presenting Owen with a "test" was simply a way to mentally torture him before he died.
* ImmortalImmaturity: Abby isn't a fully grown woman in a girl's body, like in most vampire media, but rather a child whose mental development was put in stasis when she became a vampire. In her own words "I'm twelve, I've just been twelve for a very long time".

* KubrickStare: Abby does one while feeding on the man in the tunnel.

* MoralityPet: Owen to Abby. Throughout the film, Abby shows herself to be an extremely ruthless character, willing to send Thomas out to kill people, treats Thomas like a slave and is willing to kill people herself to stay alive but she is kind and protective towards Owen.

* MomentKiller: After Owen vents about how much he wants to leave town, Abby tenderly takes his hand, and it seems it might be heading toward a kiss... when Owen's mother calls out to him. Owen's reaction really sells it.
** The scene in the cellar. It looks like Owen and Abby might kiss each other on the lips, only for Owen himself to ruin it by trying to turn the moment into a friendship pact, due to his being too shy to kiss her. He waves his bloody hand at Abby, a vampire, whose instincts kick in and she very nearly kills Owen.
* MuscleAngst: Implied with Owen. When looking out into the apartment complex through his telescope, he spots a muscular man lifting weights. He then proceeds to look down at his own very scrawny chest looking rather ashamed. At the end of the film when Owen goes swimming while walking through the locker room in his trunks he looks very self conscious at having his scrawny body bared around the much more muscular, athletic, students.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Abby doesn't age, she's strong enough to rip a human body to shreds, she's capable of putting people into trances and invading their minds, she's strongly implied to be able to fly, sunlight instantly causes her skin to blister and burn, she's bound by extremely strict rules regarding her need to get someones permission to enter her home (she needs verbal permission each individual time and if she doesn't she starts bleeding to death), if she goes without eating she starts to smell, she doesn't feel the cold, she can't consume any food without making her sick, she seems to enter into a sort of hibernation rather than sleep when she rests, she had a demonic form she assumes when her bloodlust overwhelms her. Also, in this film vampiric bites are extremely infectious, all that's required to turn someone is to bite them, which means when Abby kills she usually snaps her victims' necks so they won't turn.