Not Like Others

Released in 2008, the same year as Let The Right One In, and also from Sweden, you might be forgiven for thinking that there was something dubious about the release of 'Not Like Others' in this country. This is clearly not the case as there is very little in the way of similarities between the two films.

Set in a nameless Swedish town it is the story of two sisters in their twenties that happen to be vampires. Not the Gothic glamourous lipstick lesbian type though. They sleep by day in a bedsit and wander the streets at night stealing to stay alive and inhabiting techno nightclubs luring men in to their clutches for food. The film plays out over one night as the sisters try to escape from a gang of bikers intent on revenge for the murder of one of their peers.

The first thing to say about this film is that it is gritty. Dirtily gritty. There are none of the lyrical visuals of it's more famous cousin Let the Right One In. Sweden is portrayed as miserable, rainy and industrial. Nightclubs are grimy and dark. The cast themselves look grey and unattractive, as though they haven't slept in days.

The sisters themselves are not what you would expect. Dark hair and plain looking, all adding to the sense of realism. And thats exactly what it is. Real. Even the fact that they are vampires is secondary, for at the centre of this film, and what the film is actually about, is two sisters growing apart and coming to terms with their relationship not being as eternal as they once thought. Ruth Vega Fernandez plays the older sister Vanja very well, with an air of melancholy and depression. She does not want to abandon her sister but the only way that she will be happy is if she does so. The younger sister Vera (Jenny Lampa) is a nastier piece of work, with an evil streak that suggests she will never allow her sister to pursue a life that doesn't include her.

The chase pushes the film along nicely with some good touches of gore, not for the sake of a scare but because it is important to show how these people/creature behave and react, culminating in a touching conclusion that is handled delicately by Pontikis and rounds the film off beautifully with little fuss.

It may be the second best Swedish Vampire film from 2008 but it's a hell of a lot better that some of the tosh we and our American friends serve up.