In Los Alamos, New Mexico, the twelve year-old Owen is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Kenny and two other classmates; at home, Owen dreams of avenging himself against the trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve-year-old next door neighbor, Abby, who only appears during the night in the playground of their building. Meanwhile, Abby’s father is a wanted serial-killer who drains the blood of his victims to supply Abby, who is actually an ancient vampire. Abby advises Owen to fight Kenny; however, soon he discovers that she is a vampire, and he feels fear and love for the girl. Meanwhile a police officer is investigating the murder cases, believing that it is a satanic cult.
Production Details
Overture Films and Exclusive Media Group present A Hammer Films Production. In association with ETFI
Running time 116 mins
Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Filming Began: 1st November 2009
UK Release: 5th November 2010
Studio:
Albuquerque Studios – 5650 University Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Location:
Moana Condominiums – 1100 Alvarado Drive SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA – Apartment building
Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Menaul School, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Stills from film
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Original Poster
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Footnotes
Director Matt Reeves explained why a deleted scene, showing Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) being attacked as a human, was cut. (The scene was released on the Internet). Contrary to the belief that the scene, depicting her being changed to a vampire and entering Owen’s mind, would be too intense for the viewers, Reeves stated that he felt the scene would have disturbed the flow of the film. He remarked that he wished it would have been able to make the final cut.
The film was fifth among the ten lowest-grossing releases of 2010 from major studios (movies released in over 1,500 theatres). It went on to gross $27,093,592 worldwide.