Ajvide Lindqvist adapted his own novel, writing the screenplay for Alfredson's film, which is about as direct as an adaptation gets. The film keeps the 1981 Blackeberg setting, the two children, Håkan's errands and the swimming pool ending. What it leaves out is most of the novel's second half: Håkan's paedophilia is far more explicit on the page, and Eli's backstory and mutilation are only glanced at on screen. The film is the same story told with almost everything unexplained, which is why the two are worth holding as separate nodes rather than one.