Let the Right One In (2008) Magnet/Horror RT: 114 minutes Rated R (bloody violence, disturbing images, brief nudity, language) Director: Tomas Alfredson Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist Music: Johan Soderqvist Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema Release date: November 11, 2008 (US) Cast: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Mikael Rahm, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T. Peedu, Pale Olofsson, Cayetano Ruiz, Patrik Rydmark, Johan Somnes, Mikael Erhardsson, Rasmus Luthander. Box Office: $2.1M (US)/$11.2M (World) Spoken in Swedish w/English subtitles
Rating: ****
Let the Right One In isn’t a vampire movie in the traditional sense. It’s actually depreciative to label it as such. Yes, one of the main characters is a vampire, but this isn’t one of those stories where somebody calling himself (or herself) a vampire hunter comes looking to drive a wooden stake through the bloodsucker’s heart. The director Tomas Alfredson (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) is going for something entirely different. Sure, it adheres to certain conventions of the genre like vampires needing blood to live, avoiding sunlight and having to be invited in before entering a room. It contains bloody kill scenes. It’s dark, often eerie and sometimes it’s even scary. HOWEVER, it aims higher than the jugular. When you look past the horror, it’s an achingly beautiful love story involving two lonely preteens navigating a cold world (in both the literal and figurative sense) while trying to stay afloat in a sea of despair. One of them just happens to be a vampire. Don’t worry, Let the Right One In isn’t as grim as I’m making it sound.
Shy, withdrawn Oskar (Hedebrant) is all alone in this cruel, cold-hearted world. That’s how he sees it. He’s not especially close to his divorced parents. Neither one seems to want him around. He’s bullied at school. The teachers don’t appear to care until he strikes back. At home, he pores over newspaper clippings about murders and imagines taking revenge against his tormentors. He spends most nights hanging out alone in the snow-covered courtyard of his apartment building in suburban Stockholm. One night, he watches as new neighbors, a man and a girl about his age, move into the apartment next door. He meets the “girl” Eli (Leandersson) shortly thereafter. She informs Oskar they can’t be friends, but they soon develop a close relationship. They’re really not that different except…. well, read on.
In case you haven’t figured it out, Eli is the vampire. She’s twelve (more or less), but she’s been twelve “for a long time”. As for being a girl, that’s a little more complicated; I’ll continue to use feminine pronouns for simplicity’s sake. The man (Ragnar) she lives with isn’t her father, but her guardian whose sole function in life is taking care of all her needs. His main job is collecting blood for her consumption. Something goes wrong one night and he comes home empty-handed. It prompts Eli to go out and kill one of the neighbors (Rahm), a violent act witnessed by a cat-loving recluse (Lindgren) from the same social circle. If she’s supposed to be keeping a low profile, she just blew it. Another botched attempt at collecting blood ends badly for the guardian and Eli finds herself on her own. That’s when she sets her sights on Oskar as her new companion.
I’m going to come right out and say Let the Right One In is a masterpiece. It restores credibility to a genre that’s become something of a joke over the years with campy Hammer horrors and that idiotic Blade series. What’s more interesting is it opened around the same time as the first Twilight movie. Talk about polar opposites. One went on to great success with subsequent adaptations of the other three novels in Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling YA series. The other, an adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best seller, spawned an equally terrific American remake. One touches on dark, serious themes like social isolation, existential anxiety and murder. The other has sparkling vampires. It’s easy to guess which one audiences preferred. It goes without saying which one I prefer.
The two young leads deliver remarkable performances that exceed their level of maturity. Just because they’re kids doesn’t mean they can’t be complex. There’s no nice way to say this. Oskar is one disturbed little boy. He’s a serial killer waiting to happen. The newspaper clippings, the acting out of revenge scenarios, carrying a knife, not showing pain when struck repeatedly with a stick…. this kid has serious issues. He even looks creepy with the blonde, near-white hair and pale skin. Hedebrant, a first-time actor, plays it with eerie subtlety; he’s the personification of “still waters run deep”. Leandersson gives an astonishing performance as Eli, an old soul trapped forever in the body of a 12YO girl. Wise yet vulnerable, she makes you believe she’s been around for a long time. More than that, she’s never experienced real love or affection until Oskar shows it. When he hugs her the first time, she has no idea how to respond. When he asks her to go steady, she hasn’t the first clue what it means. For that matter, neither does he. He’s a pre-pubescent child, what does he really know? In a sense, Let the Right One In is also about first love.
Let the Right One In is a film of stark beauty thanks in no small part to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema (The Fighter). The snowy landscapes and icicles hanging from every surface illustrate the frozen emotional landscapes of the characters. They also augment Oskar’s feeling of isolation from his peers and all the adults around him. He finds a kindred spirit in Eli who’s lived in isolation “for a long time”. White is the dominant color in Let the Right One In. It’s used to represent purity and childhood innocence. The rest of the color palette is so drained of warm colors that fresh blood in the snow appears black. In addition, Johan Soderqvist contributes a hauntingly beautiful score that’s equal parts brooding and melancholy.
Let the Right One In is artful, but not so much that it’s not above delivering a few solid scares. There are a few freaky scenes including one involving a bunch of cats. It’s also freaky when Eli ascends the side of a hospital building to visit a patient after hours. My favorite scene occurs near the end when the bullies corner Oskar in a swimming pool and try to drown him. What happens next is COOL! Sorry, my teenage MG 24/7 persona slipped in for a second.
I cannot recommend Let the Right One In enough. Not only is it my favorite vampire film of all time, it’s one of my favorite horror films. It’s perfect in every way. It’s moody, atmospheric and intelligent. Alfredson and Lindqvist, adapting his own work, never feel the need to spell out certain details (e.g. the true nature of Eli’s relationship to her guardian) for the audience. It hints at a lot, but leaves it to the viewer to decipher. Let the Right One In truly is an outstanding film. It’s a great alternate to the chaste blandness toothless teen romance fantasies involving moony-eyed girls and glittery vampires.
