{"id":3445,"date":"2024-08-28T17:04:26","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3445"},"modified":"2024-10-12T21:13:09","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T21:13:09","slug":"let-the-right-one-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/08\/28\/let-the-right-one-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Let the Right One In"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Let the Right One In <\/strong>(2008)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnet\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (bloody violence, disturbing images, brief nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tomas Alfredson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Johan Soderqvist\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 11, 2008 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $2.1M (US)\/$11.2M (World)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Spoken in Swedish w\/English subtitles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let the Right One In<\/strong> isn\u2019t a vampire movie in the traditional sense. It\u2019s actually depreciative to label it as such. Yes, one of the main characters is a vampire, but this isn\u2019t one of those stories where somebody calling himself (or herself) a vampire hunter comes looking to drive a wooden stake through the bloodsucker\u2019s 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\u2019s dark, often eerie and sometimes it\u2019s even scary. HOWEVER, it aims higher than the jugular. When you look past the horror, it\u2019s 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\u2019t worry, Let the Right One In<\/strong> isn\u2019t as grim as I\u2019m making it sound.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Shy, withdrawn Oskar (Hedebrant) is all alone in this cruel, cold-hearted world. That\u2019s how he sees it. He\u2019s not especially close to his divorced parents. Neither one seems to want him around. He\u2019s bullied at school. The teachers don\u2019t 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 \u201cgirl\u201d Eli (Leandersson) shortly thereafter. She informs Oskar they can\u2019t be friends, but they soon develop a close relationship. They\u2019re really not that different except…. well, read on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In case you haven\u2019t figured it out, Eli is the vampire. She\u2019s twelve (more or less), but she\u2019s been twelve \u201cfor a long time\u201d. As for being a girl, that\u2019s a little more complicated; I\u2019ll continue to use feminine pronouns for simplicity\u2019s sake. The man (Ragnar) she lives with isn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2019s when she sets her sights on Oskar as her new companion.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m going to come right out and say Let the Right One In<\/strong> is a masterpiece. It restores credibility to a genre that\u2019s become something of a joke over the years with campy Hammer horrors and that idiotic Blade series. What\u2019s 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\u2019s best-selling YA series. The other, an adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist\u2019s 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\u2019s easy to guess which one audiences preferred. It goes without saying which one I prefer.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The two young leads deliver remarkable performances that exceed their level of maturity. Just because they\u2019re kids doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t be complex. There\u2019s no nice way to say this. Oskar is one disturbed little boy. He\u2019s 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\u2019s the personification of \u201cstill waters run deep\u201d. 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\u2019s been around for a long time. More than that, she\u2019s 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\u2019t the first clue what it means. For that matter, neither does he. He\u2019s a pre-pubescent child, what does he really know? In a sense, Let the Right One In<\/strong> is also about first love.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let the Right One In<\/strong> 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\u2019s feeling of isolation from his peers and all the adults around him. He finds a kindred spirit in Eli who\u2019s lived in isolation \u201cfor a long time\u201d. White is the dominant color in Let the Right One In<\/strong>. It\u2019s 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\u2019s equal parts brooding and melancholy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Let the Right One In<\/strong> is artful, but not so much that it\u2019s not above delivering a few solid scares. There are a few freaky scenes including one involving a bunch of cats. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I cannot recommend Let the Right One In<\/strong> enough. Not only is it my favorite vampire film of all time, it\u2019s one of my favorite horror films. It\u2019s perfect in every way. It\u2019s 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\u2019s 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<\/strong> truly is an outstanding film. It\u2019s a great alternate to the chaste blandness toothless teen romance fantasies involving moony-eyed girls and glittery vampires.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let the Right One In (2008)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Magnet\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 114 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (bloody violence, disturbing images, brief nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Tomas Alfredson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Johan Soderqvist\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 11, 2008 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Mikael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","category-horror"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Let-the-Right-One-In-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3445"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5046,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3445\/revisions\/5046"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}