Let the Right One In (Sweden: Låt den rätte komma in), 2008
Directed by Thomas Alfredson.
Starring Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord and Mikael Rahm.
SYNOPSIS:
In 1981, in a quaint, wintery suburb of Stockholm, 12 year old outcast Oskar gets more than he bargained for when he unwittingly befriends a vampire.
A genre recently dominated by wistful, idealistic love affairs between humans and vampires influenced by the scrawlings of Twilight novelist Stephenie Meyer is, if you’ll forgive the pun, revamped by Thomas Alfredson’s touchingly haunting adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s tale of love, murder and social integration.
Oskar is a pariah; bullied at school, neglected at home by his divorced mother who works nights and largely disregarded by his father when he sees him. One day, when enacting imaginary revenge upon his tormentors with some Dirty Harry-like jibes and knife thrusts, he is interrupted by Eli, his new neighbour who is pale, lithe and seemingly impervious to the harsh Swedish winter – all the hallmarks of a vampire. The two eventually bond over a Rubik’s cube and Eli implores Oskar to stand up to his oppressors at school. But Eli has problems of her own, as her vampiric thirst for blood remains unquenched due to her surrogate father’s botching of a series of murders intended to feed her. When Oskar and Eli take matters into their own hands, further violence is inevitable and they are forced to “be gone and live, or stay and die…”
The film’s title plays on the lore that vampires must be invited into the house of their victims in order for them to feed on them. Alfredson takes this further, showing the consequences of inviting a vampire into your life, as protagonist Oskar simply seeks acceptance and companionship; both of which are provided in abundance from the unlikely source, and a tender relationship between the two develops. Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson play their roles superbly in establishing their convincing rapport, and Alfredson masterfully balances notions of disgust, compassion, condemnation and commendation throughout as we are suitably moved and horrified at the appropriate times. Their relationship is perverse, precariously hanging over a metaphoric precipice in which Eli succumbs to her predatory nature and feasts on Oskar, but ultimately captivating and stirring, reaching a crescendo in a strikingly executed underwater scene that acts as a fitting and gratifying conclusion to the movie.
Let the Right One In is horrific, thought-provoking, and emotionally resonant, once again bestowing the vampire genre with allegorical, rather than aesthetic purpose. Original and effective, well worth a watch.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
James Cook
Originally published September 5, 2012. Updated April 11, 2018.
