Vampire love in cinema is a bit of a hot topic right now… I don’t think I need to say why. But while a certain tween sensation invades movie theaters across the country, another take on the vampire genre is sneaking in. Swedish export Let the Right One In is both a chilling and complex variation of the classic vampire story and a heartbreaking melancholic study of doomed first love.
12-year-old Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a shy, bullied kid in a small snowy Swedish town. Unable to stand up to the bullies in school, Oskar takes a knife to trees outside his apartment at night. It is here he meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), who’s just moved into the apartment next door. She tells him she can’t be his friend, but Oskar cannot stay away. As their friendship blossoms bodies begin to pile up around the town – all of them drained of blood. Eli is clearly not what she seems, but she and Oskar continue to watch their friendship grow.
Perhaps the most shocking thing about Let the Right One In is how much of it is grounded in reality. For once, it’s actually plausible that the townspeople never guess there’s a vampire in their midst. Every bit of Eli’s story that stretches into mythic regions feels new. New questions are raised about vampires – their gender, the relationships they have with normal people. Young Leandersson is truly remarkable, showing more depth and subtleties in her film debut than many actors ever manage. She shows an astonishing understanding of Eli’s complexities – the extent of her relationship with Oskar, and whether it is one of benefit or of love.
Director Thomas Alfredson’s stark and unwavering style supports the film’s moments of horror and tenderness without changing anything. Alfredson doesn’t throw any tricks or gimmicks – everything is presented as straightforward and clearly as possible. He has the power to make an audience squirm or break their hearts on the turn of a dime. Each sequence rises to a new level of mastery of suspense and emotionality, culminating in a finale so shocking it’s bound to be left out of the inevitable American remake.
In the end, Let the Right One In is hardly just a vampire film. It’s a coming-of-age story, a story about first love, about the loneliness of a broken childhood and an examination of the positive and negatives of friendship. Emotionally devastating and chilling, Let the Right One In is a film that seeks to reinvent the vampire and actually succeeds in doing so.
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