Let The Right One In - Review

Let The Right One In is a contender for film of the year. As far as I was concerned the vampire genre had breathed its last breath and had finally staked itself. The genre has become infected with cliche and outdated concepts of horror. Thomas Alfredson film has quite simply reinvented the genre. Gone are the gothis overtones instilled in the genre and gone are the rather lame, annoyingly brooding vampires. In its place is a young girl Eli who looks about 13, and instead of being a bloodthirsty stalker of victims she is instead a quiet girl who develops a loving friendship with a neighbour Oskar, who is the films protagonist. He is constantly bullied at school and has a rather mundane relationship playing in the courtyard of the sound covered building comples where his family live.

Based on the book written by John Ajvide Linqvist who also wrote the script, the film comes across almost as an anti horror film, yet despite that there are genuine moments of shock an terror. The slow pace only adds to the atmosphere of the film and makes the few moments stand out as being even more terrifying. Modern American horror could learn a lot from this film.

Whilst Eli and Oskar bond Hakan, an older man who moved in with Eli is out killing and draining the blood of locals to help feed her habit. However, unlike most horror films Hakan is not adept at this skill and quickly finds himself in trouble.

As the story unfolds Oskar is given the strength from his time with Eli to face up to his bullies, Eli is forced to feed her thirst herself and in doing her live crosses paths with a local group of who become irrevocably changed by the new vampiric members of the society.

What makes this film so magnificent and gripping is that the story is both understated, believable and never feeds the audience simple explanations, leaving you to derive your own meaning from the actions and themes explored. This is probably one of the most unique love stories ever commited to celluloid and not only breathes fresh live into a dying horror genre but also gives original and unique looks into some of the vampire lore of old, particularly the notion of a vampire not being able to enter a home without being invited.

As far as horror films go there has been nothing as intelligent and engaging for years, and as long as Hollywood continues to butcher old classics and churn out mindless gorefest then films with the inegrity and brilliance of Let The Right One In will be few and far between. My advice is to see the film before Hollywood churns out a pointless remake.