Description

I write this without a blood drop of hyperbole—LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is the vampire film of the decade.

12-year-old Oskar’s school life is hell. Timid and introverted, he finds himself victimized on a near-daily basis by bullies whose attacks often go so far as to draw blood. Outside of school, he spends most of his time alone in the comfort that only isolation can bring to the socially uncomfortable. Lately, Oskar has been assembling a notebook full of newspaper clippings related to a string of murders plaguing his neighbourhood. Bodies are being found bound and blood-drained, their necks utterly smashed. He is fascinated. One night, he meets his new neighbour, a quiet young girl named Eli. Eli is also 12. Eli has been 12 for a very long time. She is a vampire, frequently forced to commit grisly acts lest her body begins to rot. Both are drawn to each other for similar but different reasons. Oskar gives Eli a sense of being understood that she hasn’t felt in lifetimes. Eli gives Oskar the same sense of connection, which in his case is an altogether new experience, awakening an inner strength he has never been aware of having. A strength that both will use to make his schoolyard tormenters pay.

Subversive and shocking, dreamlike and touching, hypnotic and horrific, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is all of this and more. It follows the classical rules of vampire mythology, updating each of them in startling new ways, while hitting hard as both an outsider coming-of-age film and a mysterious love story that explores the darker side of adolescent alienation. Extraordinary performances, unforgettable scripting (by John Ajvide Lindqvist, adapted from his Swedish bestseller), masterfully controlled direction and stunning cinematography that makes particularly brilliant use of the contrasting of interior/exterior spaces come together in a perfect black storm. No wonder that JJ Abrams has become infatuated with the film and is trying to get a U.S. remake underway. Director Tomas Alfredson has emerged with an uncompromising masterpiece—and an instant classic of modern horror cinema.

—Mitch Davis