Let the Right One In (2008)

There are many vampire films. But a vampire film this quiet, this sad, this beautiful is rare. Let the Right One In wears the exterior of a genre film, but its essence is a story about the loneliness and friendship of two children. The Swedish winter is another protagonist of this film. My rating is ★4.5.

What it’s about — The Vampire Girl Next Door

Sweden, 1981, a small town. Twelve-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is bullied at school and lives lonely between his divorced parents. One day a strange girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) moves into the apartment next door. She appears only at night, doesn’t feel the cold, and walks barefoot through snow. The two gradually grow closer, and Oskar comes to learn that Eli is a vampire. Yet he doesn’t push her away. This relationship is the entirety of the film.

Direction — The Pale Restraint of a Swedish Winter

Director Tomas Alfredson’s direction is restraint itself. In horror scenes, the camera pulls back or stays outside the frame to soften the impact. There are scenes with blood flowing, but the film focuses instead on the way the two children look at each other, the conversations where silence outweighs words, and the empty landscapes of a snow-covered playground and apartment corridor.

Johan Söderqvist’s cinematography determines the film’s atmosphere. The pale, blue light of the Swedish winter wraps around the entire frame, a colour palette that sits naturally in both Eli’s world and Oskar’s. The coldness of the exterior and the warmth of feeling growing between the two children are in contrast.

Settings from the source novel (by John Ajvide Lindqvist) are not explained by the film. Whether Eli is actually twelve years old, why Håkan plays the role he does, what Eli’s exact history is — the film doesn’t tell you. This silence makes the film stranger, and simultaneously more beautiful.

Performance — The Emotional Core Built by Two Child Actors

The performances of the two child actors, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, are the film’s core. Oskar is a boy who suppresses his aggression while being bullied, and Hedebrant expresses this complex interior without exaggeration. Leandersson’s Eli is harder still — a role that must simultaneously show the vulnerability of a twelve-year-old child and the quality of an entity that may have lived hundreds of years. The balance achieved is remarkably natural. The scenes that the two performers create together are the film’s emotional centre.

What the film says — Belonging and Acceptance

What Let the Right One In uses vampires to speak about is belonging and acceptance. Oskar, in a world that won’t accept him, and Eli, as a being who can belong nowhere in the world, discover each other. The vampire rule of needing to be invited in — “You may come in” — functions as metaphor in this film. Showing your vulnerable interior: that is love in this film.

The title contains everything. “Let the right one in.” Who the right person is remains unclear throughout the film. But that Eli is that person for Oskar, and Oskar for Eli, is certain.

Ratings & reception

Let the Right One In won a festival award at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and subsequently attracted international critical attention, appearing on top-tier lists in various countries. TMDB score is 7.5, and IMDb holds at 7.9. Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 98% — effectively a perfect score. A Hollywood remake (Let Me In, directed by Matt Reeves) appeared in 2010, with the original’s acclaim being a direct motivation for the remake’s production. It is frequently cited as a film that redefined the vampire genre.

What doesn’t work

Very few still images from this film are available via TMDB, limiting the body of the review to two stills. As for the film’s own shortcomings: Håkan’s role and relationship with Eli, compared to the source novel, are significantly omitted. If this relationship had been more fully depicted, the film’s darker layers would have been thicker. The subplot involving the adult characters including Pål is also somewhat superficially handled, and the film’s focus scatters somewhat in these sections.

Verdict

Let the Right One In is not a horror film — it is a coming-of-age film. The story of the two loneliest beings in the world discovering each other. The pale beauty of Swedish winter and the outstanding performances of the two child actors make 114 minutes long-remembered. Even without interest in vampires, this film is worth watching for other reasons. My rating is ★4.5.

Recommended for

• Viewers who want emotional resonance over horror
• Fans of the distinctive atmosphere of Scandinavian cinema
• Those looking for a unique story about loneliness and friendship
• Anyone who wants a fresh perspective on the vampire genre