Let the Right One In

Released 10/04/2009

Although recent horror films have mainly consisted of remakes and gore-fests, here is a film that will reaffirm your belief in the horror genre. Gone are the drunken teenagers and the cliché shock tactics and instead we are left with a powerful story of a friendship that quickly turns more sinister.
We are taken into 1980s Stockholm and we follow 12-year-old Oskar, a lonely boy bullied by his peers and repressing his urge to retaliate. He meets Eli, a young girl for which it would appear life too is a lonely one, and so their friendship begins. Although Oskar is unaware of the true identity of Eli, who is in fact a vampire, the two become close and their lives quickly become entwined. Eli helps Oskar to fend off his bullies; an incident that has horrific consequences for all involved.
Eli is a vampire, yet the film's director, Tomas Alfredson, treads away from clichés of previous vampire films such as fangs and bats and instead, a sense of realism is injected. This is achieved through the use of dark lighting and the grainy camera style. When Eli must hunt for her victims there are no long drawn out scenes depicting their deaths, yet an air of suspense is still maintained and adds to the unpredictability of the film. Eli comes across as a lonely girl who must hunt to survive and so the audience is made to feel sorry for her. The film moves along at a steady pace, all the while focusing on the friendship between Eli and Oskar. The film steers away from the horror and we are shown the power of a true friendship with subtle hints at a romance that is not explored.
The two leads Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leanderson give great performances making the friendship between their characters believable, further adding to the sense of realism.
It is the great performances and the originality of both film and film style that make this a must-see. Swedish horror may not be everyone’s preference but this is a film worth watching - if only to see what happens if you don’t invite a vampire into your home, which culminates in an unforgettable scene.


Rickee Bhardwaj