I saw Let the Right One In late last year and it crept into my dreams and stayed there. The best films always do. The film takes vampires and classic traditions very seriously, but at the same time seems to reinvent them. The film feels fresh and surprising. The white winter setting in a nondescript Stockholm suburb allows the characters and story to be the main focus. The story is very grim, but there is some humor.
This film gave me the great feeling I would get watching a Hammer film from the 60’s or 70’s. The boy Oscar is bullied at school and ignored at home. He wishes for nothing more than a friend who will give him some understanding. He meets the girl Eli one night in the courtyard of his apartment. She is underdressed but is not cold; she has a strange odor. Oscar asks her age. She says "I’m 12, but I have been 12 for a very long time." When looking for friends, Oscar can’t be too choosy. They bond over a Rubik’s cube and soon are spending all their free time together, to the dismay of Eli’s caretaker, a creepy middle-aged man. The film does a good job of not addressing more unsavory aspects of the screenplay and letting the audience fill in the blanks with their imagination.
The film is low-budget by American standards, but the director and production design create many exciting visual moments. There is a scene that shows a truly imaginative way of illustrating the film’s title. It shows Oscar playing around and doesn’t verbally give permission for Eli to enter. It is one of the films few gory scenes but it is actually nicely understated. The film’s climax at the pool with the school bullies, oddly enough reminded me of the classic horror film Jaws. The last scene on the train subtly changes the meaning of everything that has gone before it. It is both touching and unsettling. I think this film is an instant classic. It elevates the horror genre to new heights. This seems to be the start of a new horror renaissance.
I’ve learned that they’re remaking this film as a bigger-budget Hollywood production. I just hope they are able to keep the elements that made the original film so succesful intact. It is rare to make a great gothic horror movie once, so in remaking it I fear they may loose the magic they created. I am looking forward to seeing it, though.
