Let The Right One In
I am a die-hard fan of vampire flicks. There’s something about vampires that I think we all find fascinating and even alluring, so I’m usually ready to tune in for a good yarn about bloodsuckers (even some of questionable quality). The trouble is, the ratio of good:bad is not in the viewer’s favor, at all. For every Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Shadow of the Vampire or Interview With a Vampire, there’s a Dracula 2000, Van Helsing or Blade Trilogy.
In fact, the Blade movies perfectly embody exactly what’s wrong with many modern takes on the most iconic amongst the undead – somewhere along the line vampire movies have morphed into zombie action-adventure rip offs. The best vampire flicks are not about blood, one-liners or seeing how many vampires we can fit onto one movie set. No, a good vampire film possesses a real sense of the theatrical, a sort of measured bombast, and relies on atmosphere and mood to both entice and frighten.
Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In has all the prescribed qualities of a proper vampire flick and then some. Set in a rather bleak suburb of Stockholm (at least it appeared that way to me – maybe Ceci can tell us if it’s really as grim as it seemed), the film centers on young Oskar, a quiet and withdrawn boy who we quickly discover is being picked on and bullied in school. Adults in Oskar’s world are either absent (his father) or ineffectual (his mother, his teachers), so it’s up to him to deal with the problem. We see him acting out scenarios with a knife, but when confronted he seems to opt for a quiet exit more often than not.
Enter new neighbor Eli, who reaches out to Oskar and seems to be more than familiar with what it’s like to be different. At first Oskar shies away from her, but after bonding over a Rubik’s Cube he begins to see her as something more. Like most modern relationships, the two have a few hurdles to jump – not the least of which is the fact that Eli is whittling down the apartment population, one neck at a time. See, she’s a vampire, despite appearing to be about 12 years old. Her exact age is never mentioned, but she says she can no longer remember her birthday, so it seems clear she’s been at this for quite some time.
I’ll stop there, because I feel like specifying any other elements of the plot would be giving the game away. Suffice it to say, Eli’s unique circumstances make for a less-than-typical friendship. The movie balances straightforward horror elements with the coming-of-age plot, and never relies on gore or violence alone to move things forward. It’s a very, very quiet film, which goes a long way toward heightening the intensity of the few scenes involving a sudden scare or violent outburst. The violence here is meant to disconcert you and make you squirm. You should feel a need to look away at the sight of a 12-year-old girl feasting on blood. And that’s a big part of what sets it apart from say, your Saws or even Watchmen (different genre, I know), both of which design their violence to excite you.
It’s the kind of horror movie I sorely miss these days, what with garbage like Friday the 13th or The Last House on the Left dominating the box office so often (for your edification: I’m referring to the remakes, for the most part). Though I suppose it’s easy enough to OD on most any style, so maybe all those putrid, so-called ‘horror’ movies just help me appreciate gems like this even more. You should try this one for yourself, especially if you’re a fang fan like me.
Since the story was based on a book by the same name (named after a Morrissey song, no less), I’ll have to snatch it up to contrast and compare. I gather a lot of the points left ambiguous or unanswered in the film version are more plain in the novel. I do like interpreting things for myself, so hopefully the book doesn’t concretely answer too many questions. Speaking of questions, here’s another one for you – What’s your favorite horror/scary movie? Why? What’s so great about it?
Morrissey – Let The Right One Slip In
Tags: Movies & TV, vampires
I’m not a huge horror movie fan so I don’t have much to judge from, but my favorite vampire movie is Nosferatu. My favorite horror movie is The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, another one which relies on mood and tension rather than cheap serial-killer-jumps-out-of-the-closet scenes
Yes, read the book!
And yeah, suburbs in Stockholm are pretty grim.