With today's vampire-infested world of entertainment, it would be easy for Let the Right One In"" to be swept aside as just another cheesy vampire love story that fits in somewhere between ""True Blood"" and ""Twilight."" But don't be dissuaded. ""Let the Right One In"" is a nuanced tale about friendship, love and death that takes the vampire genre to a whole new level.
Set in Sweden (you do have to read subtitles), the story follows Oskar (KÃ ¥re Hedebrant), a frequently bullied 12-year-old with no friends. He falls in love with Eli (Lina Leandersson), the girl who moves next door with an older man, presumably her father. Eli can jump abnormally high, has extraordinary strength and is never seen in the daylight. When locals begin to be found ripped open with throats slashed, it doesn't take long for Oskar to put two and two together.
The movie blends horror with a love story better than any other film that has attempted it. The scenes between Oskar and Eli are tender and sweet - or they would be if it weren't for the dried blood caked on Eli's face. And the kids manage to convey emotions more convincingly than actors twice their age.
Where the film really excels is in its subtleties. As was convincingly confirmed in ""30 Days of Night,"" vampires are infinitely more terrifying when set in a dead, wintery landscape, and the splashes of blood against the white snow add an eerie nature to the film (watch the movie and then walk around outside alone at night - I doubt you'll last 10 minutes before running back in). Surprisingly for a movie about vampires, the characters have real depth, and the audience is not hand-fed anything. The relationship between Eli and the man initially assumed to be her father is never really examined fully, but enough is implied that it's just too good to be spoiled for you here.
The vampirism in the movie is not wimpy like ""Twilight,"" backwoods like ""True Blood"" or just plain stupid like ""Van Helsing."" Instead, it is treated as completely realistic and animalistic. And when Eli kills, it doesn't look fake or feel dull - it makes your skin crawl. The only moment that could possibly take you out of the movie is one involving CGI cats, but even that is forgivable and barely noticeable. The final 10 minutes - including a mind-blowing scene in a swimming pool - will leave you wishing the final credits would never roll.
Don't allow ""Let the Right One In"" to become a victim to today's overuse of the vampire motif. Even if you avoid every other vampire movie or TV show, do yourself a favor and see this one, because it is so much more - tender, sweet, unique and creepy as hell.
Grade: AB
