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Review - Låt Den Rätte Komma In (Let The Right One In)
John Ajvide Lindqvist's 2004 novel, translated into 12 languages, was a best seller in his native Sweden, and provides the source material for Tomas Alfredson's 2007 film, a subtle tale of horror, and love, set in a desolate mid-winter Scandinavian town. This is an example of an adapted screenplay (also Lindqvist) improving the original material. Eli was a boy-vampire in the novel, during which Hakan, the vampire's servant, sexually assaults him. Wisely avoiding the latter, and having Eli as a young girl (Lina Leandersson) greatly improves our empathy towards her, and the local boy she befriends, Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant).
Oskar is an intelligent but lonely boy, who is being bullied at school, and longs for the courage to stand up for himself. Eli may be 200 years old, but she retains a childish innocence.
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Although Oskar remains suspicious of Eli, due to her evident strangeness, we quickly understand that Eli has no designs to make Oskar her next victim. Instead she uses Hakan to find fresh blood for her among the local community. When Hakan bungles a killing, he pours acid over himself to avoid identification, but his death forces Eli to find her own source of blood, and ultimately to show herself to Oskar. She asks him to let her in to his house, for she must be invited (more long-forgotten vampire folklore, Christopher Lee will be glad he has retired...). When he does not explicitly invite her, she enters the threshold anyway and undergoes an impressive haemophilic transformation, with blood oozing from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Horrified by the pain he is causing, Oskar immediately invites her in, and a pact is sealed between the two.
Meanwhile, the sub plot has Oskar attempting revenge against his school bullies, and the locals trying to figure out who is responsible for murderous goings on in the small town. Oskar's fight back goes seriously awry, requiring Eli's intervention. This story is nicely told, well acted and extremely well paced. We become engrossed in the developing friendship between Eli and Oskar, and there is a more than satisfying conclusion to this well defined and nicely delivered Swedish horror story.
9/10 Strangely engrossing
Review written by John Franklin : November 2009
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