‘Let The Right One In’ : Resurrecting The Vampire Genre

Cold and still. These are two words that will echo through your mind when you enter the world of Tomas Alfredson, director of Let The Right One In. The imposing tower blocks engulfing the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg cast grim shadows over the bleak and unwelcoming landscape. The initial shots are handled with such precision and stylistic cinematographic skill, that the viewer’s attention is immediately grabbed, by the throat as it were.

The colours are as washed out as the expressions of the town’s inhabitants, who we are introduced to early on. The overall feel of the town is one of stagnancy and isolation. The setting (although never directly referred to in the movie) of early 1980’s Sweden is ideal for the events which unfold therein. We are introduced to 12 year old Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) who is small pale and desperately alone. Living in a world comprised of his obsessions with local murders and a love for music, he shares the ghetto apartment with a distant mother who is now divorced from an indifferent father. Oskar’s school life is particularly harrowing, being the passive victim to a trio of bullies, captained by an increasingly sadistic ringleader. They taunt, torture and abuse him on a daily basis, a subject which is handled without a hint of stereotype or falsity. The scenes of torment are incredibly difficult to watch, in that they are as accurate a portrayal of peer abuse that I have witnessed for considerable time.

Oskar’s life changes forever when he encounters the deeply mysterious Eli (Lina Leandersson). Lank haired and gaunt, she appears whilst he is acting out revenge fantasies in the yard of the apartment complex. It is their growing relationship that is the central focus of the movie. It is so tender and beautiful that you cannot help but feel great empathy and pathos for them both. It becomes clearer over the course of their friendship however, that his new playmate may be closely associated with the escalating murder rate in the area.

The movie is a masterpiece in subtlety, with the violent scenes often happening off camera, or somehow obscured from view. What this achieves is the oldest rule of horror, one that has seemingly been long forgotten, that the human imagination can conjure up images far more gruesome and unsettling than can possibly be achieved by special effects. This is not to say that there is nothing in here for the gorehounds either, as several key scenes provide enough mutilation and carrion to satisfy their bloodlust.

Eli is one of the single most convincing vampires ever committed to the screen. She seems so lost within her word, but simultaneously relishing it. She gives no indication that she would like it to be any other way. There is a certain degree of ambiguity surrounding her gender, and a split second shot late in the movie hints at the possibility of hermaphroditic origin or some form of genital mutilation that coincided with her transformation.

The soundtrack is beautifully underplayed. Small touches like the effect that a vampire’s presence has on cats add to the ingenuity of the feature. The most significant thing about this film is that it removes all of the romanticized ideals that have sullied the vampire genre for far too long. Gone are the Anne Rice or Twilight versions of disgustingly beautiful immortals, living a life of decadency and thrill. Gone is the glamorization of the undead, replaced by an unyielding affliction. Whilst this does hold a charm to the remarkable Eli, for others as you will see, the prospect of an eternity of perpetual hunger is more than they can stand.

Without a doubt, this has been the most innovative and original horror film I have seen all year. The depressing postscript is that it is now in the works to be remade (in English) by Matt Reeves, director of the reprehensibly horrendous Cloverfield. This will be awful, truly awful and as with [Rec], I urge you to seek the original before its good name is tarnished forever by a hack director and dumbed down for the masses. You can also guarantee that they will cast two cocky little turds to play the lead roles as well (Dakota Fanning and some other Hollywood piglet, I would imagine). The success of the characters in LTROI is their anonymity, something that is almost completely absent from current US movies, which seem content to bombard us with a never ending deluge of vacuous and talentless actors who are more concerned with celebrity than craft.

Let The Right One In also teaches the most important lesson of all; never invite a vampire into your house. The movie is based on a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who took the title from a Morrissey song. It hasn’t left my thoughts since the final credits and it will be quite a while before it does.

For the official website click HERE.

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