Let the Right One In

There are certain things in movies that I always crack up to. One of those things is random, irrational, horrific animal attacks. My favorites include: The raccoon scene in Harold & Kumar, R.O.U.S. scene in The Princess Bride, and the monkey scene in RocketMan. Let the Right One In has another such scene. Be on the lookout for it.

Let the Right One In is a Swedish vampire film. In the movie the main character, Oskar (played by Kåre Hedebrant) gets terrorized by bullies (Beatings, whippings,  At one point they stole his pants and he had to walk home without them) to the point where he is stabbing a tree while saying: ‘Die pigs’ … kids got issues. One night while giving that poor tree a good working over he meets the new neighbor, Eli (played by Lina Leandersson) a twelve year old girl who seems to be just as jaded about life as he is. In the beginning they get into pseudo arguments mostly because Oskar is too busy being a tool to notice that a girl is talking to him. Eventually they become friends, he learns to have a backbone, the bullies get what is coming to them, and they ride off into the sunset; But not before everything goes to hell. It is revealed the Eli is in fact a vampire and her handler drains people of their blood to bring back for her to drink. It is not long before the towns people become paranoid as people go missing and bodies start to pile up.

The thing I like about this movie is its spin on the vampire genre. The vampire part of the story only serves as a secondary plot to the overall storyline of friendship. Eli helps Oskar gain more self confidence which in turn helps him stand up to the bullies. It doesn’t go over so well though and Eli has to step in and save him in a most grisly fashion. The movie also does not take itself too seriously. Many parts of the movie were shot in a way that makes them hilarious in an un-ironic way. Do not get me wrong though, this is a rather dark movie but it does have its levity. It was remade this year for American audiences under the title “Let Me In”. Maybe one day I will write a review on it but from what I hear it pretty much butchers the original. All in all I would recommend this to those who like a good monster movie (I specifically chose 'monster' over 'vampire')

My Weird Rating System
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7/10