3. Let the Right One In

A fair warning to people expecting this to be a vampire movie in the way that Twilight is a vampire movie. It's not. Let the Right One In is hardly a horror movie at all really. It's actually the story of how two outcasts find young love with one another, and obviously kill the shit out of the people who pick on them.

Oskar spends most of his time either getting bullied at school or pretending to knife fight bullies at home, until Eli, a cute in her own awkward sort of way girl of the same age, moves in next door. Oskar and Eli very quickly become a pair bonding over the undeniably awesome Rubik's Cube. "But what if I'm not a girl?" Of course she means that she's a vampire in every traditional sense of the word (except they never explicitly show any fangs), but Oskar is not phased and has no problem still wanting to "go steady."

It's very neat they way they introduce Eli. The first time we see her, she almost floats down from the top of a jungle gym, but if you blink you'll miss it and think she's just a normal little girl. The next time we see her, she's deeply out of focus, but it adds this other worldly aura around her that would make you think she was someone special even if you didn't already know she was a vampire. But not knowing she is a vampire would have been totally sweet because there's a scene where she is hiding under a bridge posing as an injured little girl, but she obviously is just luring a guy over to her so she can eat him. If you didn't know what was going on, that scene would have been really shocking and more effective. It's cool anyway, but not knowing would have been better.

The relationship between Eli and Oskar is cute in a weird sort of way with them both being just about as awkward as you can get about intimacy. Eli leaves him little notes here and there and they start doing Morse code to each other through the walls, they're neighbors after all, in order to keep in touch when Eli is stuck in her dark room for the day. 

Oskar's transition from bullied kid to not-quite-as-bullied kid is slight, but ultimately I approved because it's a pretty short timeline the film follows and I don't believe a kid that timid would change quite as quickly as most mainstream films would have you believe. What Let the Right One does well though is totally villainizing the leader of the bully pack, making him a bit of a Don of sorts. Kudos to the actor because he nails the whole "your life is nothing to me and I would kill you if I could" sort of vibe, while he watches his cronies do his dirty work. Alas, dear reader, there is a comeuppance, and it's a good one.

The few effects drizzled throughout are mostly pretty excellent, save for some distractingly CG attack kitties. Eli's man servant at one point pours acid all over his face to hide his identity before he is captured, and the aftermath of that is an effect that outdoes Two-face's make-up from the Dark Knight. Also notable is the newly made vampire having a hospital window opened upon her and straight up BURSTING into flames. The effect is astoundingly brutal.

The entire film is worth watching if for nothing than to see the underwater shot towards the end of the film. I don't want to ruin it since I think a lot of you probably haven't seen it, but the look of the shot is very surreal and then the actions that take place could not have been more well played out. It's beautiful and grotesque all at the same time, but wonderful to contemplate how they pulled it all off.

Let the Right One In is by far not the scariest movie on my list, but has one of the best stories you'll find in the vampire genre. You'll love the characters, the shots, and the setting. It's paced rather slowly, but I've never been someone who had a problem with that as long as the story itself is moving forward, which this one always is. The first time I saw it was really special, so it'll always hold a place in my heart. For those of you with Netflix, it's watch instantly so go watch it immediately.

Comments

[jspg71]

One of the best of the year, even several years . . . Also one of the best love stories ever . . .

[lederm]

Thanks for you share it!!!!!!!