Let the Right One In

This was an excellent movie. The vampires in this movie don't shimmer in sunlight and seemingly can only sustain themselves on HUMAN blood. There is a love story here, though.

I jokingly tried to get my wife to watch it by calling it a Swedish Twilight. It kind of is, if twilight had real vampires and was dark and scary. The movie itself isn't all that scary, but it has some tense moments.

The story centers around Oskar, a 12 year old boy that gets bullied at school, and Eli, a strange 12 year old girl that moves in next door. Eli, it turns out, is a vampire. That doesn't stop Eli and Oskar from becoming best friends.


The acting in this movie is perfect. The girl that plays Eli is so disarming. There is a scene(maybe a deleted scene) where Eli and Oskar are snarling at each other that is absolutely cute. Then the actress has the ability to just switch it a little and the childlike cuteness is then replaced with a manipulative smile that is full of wickedness. Just perfect! Oskar does an excellent job as well.

This movie is ultimately the story of a vampire child that just wants to be a child and have friends. It is sweet, in a strange and gory way. The audience sympathizes with both Oskar and Eli, we want them to be friends.

This movie is getting remade in the US and I am not really looking forward to it. After many sub par remakes of films both originally foreign and domestic, especially in the horror genre, I am burnt and don't think it can be done well. Big studio hollywood has forgotten how to make a good horror movie.

Aside from a few scenes, this movie could be suitable for children depending on how they deal with gore. This is a must see if you like vampire movies and most horror and science fiction fans will like it as well. For Buffy lovers the relationship between Oskar and Eli kind of reminds you of Buffy and Spike.