Let the Right One In (2008)
Sub-Genre- Vampire/Teen Horror
In Attendance- Me
Cast Members of Note- The young, Swedish talents of Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson.
What's it about?- This is the story of 12 year old Oskar, who is bullied daily and suffers all of the other normal adolescent growing pains of childhood as well; and Eli, who is also 12... more or less, and suffering growing pains of her own, but mainly because she is a vampire.
When Eli catches Oskar stabbing a tree, the two begin a friendship that involves blood, murder and all sorts of other creepy shit. Really though, a 12 year old kid stabbing a tree and asking it "Are you looking at me?" is the creepiest thing of all.
I don't want to spoil too much, but I will say that Sweden is pretty cool, and swimming pools can be pretty damn brutal.
The Good- Lat Den Ratte Komma In is sweet, disturbing, sad, brutal, beautiful, shocking and an overall inspired film. I dare say that it's a work of art. Everything seemed perfect to me when I watched it; from the camera work, to the story; the mood, to the acting. This was a vampire movie, and it had a ton of horror elements to it, but I didn't feel like I was watching a horror movie at all...
There are some elements of the movie that I won't get into here to remain spoiler free, but I will say that it surprised me on many levels.
It's amazing to me how a horror movie made in 2008 can be as effective as it is brilliant and not have jump scares, quick cut scares, lame characters, nonsensical situations, a twist ending, a jump cut quick scare twist ending... oh wait, this wasn't made in Hollywood. Then again it's not totally Hollywood's fault; American audiences are fairly dumb to begin with... That's why we'll have Saw 14 eventually.
Horror flick, love story, coming of age story, vampire movie... Let the Right One In is all of those, and more. You really need to see it to understand.
And for the record, I absolutely loved the last 15 minutes of this movie. I actually cheered.
The Bad- The worst part about this movie was that it ended. I wish it had been three hours long instead of two.
The Downright Horrendous- Not even a year old, and Hollywood already wants to remake this movie. Can't the morons who green light movies just release this instead of fucking with a near perfect film remaking it? Of course not. Assholes.
The Gory- Bloodletting, blood drinking, acid eaten faces, severed limbs, people bursting into flames... this movie has it's fair share of gore.
The Naked- Oddly enough, we get to see a 12 year old's hooha... I'm hoping it was CGI.
Best Line- "I'm 12... more or less."
What did we learn?- Childhood sucks. Also, don't ever break into a vampire's apartment... even in the daylight. Also, bullies never win.
Rating- A+ This movie is a masterpiece, and one of the best movies of the year, and not just of the horror variety. You owe it to yourself to see this as soon as possible. Now. Go!
Final Thoughts- Brilliant.
