Seeing “Let The Right One In” will become a Valentine’s Day tradition for Goth couples.
For the rest of us, the half-horror, half-romance deserves at least one uninterrupted viewing. Cringe and delight as the story smoothly unfolds to the first kiss between an alienated boy and a girl vampire, whose mouth and chin during the soft smooch drip with a stranger’s crimson blood.
Set in dark Stockholm, this is as creepy and touching as a prepubescent love story that sidesteps lust can get.
At the Swedish movie’s emotional core is the friendless, brutally bullied 12-year-old Oskar (Kare Hedebrant).
Repeating what his tormentors say to him, the pale blond boy is stabbing a tree in the snow at night in front of his divorced mother’s apartment complex, when he meets his new neighbor, Eli (Lina Leandersson). We learn relatively quickly and violently the rail-skinny, barefooted, dark-haired girl lives off blood. She’s come to town with an aging man the locals assume is her father. Despite her vampire needs and the death count rising, during the nights, Eli and Oskar become each other’s only ally and source of solace.
At a pivotal point in the film when you either shift restlessly or put your hand over your mouth and lean forward, a character we don’t care about who is moments away from a slit throat thankfully doesn’t die. The story turns the corner on predictable action and quietly demands your attention until the last second.
The film, based on a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist who also wrote the screenplay, should satiate bloodthirsty horror film fans. But it also provides subtle moments for audiences that murmur “awws” when a boy and girl innocently embrace or gently offer messages and candy to each other.
Fortunately, director Tomas Alfredson’s background in dramas and comedies lead him away from the marks of a horror film hack.
Alfredson ditches the kitschy Dracula fangs, shaky camera movements, one-note characters, heavy reliance on music and pointless slayings. If you frighten easily, expect to spring once or twice.
If the story line doesn’t convince you, see the film for what will become a cult favorite cat-attack scene, its poetic-punchy ending and the chance to brag to friends you saw the real thing. An unnecessary American version will come out in 2009.
‘Let The Right One In’
4 out of 5 stars
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Rated: “R” for bloody violence, including disturbing images, brief nudity and language
Running time: 114 minutes
