Movie Critic - Let the Right One In

I’m a sucker for good horror films… although I really haven’t had much to be a sucker for lately. Really other than 2005’s The Descent every other horror movie to come down the pike is some hack writer or director’s ‘re-imagining’ or just right out stealing ideas from 20 years ago. Now we have Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In, a story about a young bullied 12-year old named Oskar who meets a strange new girl named Eli. Now I’m not telling you anything outside of school here when I say that Eli has a bit of a secret – she’s a vampire.
Many times with foreign horror movies a lot is lost in translation – especially seeing as there were possible problems with dubbing on the Blu-Ray version of this film (luckily I prefer subtitles). This is not the case with this Swedish gem. Every scene is eerie and unsettling, even if it’s just two children talking in a courtyard. This suspense and horror is really based around the same idea as the Vampire classic 1922’s Nosferatu, using suspense and atmosphere so at the end of the day you’ll never really jump out of your seat… but when you turn out the lights you might check your closet and under your bed. There’s also added suspense because the child actors are just so good and so God damned creepy. Many times when child actors are involved there are a few really dramatic scenes that they screw up because they don’t have the chops, and make you sit back and go, ‘Ugh… remember the good old days when these kids would’ve been working in the mines for 3 years already?’ But that’s not the case with Let the Right One In, in fact Kare Hedebrant (Oskar) and Lina Leeandersson (Eli) shine in their roles.
Let the Right One In stares at Twilight fans and says, ‘I see your abstinence message ridden tweeny horse shit, and raise you a 12-year old girl tearing through grown men like a hungry wolf… oh and we have people on fire’. For everyone who’s not an idiot and wants a legitimate love story that happens to involve vampires, please don’t support Twilight and use your Netflix or Blockbuster to see this great film. The atmosphere, the acting, the suspense, everything about this film is top notch. If it wasn’t for a few scenes (particularly one near the end) this would be an almost perfect horror movie.
Let the Right One In is rated R for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language, and gets a 4 out of 5 Stars.