If random arty blood thrills are your cup of fear, perhaps you'll enjoy Let the Right One In, a Swedish head-scratcher that has a few creepy images but very little holding them together.
Let the Right One In (2008)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:146
Fresh:143
Rotten:3
Average Rating:8.2/10
Consensus: Let the Right One In reinvigorates the seemingly tired vampire genre by effectively mixing scares with intelligent storytelling.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:Oct 24, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $1,882,159
Synopsis: Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a 12-year-old outcast who is frequently picked on by his classmates. He dreams of getting his revenge, but he never stands up to the boys. With the arrival of his new... Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a 12-year-old outcast who is frequently picked on by his classmates. He dreams of getting his revenge, but he never stands up to the boys. With the arrival of his new next-door neighbor, 12-year-old Eli (Lina Leandersson), Oskar may finally have found a friend, ally, and first love. But Eli is no ordinary girl: she must keep her pale skin out of the sunlight, she can perform inhuman physical feats, and she has thirst for blood. The bodies begin to pile up, but Oskar can't stay away from the girl who has finally given him courage. Based on the novel by John Ajvide Linqvist (who also wrote the script), LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is the best kind of horror film: one that transcends the tropes of the genre to become something new. This is director Tomas Alfredson's first foray into horror, and he doesn't hesitate to include bits of vampire mythology. But his background making comedies and dramas gives the film a surprising depth; the relationship between Oskar and Eli is tentative and sweet, even though their interactions may be surrounded by blood and violence. Composer Johan Soderqvist and the sound department create a fascinating palette of music and sounds that add to the film's perfectly chilly mood, and setting the film in a snowy Swedish suburb gives director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema a starkly beautiful environment for shooting. Though LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is ostensibly about a pair of children, this is a horror film for adults. There are plenty of scares, but it remains moving and intelligent, a rare feat for the genre. [More]
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T Peedu, Pale Olofsson
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Screenwriter: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Producer: John Nordling, Carl Molinder
Composer: Johan Soderqvist
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
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Reviews for Let the Right One In
A limited how-to on efficiently cracking necks after biting and draining them. But whether this frosty Nordic couch potato vampire gore is your cup of bodily fluid, will depend on your preference for bloodsucker cinema as a dish best served cold.
Remove the vampire elements, and this is the story of two lonely and desperate kids capable of performing dark deeds without apparent emotion.
The film works best when allowing us to intuit that going steady with a vampire, though it raises a few moral issues, still gives Oskar his Best Winter Ever.
Let the Right One In can safely be called a classic, even before its name is pulled from the theater marquee.
Transcending its grim theme, this is an astonishingly beautiful and visually inventive film that explores the cliches of the vampire genre with a deft, everyday approach.
It misses classic status because the script isn't as good as Alfredson's direction.
As Oskar and Eli gaze into the seeming mirrors of one another's faces, their mouths smeared with the victim's blood, their eyes soften and they look, at last, close, their fates entwined in ways they can't anticipate.
Think Twilight, but directed by Ingmar Bergman and starring twelve-year-olds instead of teens then you'll have a good idea what to expect of this Swedish vampire movie . . .
Like a horror romance Kieslowski might have made, as it explores both a tender, tentative relationship -- a connection in an otherwise dark world -- and relative morality.
I don't care how cold it is in Sweden, I'm not Ok with twelve-year-olds who don't wipe their noses. That being said, I just saw something completely unique and surprising. Who knew the vampire genre wasn't over and done with?
It's a sweetly queasy film that suggests the spirit that sustains us, the demons we hide from the world, and the monsters that prey upon us in the dark might all be variations on the same beast.
Powerful performances from the kids at the centre of it all help add to a superb film.
,,,could even be read as a kind of grim metaphor for marriage in that it explores the thanklessness of constancy and the long-distance loneliness of the impenetrable soul.
Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar and Lina Leandersson as Eli both give incredibly sensitive performances.
Beautifully crafted and expertly acted, Let The Right One In eschews the easy options of excessive gore and cheap laughs to create a haunting, emotionally involving journey into the macabre. It can only become a classic of the genre.
It is frequently not what you see but what you hear which holds the horror.
Latest News for Let the Right One In
September 07, 2009:
Five Favourite Films with Richard Curtis
Richard Curtis has a plan. "What I've decided is to choose recent films," he explains to RT. "I do think that often people get stuck in always saying the five greatest films of... More...
August 13, 2009:
RT on DVD: Invite Let the Right One In
This week we welcome the arrival of a certified modern classic -- Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In, a chilling and beautiful vampire movie turned coming-of-age tale; and... More...
June 30, 2009:
Matt Reeves Talks Let the Right One In Remake ![]()
Skeptical about the pending American remake of "Let the Right One In"? Director Matt Reeves wants you to know he's tackling the story for all the right reasons. More...
June 28, 2009:
Edinburgh 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies
The Edinburgh Film Festival has come to a close and Rotten Tomatoes thought we'd make a traditional look back over all of the films playing at this year's fest and present to... More...
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