#500. Let The Right One In (2008)

Directed By: Tomas Alfredson

Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar



Tag line: "Eli is 12 years old. She's been 12 for over 200 years and, she just moved in next door"

Trivia:  Almost every scene in the movie contains the color red or red/orange

The 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In centers on  the unique relationship that develops between two young people. 

Twelve-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) lives in Stockholm with a mother that barely notices him. Slight-of-frame, Oskar is bullied at school, and is in dire need of a friend. 

Enter Eli (Lina Leandersson), who recently moved into Oskar's apartment complex. Meeting Eli for the first time one snowy night, Oskar senses an immediate connection with this unusual girl, and is comfortable enough to reveal all the terrible realities of his life to her. 

But Eli has a secret of her own, one that, quite possibly, stretches back hundreds of years: she's a vampire, and her arrival at the complex just happens to coincide with a string of grisly murders. An elderly companion (Per Ragnar) had been collecting fresh blood to keep Eli alive, but when he is suddenly out of the picture, she is left to fend for herself. 

Oskar does eventually uncover Eli's secret, and isn't bothered by it in the least. On the contrary, he finds that having a vampire as a friend has certain... advantages!

Let The Right One In is a dark film, and is so even before Eli hits the scene. At the outset, Oskar is a deeply troubled young man, a loner who fantasizes about exacting revenge on those who have wronged him. He acts out scenarios, practicing what he would do to the bullies at school if only he had the strength to stand up to them (in one scene, he tosses threats at a tree, pretending it's a classmate, then stabs it repeatedly with a pocket knife). What's more, Oskar clips articles out of the newspaper pertaining to war, or brutal slayings, which he then pastes into a scrapbook. Oskar is clearly an angry kid on a very desperate path, and if he doesn't find a friend soon, his life will take a disturbing turn. 

This is where Eli, the strange young girl who only comes out at night and “smells funny”, enters the picture. When they first meet on the playground, Eli hasn't “eaten” for days, and is looking poorly, yet she doesn't kill Oskar (even though he would have been an easy victim). Trapped in a girl's body, it's possible Eli longs for somebody she can relate to, who will afford her the opportunity to live as a child.  

But there's more besides; after overhearing Oskar while he was “practicing” his revenge, Eli might also believe she has found someone willing to accept her unique nature. Eli encourages Oskar to stick up for himself, to fight back against those tormenting him, and soon after, he has a run-in with Conny (Patrik Rydmark), the classmate who continually picks on him. By giving Oskar the courage to stand up to Conny, Eli has provided him with some much-needed inner strength, thus clearing the way for the two of them to become friends. 

The performances delivered by the film's two young stars are nothing short of amazing, each bringing a vulnerability to their character that is, at times, quite heartbreaking. The movie opens with Oskar gazing out of his apartment window, his reflection staring back at him. He reaches up and touches the glass - placing his hand on that of his reflection's - and without a word spoken, we sense his loneliness.  We see it in Eli as well when Oskar asks how old she is. “Twelve – more or less”, she says, to which a baffled Oskar responds, “Don't you celebrate your birthday? Your parents... they've got to know”. From the sadness in her eyes, it's clear Eli doesn't remember her parents, either. 

Make no mistake: there's plenty of horror in this movie (Along with an early scene where Eli's companion murders a man and drains his blood, there's a chilling moment under a bridge, where we get a glimpse of Eli's monstrous side). But its the bond between Eli and Oskar, a couple of children forgotten by the world, that will stay with you once the credits have rolled. 

Let The Right One In is their story, and it is told brilliantly.