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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Let the Right One In
EMAILPRINTMagnet Releasing (Magnolia Pictures)
Universal acclaim
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 140 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama | Horror | Romance
Written by: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Directed by: Tomas Alfredson
Release Date:
Theatrical: October 24, 2008
DVD: March 10, 2009
Running Time: 114 minutes, Color
Origin: Sweden
Language(s): Swedish
Summary
RATING: R for some bloody violence including disturbing images, brief nudity and language
Starring Kare Hedebrant, and Lina Leandersson
A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy's wish for a friend seems to come true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him with her father. A pale, serious young girl, she only comes out at night and doesn't seem affected by the freezing temperatures. Coinciding with Eli's arrival is a series of inexplicable disappearances and murders. One man is found tied to a tree, another frozen in the lake, a woman bitten in the neck. Blood seems to be the common denominator. But by now a subtle romance has blossomed between Oskar and Eli, and she gives him the strength to fight back against his aggressors. (Magnolia Pictures)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post John Anderson
In the basest of terms, a horror flick. But it's also a spectacularly moving and elegant movie, and to dismiss it into genre-hood, to mentally stuff it into the horror pigeonhole, is to overlook a remarkable film.
Read Full Review >Empire Kim Newman
At once a devastating, curiously uplifting inhuman drama and a superbly crafted genre exercise, Let The Right One In can stand toe-to-toe with Spirit Of The Beehive, Pan's Labyrinth or Orphee. See it.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
It's one of the great horror films of recent years -- and a welcome antidote to the in-your-face sonic assaults that all too often pass for genre fare.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Jeremy Knox
The best fairy tales always have so much darkness in them. That's why they resonate so deeply. This is a magnificent film.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Could be summarized as a vampire tween romance, but that cheap and tawdry sum-up does zero justice to the magnificent emotional resonance of this gemlike bloodstone of a film.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
The beauty of Let the Right One In resides in the way the horror remains grounded in a tragic kind of love.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Most contemporary horror films derive shocks from mere torture. Let the Right One In locates most of its fright-power in the needs and confusions of people who are usually overlooked.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
The most violent scene is dreamlike, and more direct killings are often seen at an angle or from a distance. The camera placement is thoughtful and effective, never titillating.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Stick your neck out for this Swedish horror show. It's a winner, full of mirth and malice, plus a young romance you'll never see on the Disney Channel.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The young actors are powerful in draining roles. We care for them more than they care for themselves. Alfredson's palette is so drained of warm colors that even fresh blood is black.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Funny, fear-inducing, with periods of voyeuristic gore and an undercurrent of anxiety and dread, Let the Right One In is up there with the bloodsucking classics.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
It's a little long and dissipates some of its power in an unfocused subplot, but the skewed sensibility of the film is both innocent and feral and offers a smart and satisfying reworking to the familiar genre. An American remake is already in the works.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Maria Schneider
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.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
It's a genuine genre vampire picture; and it's Swedish, winter-lit, Bergmanesque.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
An ingenious mixture of satire, dead-end suburban realism and gory vampire fantasy.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Elena Oumano
A coolly balanced and utterly compelling examination of alienation and love.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Let the Right One In unfolds with quiet, masterly assurance.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Justin Lowe
A moody adaptation of the Swedish best-seller about a fateful mortal-vampire romance, Let the Right One In is atypically literate and unexpectedly affecting suspense fare. Complex characters, ominous situations fraught with mortality and the recklessness of youthful ardor create a tense and subtly shaded narrative.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Alfredson makes the most of every detail, carefully crafting an atmosphere of haunting alienation. These two lost souls may come together under unusual circumstances, but their connection feels universally human.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
In this sinister but gorgeous and compelling film by director Tomas Alfredson, being human and acting human don't always go together.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Manohla Dargis
There is a remarkable stillness to many of the film's most indelible images, particularly the exteriors, which are so carefully photographed, and without the usual tiresome camera jiggling, as to look almost frozen.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A remarkably fine and genuinely frightening movie about a teenage vampire.
Read Full Review >New York Post V.A. Musetto
Despite having no previous film experience, Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson give evocative performances as Oskar and Eli, respectively.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Let the Right One In is a children's film, but you wouldn't want your child to see it. It's a horror film, but the gruesome splatter is the least of its scares. And it's a love story, but the prepubescent kind where sex is a distant idea and loneliness a shared reality. A wicked trick, a cinematic treat, this is some Halloween offering.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Reyhan Harmanci
Strikes a surprising array of notes: scary, sad and hopeful. The director, Tomas Alfredson, does a great job of presenting peril in the film.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Some will classify Let the Right One In as a horror movie, and I suppose that's technically accurate. To me, however, this is much more of a coming-of-age/friendship movie.
Read Full Review >Variety Alissa Simon
Calling to mind the work of Anne Rice and Stephen King, atmospheric adaptation of Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist's bestseller is well directed by his countryman Tomas Alfredson ("Four Shades of Brown") and should click with cult and arthouse auds.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The Scandinavian moodiness of the first half gives way to a series of jolting set pieces in the second.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 140 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Matthew F gave it a10:
I love that this movie does not explore every element of the plot, details, and character relationships. It allows the film to serve as a window to a familiar but imaginary world and lets the viewer use their own imagination to fill in all sorts of things, be it the nature of Eli's relationship w the man she lives with, Oskars father and his friend, the future of Oskar and Eli, etc. These loose ends allow me to stay in the story, rather than it being just a cut and dry 2 hr experience.
RM gave it a10:
One of my favourite films in recent memory. The relationship between the two lead characters moved even my stone heart, and had me thinking for sometime after it finished - trying to figure out Eli's exact attitude or intentions toward Oscar but then taking some comfort in the fact that, even if the intentions were darker than I would ideally like them to be, they both need and fit with each other. Don't mean to lose anyone there. This is quite a bizarre film but one that I would highly recommend, as somebody once recommended to me. The film was stunningly bleak to look at and its slow pace went down well with me. The two twelve year-old actors, playing twelve year-old characters, were incredible and it was crucial that this was the case because child actors can be pretty banal sometimes. I hear Hollywood are doing a remake but plan to call it "Let me in" because that is more catchy. Sounds like a tragedy already.
Andrew K. gave it a9:
Owen Gleiberman never actually saw this movie. At least not sober.
Mica M gave it a9:
It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen. And touching. I wasn't expecting it when I watched but I was really surprised and pleased with this movie and specially with the actors. they were brilliant.
Courtney B gave it a10:
I can't explain how it did it, but this film completely drew me into the quiet atmosphere and it really moved me emotionally. I was thinking about it for days afterward. So beautiful.
adam h gave it a10:
I personally loved the film the scors for the film are amazing osker in love and the farther are me personal favs i found the film gripping and i have seen it 5 times in 4 days day 1 i seen it on comp then bought the dvd getting the book cant weight to read it gr8 film 10/10 one of the best vampire movies in a ages.
Paul W gave it a1:
Ponderous and empty, minimalism at its absolute worst. And a big fat lol at the glorifying reviews so many vote bots seem so fit to aim at this exercise in dullness. The acting is bland, very stiff dialog and no progression in either the development of the characters or the story itself. For a worthwhile outlandish 'horror', I suggest you turn to Korea in stead of Sweden. For drama, anything else will do.
