X
- 2008
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 54 m
- 2008
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 54 m
Summary 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 freezin...
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
Written By: John Ajvide Lindqvist
- 2008
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 54 m
- 2008
- R
- Magnet Releasing
- 1 h 54 m
Let the Right One In
8.5
Where to Watch
Summary 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 freezin...
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
Written By: John Ajvide Lindqvist
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal acclaim
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
82
97% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal acclaim
Based on 30 Critic Reviews
82
97% Positive
29 Reviews
29 Reviews
3% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
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.
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.
User Score
Universal acclaim
Based on 422 User Ratings
8.5
89% Positive
375 Ratings
375 Ratings
4% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
8% Negative
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
User Score
Universal acclaim
Based on 422 User Ratings
8.5
89% Positive
375 Ratings
375 Ratings
4% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
8% Negative
32 Ratings
32 Ratings
Oskar, a fragile and anxious twelve-year-old boy, is abused by his schoolmates and ignored by his own family. He finally finds company in Eli, a pale, serious girl who has recently moved into the neighborhood. Then a deep friendship with disturbing traits is born, because at the same time mysterious brutal killings begin to occur. This movie is one of the best horror movies of the last 25 years, probabily the best along with "The Witch". Director's Alfredsson perfectly manages the rythm of the horror balancing it with drama and the result is an astounding movie. Cinematography choices are perfect here since DOP (along with the director) provide a macabre and cold atmosphere which perfectly fits with the story told. "Let the Right One in" is no doubt a must-see film and of course a memorable one.
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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.
It's a genuine genre vampire picture; and it's Swedish, winter-lit, Bergmanesque.
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.
Strikes a surprising array of notes: scary, sad and hopeful. The director, Tomas Alfredson, does a great job of presenting peril in the film.
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.
One of the best movies of this decade that best catches the sense of the 80s and not the neon side of it, but that bleak, almost neo-noir feel of old Polaroids. Visually, it is gorgeous. The content pulls on your heart, the pre-adolescent love beats intensely and lingers wantingly while gruesome things happen in the background. And yet, it leaves a warm smile on your face.
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Good movie, but overrated in my opinion. Ensure you get the theatrical subtitles as well, as the DVD release has awful subtitles (google the controversy to find out more info). If you don't listen to the hype surrounding this movie, I think you'll enjoy in. But don't expect the masterpiece everyone keeps banging on about!
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It looked nice. It looked quite stark and bright but looked very filmic and good. The sound was occasionally full of depth and excellent but was mostly stark and boring. It matched the picture and the story but that didn't stop me from not liking it. It was too artistic for me. I found myself bored and not interested in what was going on. It was too slow and not even that dramatic. I am a bit bored of vampire dramas at the moment too! It had some good elements but it wasn't for me - far too serious and slow with nothing happening.
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Gory thrillers are basically all that Scandinavian movies are famous for worldwide and Tomas Alfredson doesn’t want to share away from this with his vampire flick Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in). But the Swedish production that has been showed at pretty much any film festival imaginable still isn’t what you’d call mainstream. The main characters are a twelve-year-old bullying victim and a vampiress of the same age just that she’s been twelve for a longer time. Now does that sound odd to you? Well, it is. Damn right it is.
To spice up the somberly snowed landscape of the northernmost part of Europe with some blood is a great idea stylistically and the Dutch cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema knows exactly how can he make the murder scenes rememberable. However, he’s quite a singularity with this in the cast of Let the Right One In. One could pick on the fact that the child actors don’t feel genuine, the director has a way too austere approach to an unbelievable story, or that there isn’t any suspense at all, but eventually, all boils down to the mixture of horror, drama, romance, and coming-of-age story that just doesn’t work. For example, one scene shows a man brutally slaughtering another man, and the next shows the flirtation of two kids. But that alone wouldn’t have ruined the movie for me it’s a handful of plainly ridiculous scenes that made it impossible for me to take Let the Right One In seriously. In one, a woman gets attacked by a dozen cats in a Scary Movie manner, in another one, the same woman ignites herself in a hospital bed, and what we also get to see are the bare nether regions of a twelve-year-old girl a scene that confirms her previous comment, she isn’t a girl. Oh, and the best is yet to come: a close-up shot of a man who’s burned his face with acid! Think of it like The Dar Knight’s Two-Face with worse prosthetics.
If there aren’t any of such idiotic moments, time is bypassed with boring dialogs, which accumulate to a sheerly unendurable sum over the course of almost two hours running time. All of this is disappointing, considering the potential some rare scenes show as in the one, in which protagonist Oskar visits his divorced father and the lovely father-son-ambiance suddenly leaves as a buddy of his father stops by and leads him away from the offspring and to alcohol. This particular scene is short and mostly silent, but still probably the best of the film because it for once manages to emotionally affect the audience.
The overall product though, is really disappointing. You can’t accuse Let the Right One In of using clichés, but that alone doesn’t make a film original in this case, it only makes it to an unfrightening horror film, an unmoving romance, and a drama too ridiculous to take seriously.
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This movie was just not interesting. It bored me half to death. It barely had any good scares. The little boy was annoying. A lot of the scenes could have been brilliant if they were just quicker and more intense, but they weren't. The scenes that should've been intense just plodded along endlessly. This is one of those instances where music could have done wonders for a movie.
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Production Company
EFTI,
Sandrew Metronome Distribution Sverige AB,
Filmpool Nord,
Sveriges Television (SVT),
WAG,
Canal+,
Fido Film AB,
Ljudligan,
The Chimney Pot
Release Date Oct 24, 2008
Duration 1 h 54 m
Rating R
Tagline Eli is 12 years old. She's been 12 for over 200 years and, she just moved in next door.
Awards
Guldbagge Awards
• 5 Wins & 7 Nominations
International Online Film Critics' Poll
• 2 Wins & 7 Nominations
Scream Awards
• 1 Win & 7 Nominations
