Let The Right One In is a compelling study of adolescent angst and the first awkward pangs of sexual attraction that also happens to be a pretty generic vampire movie. As a result, this Swedish import that would have otherwise gone under the radar has been overhyped by practically every horror-centric Net journalist, and, most embarrassingly, some legitimate critics as well.
To be fair, the first act is ultra creepy and does succeed at creating a mood of oppression and dread. Before endless, white icebound wastes, a tormented 12-year-old brandishes a knife and pretends an innocent fir tree is a school bully, stabbing it with relish. One day there appears a raven-haired neighbor, equally pale and creepy but also a girl, who likes to appear in precarious places without making noise, is skinnier than a runway model and fascinated by puzzles. Our hero is in love, but anyone familiar with the premise already knows what the “catch” is, and the inevitable complications that will result. There are some extremely tense and frightening scenes involving the girl bloodsucker’s “father” trying to harvest sustenance from innocent townspeople, but once the plot starts to advance along well-defined rails, the horror evaporates.
The acting, especially from the two leads, is wonderful, and there is a lot of it since the story treats every adult character as either buffoonish or detached to the point of alienation. That does tie into the overarching theme of acceptance and finding alternate families, referred to in the title and kind of metaphorically used as another Vampire Weakness that Bram Stoker forgot to mention. The third act, while predictable, is quite ballsy and will doubtless be altered when this film is inevitably remade in America for those of you who can’t be bothered to read subtitles.
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