I have watched a couple of vampire movies; each
with a good-looking vampire often making the viewers want to be them because of
the mysticism that they stand for. ‘Let the right one in’ is the darkest of the
topic that I have seen.
The bullies that torment him in school haunt
Oskar—a 12-year-old resident of Stockholm in the 80’s. Being a child of
separated parents, the boy is alone a lot, often preparing to confront his
tormentors with his knife. One day, he befriends a young girl his age called
Eli. Although they don’t start off with being friends, their relationship
evolves.
Eli and Oskar being lonely adolescents are drawn
to each other, him being smitten.
She lives with her father (Hakan) next door. One
day on enquiring about a scar on Oskar’s face, she finds out about the bullying
in school. She urges him to hit back when such an episode occurs again. On a
skating school outing, an opportunity strikes itself and he stands up for
himself and strikes his bully.
At the same outing, a couple of boys find a dead
body under the ice. A series of murders unravel. Eli turns out to be a vampire
and the man who poses to be her father, Håkan,
provides for her blood lust. While trying to procure blood, he gets caught and
disfigured his face so Eli isn’t traced. While in the hospital, Eli visits him
and he offers her his blood and falls to his death from the window.
Other dark events occur and soon Oskar replaces Håkan
in Eli’s life. The last scene shows Oskar in a train with a box, in which is
Eli.
The Nordic climate and setting adds to the eerie
plot of the movie. Despite the lack of violence, the dark portrayal of the
story is enough to give one chills. With two 12 year olds as the lead actors and
the allowed open interpretation to unexplained situations, this movie is
impressive take on a horror movie let alone the topic of vampires. That being
said, let me go on stating the obvious—this movie is everything Twilight is
not!
