It’s winter in the suburbs of Blakenberg, Sweden. Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a twelve-year-old boy living in an apartment, with his mother. Oskar is a loner and a quiet child whose classmates bully him. One evening he meets a girl, Eli (Lina Leandersson) who has just moved in next door with a man that Oskar believes is her father, Hakan (Per Ragnar). Eli is a pale and somber twelve-year-old who doesn’t seem to be affected by the cold. The two children slowly begin talking to each other from time to time. Eventually he confides in her about his bullies. Oskar teaches Eli Morse Code so they can communicate through the thin apartment walls.
What Oskar doesn’t know is that Eli is a vampire and Hakan is her servant and protector. Hakan almost gets caught when he kills someone so he can harvest the blood for Eli. The town is thrown into a panic when they learn of the murder. Eventually, Hakan gets trapped while trying to harvest blood from another person. In desperation he pours acid on himself and is taken to the hospital. Eli visits him there. As a last service to Eli, Hakan offers himself to her. Eli drinks his blood.
With her servant dead, Eli must find victims herself. Soon there are more murders in the area. Without her provider, Eli begins to get desperate. Eli attacks one woman named Virginia (Ika Nord) who is saved from death, but not from the effects of being bitten by Eli. Realizing what is happening to herself, Virginia commits suicide by having an orderly at the hospital open the blinds and let in the sun. Virginia bursts into flames.
Oskar begins to realize that there is something different about his new friend and figures out that she is really a vampire. The longer things go on, the more dangerous it gets for her. Eli decides she needs to leave but Virginia’s boyfriend, Lacke (Peter Carlberg) suspects that the girl is responsible for Virginia’s death and has plans to kill her.
“Let the Right One In” was released in 2008 and was directed by Tomas Alfredson. It is a Swedish horror film. The movie is based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist. An American version of the book was done in 2010 called “Let Me In”.
It is a very somber film full of imagery that evokes coldness and starkness. One of the plot devises isn’t dialogue but silence. There’s not a lot of conversation here but there are lots of empty, and it’s creepy.
One of the strange aspects of the story that is not delved into is the fact that Eli is supposed to be a boy. To be specific an androgynous boy whose genitals had been removed at the time he was turned into a vampire. This is first noted when Eli tells Oskar that she is not a girl but does not elaborate. It could be supposed that the statement refers to her being a vampire. The subject is brought up again later, and Oskar does see the scars on Eli from her castration, but the discussion seems to be glossed over as not important to the relationship between the two kids. A friend is a friend. It makes the film a sort of coming-of- age movie but with a vampire. Sexuality is replaced by emotion, specifically feelings of genuine love and friendship. Both kids are damaged, but in different ways, and subconsciously they seem to recognize it in each other. This is one thing that draws them together.
There’s still plenty of gore and blood to go around. This is still a vampire movie. Most of the blood is passive but there are still moments of horror, such as when Virginia gets attacked by the cats and then later goes up in flames. The combination of stark horror and young love make the film really engrossing.