Let the Right One In

4/4 stars

I'm not really into horror films, particularly most of the ones that come out currently. I've never been particularly interested in a movie that's just supposed to scare me, and never mind making me think or providing anything constructive. That said, I do enjoy being scared by a movie if it's in the right way. For instance, I'm a fan of every movie in which Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal Lecter. It's a frightening performance, but it's also a real character with depth, philosophy and emotion. There are only six or seven moments where Let the Right One In is trying to be scary, and all of them are scary in the right way.

The premise of Let the Right One In, expressed as well as I am able, is an attempt at a realistic examination of the idea of a vampire. The complications of a vampire's existence, the odd hours, odd habits, and the continual cost in human life are things that go unnoticed if the story is set in a metropolitan center where the rich are eccentric and a few people are expected to disappear now and then. In this film, set in a close-knit suburb of Stockholm with planes of Million Program apartment windows vigilently watching in the night, word travels fast that something is amiss. The movie is visually distinctive, with motifs of blood, pale skin, vast white snow and black sky. The landscape is perfect for the story that is being told; there's a sense of bleakness and claustrophobia that pervades the day in, day out narrative construction. The acting also draws one into the film, even if they're watching without the benefit of understanding the spoken dialogue. Particularly the young actors Hedebrant and Leandersson are engrossing and disturbing in the main roles.

One of the things I like most about the film was the way that realistic violence and horror fantasy violence were played off of each other. While the vampire is monstrous when it attacks, the real impact of the death it causes comes from the scenes in which its human helper hunts on its behalf. Supernatural violence is also juxtaposed with human on human violence when the main character is terrorized by school bullies by day, and the town is victimized by the vampire by night. In both cases the brutality escalates over time with each offense piling on the last. What should we make of the fact that the vampire kills to sustain itself, while human cruelty is often completely lacking in purpose? This exploration of violence, as well as the contrast between the mundane world and the otherworldly force that enters it, are among the more intriguing ideas that are explored here. Let the Right One In is an intricate, masterfully crafted and darkly beautiful film. It is both dramatic and frightening, alternately chilling and fascinating.

Note: The dialogue in Let the Right One In is in Swedish. An English dub exists on the DVD I have sitting next to me, but I have not attempted watching it. The subtitles on the DVD are different (and somewhat noticeably inferior) from the ones I saw in the theatrical version.