• Let The Right One In Review

Hey folks, your friendly neighborhood Valkor is back with another hot MediaView nugget you don't want to pass up, should it ever touches your grubby mitts. This one comes all the way from Sweden, a first for me. And while I'm not a huge fan of vampire films, I'll admit, "Let The Right One In", is pretty damn good.

Let The Right One in


The Story

"Let The Right One In", is an adolescent love story, where two hearts from different worlds, have a chance meeting and that changes their lives forever. The main plot centers on a boy named Oskar (Kare Hedebrandt), who's picked on daily by a bully named Conny (Patrik Rydmark). When we first meet Oskar, he is plotting revenge against the boy who torments him daily. One night while he's outside, practicing his stabbing skillz, he happens to meet a girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson). Eli has recently moved in next door with her father and appears to be about Oskar's age. The two soon become friends, meeting almost nightly. But what Oskar doesn't know is that Eli's a vampire, who follows basic vampire rules such as never going into the sun, or she has to be invited into a home before she can enter. And her father does the hunting for her by going out and draining victims of their blood. But the friendship between Oskar and Eli blossom and she even teaches him how to handle his bully situation. But when it's revealed that Eli is truly a Vampire, Eli has to make a choice to stay and face death by the town's people, or run away. Please note that I am leaving out some subplots as I don't wanna go full on spoiler "Let the Right One In" is not the scariest film I've seen, but it is quite chilling with lots of gore. Also, there are scenes that some may find discomforting; because this is a film about a boy and a girl who are about 12-year-olds, there are some scenes (one in particular) that you may find... well shocking. Ok given the situation, empathizing with Oskar, yes I would have done what he did. But they didn't need to actually show what he sees. Other than that the film is a true Vampire film right down to the blood and there's plenty of it. But let's sink into the heart of this review.

Let The Right One in


The Good

The plot for "Let the Right One In" stands out first and foremost because the story is so unique; I mean it's been done before, but not from this angle or at this level of believability. The characters react almost like how you would expect them to, especially the Oskar and Eli characters and how they interact with one another. The suspense level isn't too intense, but the chill factor is there in spades; the entire mood of the film is dark as all hell. And did I mention the blood/gore level? You don't get buckets of blood, but there's enough to make you cringe. And the gore level is also set to medium, with only a few gross out scenes. But the ending is where it's at. Because just when you think it's over... it's not. Talk about gaining some closure and coming full circle.

Let The Right One in


The Bad

The only bad is that one scene when Oskar peeks in at Eli. Again it's not really that bad by his actions, but some people might construe it as such, when in fact the scene is quite innocent and is expected of a boy that age. It's very brief, but it's in your face.

Let The Right One in


The Ugly

Eli's dad turning Two-Face; you'll see what I mean.

"Let the Right One In" is winning rave reviews from just about anyone and everyone who has seen it and with good reason; it's an exceptional story of boy meets girl, with a tale of Vampire woe to complete the package, which I highly recommend. Out of TOV 5 stars, I'm giving the film it a 4.

Let The Right One in