Who would have thought that one of the best films from 2008 would be a coming of age Vampire film from Sweden. But in the same year that Twilight began to ruin everything about Vampires, Let The Right One In was giving the overdone genre a much needed breath of fresh air.
Let The Right One In is more of a coming of age tale about friendship than it is a hardcore gore fest of a horror film, but don't worry the film had plenty of horror packed in. But the horror of the film is balanced with the beautiful subtlety of the rest of the film, a subtlety that was missing from the American remake.
The story follows a young outcast named Oskar who is constantly physically abused by his fellow classmates. He then meets Eli a seemingly shy girl who lives in his apartment building. As the two bond we find out that Eli is a lot more different (and older) that Oskar originally thought. The film isn't too plot heavy but does feature some really interesting subplots that don't seem important at first but end up tying into the main plot quite nicely.
The film's coming of age angle is highlighted by a beautiful use of ambiguous space. There are times when we have to stop and think about where we are in the world, much like the way that Oskar is trying to figure out his world.
Let The Right One In is prof that there are new ways of re-imagining classic horror stories without dumbing them down and is one of the best films (in general not even just horror) of the past 10 years.
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