The vampire genre, both in film and literature, has always been closely tied to gothic romance, going all the way back to Bram Stoker’s Dracula or even John Polidori’s The Vampyre. As far as monsters go, vampires are the dream lover; hopelessly romantic in conduct, yet beast-like when it comes to sex. So what happens when this dynamic is reinterpreted into prepubescent kids, with the severity of the consequences intact? After all, you can’t play with a vampire without getting bit—Er, figuratively speaking, of course (or maybe not). Would a vampire still retain its sexuality even if she looks and behaves like a twelve year old girl?
Set in the early 80s, this genre-melding Swedish film explores puppy love in a devilishly original manner. The title refers to the myth that vampires can’t come in unless they’re invited by the homeowner, but it’s also a metaphor for the companionship that drives the story. Twelve-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is an outcast brutally picked on at school by bullies. All the bullying has turned Oskar into an inwardly violent boy, collecting newspaper clippings of murders and often fantasizing about torturing his tormentors. He meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), a strange girl seemingly his age who just moved into the apartment next door with her single father, and they become infatuated with one another. Unbeknownst to Oskar, Eli’s “father” is a serial killer, slicing up teenagers to bring home buckets of blood for the sheltered Eli to feed on. Set against these horrific events, however, is a surprisingly stirring adolescent love story between a young sociopath and a vampire, so raw in its portrayal that it’s uncomfortable to see how innocent their motivations are.
Let the Right One in is a challenging film, a great deal of that comes from Eli’s appearance. She looks twelve, but we know that she’s “been twelve for a long time.” Though they never outwardly state it, it’s heavily implied from their body language that her “father” is/was really her lover. Eli is older than she looks, but when we see them together, it’s still a creepy middle-aged man and a young girl. At the same time, Eli’s pairing with Oskar looks natural, when in fact she’s causing significant changes in him, in ways a girl should, but more so here because she’s a vampire. A key moment in the film has the two young lovers spoon naked in bed, affectionate but unaware of the eroticism involved in the situation. Oskar asks Eli if she wants to “go steady” and be his girlfriend. Eli, never having had the chance to experience what that really means in a sociable fashion, asks Oskar if anything would change between them. When Oskar says no, it’s a sincere answer—still oblivious to how close he is to his sexual awakening. His sole motivation appears to be that a “girlfriend” status is a social crown achievement in his lonely twelve-year-old worldview. The film fuses the vampire's sexual authority with a pre-teen's sexual curiosity.
Along the same lines, Oskar’s entanglement with his violent side is very much a part of that rocky stage in puberty that thrusts kids into a dog-eat-dog world. Pulled back-and-forth between a strict but loving mother and a lax but irresponsible father, Oskar is left vulnerable to be shaped into violence by bullies. In most films about schoolyard harassment, when the protagonist finally has the opportunity to stand up for himself, it’s often a cathartic moment for both the character and the audience, seeing the bully gets his comeuppance. Here, under Eli’s urging, Oskar fights back and the result is both ugly and disturbing. Director Tomas Alfredson’s grasp of this circle of kids is so firm that the film suffers whenever it detours into its subplot about the other residents of their apartment building.
Engrossingly acted by its two young leads and full of inventive visuals (an underwater shot near the end of the film is downright sublime), Let the Right One in is a film both brutal and poignant; a frank coming-of-age romance free of lame sentimentalism. It also goes without saying that it’s a daringly unique take on the vampire lore, undeniably placing it next to Martin as one of the best vampire movies of all time.
"Let the Right One In" opens November 7, 2008 and is rated R. Drama, Horror, Romance. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. Written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Starring Lina Leandersson, Henrik Dahl, Kåre Hedebrant, Per Ragnar.
