REVIEW: Let the Right One In

In terms of plot, this film shares a few similarities with Twilight. Both involve a misfit youth falling in love with a vampire who has recently moved into their neighbourhood. So for two films so similar in subject matter, its amazing how one can be so good and the other so average. It stands as the ultimate argument that the how is more inportant then the what.

Anyways, 12 year old Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is a bully victim who when we first meet him is fantasising about killing his tormentors. 12 year old Eli (Lina Leandersson) is a girl vampire, who does what vampires do. Including killing, which separates it nicely from the neutered vampires of Twilight. Yet this film isn't about the horror really. Don't get me wrong, it has its fair share of gore and horror, but above all this film is a remarkably moving love story. Largely helped by two of the best child performances Ive seen in a very long time. Leandersson in particular displays a surprising emotional maturity and many adult actresses will never give a performance this good. Another refreshing aspect of this film is it lacks the usual need to sugar coat the morality and its nice to see a film that knows characters don't have to be morally perfect in order to be sympathetic, something American horror movies in particular have no grasp of and it just adds to the higher level of story-telling on display here. It may well be the best horror movie of this decade, and is in itself a minor masterpiece.

A film to watch for all the people believing horror is synonymous with a lack of quality, as this will certainly put that theory to rest. Im sure it'll be remade within a couple of years, as all good foreign horror films are, but for now lets enjoy a film that reminds you why you love movies the way you do. The fact that it got no Oscar recognition in the foreign film category is a crime, and a testament to how square the academy truly is. Sidenote, the Rubik's cube gets more attention in movies then any toy I can think of. People are obsessed with the thing. Anyway, seek this thing out, itll be worth it.

Rating: 9/10