Let the Right One In (Sweden: Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

Let the Right One In (Sweden: Tomas Alfredson, 2008: 115 mins)

In early 1980s Stockholm, as a Soviet sub runs aground in violation of Sweden’s borders, meek 12-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), engaged in his own Cold War with vicious bullies, practically conjures his new neighbour Eli (Lina Leandersson), who helps him realise his closeted fantasies of revenge. Adapting the 2004 novel of John Ajvide Lindqvist, Tomas Alfredson merges pre-adolescent angst and timeless vampiric longing. In its cool distance, this is almost the anti-Twilight, perfectly nailing the pain of growing up, the beauty of melancholy and the irresistibility of violence. Miraculously, the results manage to be utterly unsentimental yet still deeply moving. – Anton Bitel

Benton, Michael Dean. ""Be Me, for Awhile" -- Ideological Becoming and Future Objectivity in Let the Right One In." (2009) Dialogic Cinephilia (September 12, 2014)

Bilson, Anne. "The Vampire as Metaphor." Screen Studies (Excerpted from Bilson's book Let the Right One In: "Audiences can't get enough of fang fiction. Twilight, True Blood, Being Human, The Vampire Diaries, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blade, Underworld, and the novels of Anne Rice and Darren Shan—against this glut of bloodsuckers, it takes an incredible film to make a name for itself. Directed by Tomas Alfredson and adapted for the screen by John Ajvide Lindqvist, The Swedish film Làt den rätte komma in (2008), known to American audiences as Let the Right One In, is the most exciting, subversive, and original horror production since the genre's best-known works of the 1970s. Like Twilight, Let the Right One In is a love story between a human and a vampire—but that is where the resemblance ends. Set in a snowy, surburban housing estate in 1980s Stockholm, the film combines supernatural elements with social realism. It features Oskar, a lonely, bullied child, and Eli, the girl next door. "Oskar, I'm not a girl," she tells him, and she's not kidding—she's a vampire. The two forge an intense relationship that is at once innocent and disturbing. Two outsiders against the world, one of these outsiders is, essentially, a serial killer. What does Eli want from Oskar? Simple companionship, or something else? While startlingly original, Let the Right One In could not have existed without the near century of vampire cinema that preceded it. Anne Billson reviews this history and the film's inheritence of (and new twists on) such classics as Nosferatu (1979) and Dracula (1931). She discusses the genre's early fliration with social realism in films such as Martin (1977) and Near Dark (1987), along with its adaptation of mythology to the modern world, and she examines the changing relationship between vampires and humans, the role of the vampire's assistant, and the enduring figure of vampires in popular culture."]

Bricklemeyer, Kris, Kyler Fey, and Mike White. "Let the Right One In (2008)." The Projection Booth #592 (October 19, 2022) ["Shocktober 2022 continues with a look at Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In (2008). Based on the book and adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist, it’s the story of Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a young boy who’s being picked on at school. When a vampire, Eli (Lina Leandersson), and her helper move into the apartment next door, things change for young Oskar. Kyler Fey and Chris Bricklemyer join Mike to discuss this unusual vampire film as well as its American remake."]

Låt den rätte komma in (Let The Right One In, Sweden 2008) The Case for Global Film (April 30, 2009)

Kuerstein, Erich. "Swedish Death, American Style." Acidemic #7 (2012)

The Let the Right One In Issue Little White Lies #22 (2009)

Prewitt, Zach. "The Best Horror Cinema of the 21st Cinema." (Posted on Vimeo: October 2016)

Rapold, Nicholas and Matt Zoller Seitz. "A History of Creepy Kids on Film." The L Magazine (August 3, 2009)

Rehlin, Gunnar. "Directors of the Year: Tomas Alfredson." International Film Guide: 2012. 48th Edition. [BCTC Library: PN 1993.3 I544 2012]

Subissati, Andrea and Alexandra West. "Come As You Are: Let the Right One In (2008)." Faculty of Horror #56 (December 20, 2017)

Wright, Rochelle. "Vampire in the Stockholm suburbs: Let the Right One In and genre hybridity." Journal of Scandinavian Cinema 1.1 (2010)