Movie Review: Let the Right One In

"Best. Vampire. Movie. Ever."

Hm. Really. I gotta say, y'all had me fooled. I was expecting some really great stuff from this movie. Perhaps I wasn't in the right mood to watch a slow-burn romantic vampire movie where I can't tell who the @%$* is a male or female. I get it, I get it. Let the Right One In is about the friendship between two outsiders, about love that's not necessarily sexual. Whatever. It was BORING. There, I said it. I was bored. There were some very nice scenes thrown in there, but on the whole, this movie apparently didn't affect me like it did the rest of the world.

I've never been a big fan of vampire movies on the whole, simply because I hate how it's romanticized. And Buffy, the Vampire Slayer is my favorite TV show ever, but STFU, it became way less about just vampires after the second season. At least this film shows the ugly side of vampires for once, despite still giving it a romanticized feel. "Oh, the poor creature of the night with the hard life. She's so lonely she needs a friend." No. She's a killer. Honestly, she needs to die, she doesn't need a friend. She's got some old guy killing people for her and bringing her blood, which is like WAY worse than her killing people herself. Animals have blood too, nimrod. Ever think of that?

There are some powerful images in this film, I'll admit. Both hospital scenes are striking, and the part where Eli comes in without being invited. That one stuck out to me. Answers a question I didn't know I had: vampires can't come in without an invitation, but what happens if they do just walk in? In Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, they get stopped by an invisible barrier, but that's the only place I've ever seen that happen. We get a much more horrifying answer from Let the Right One In. I also cringed when what's-his-face disfigured himself. Ew.

That's an interesting thing about the movie: it brought back the Renfield-type character to vampire tales, Eli's spider-eating man-bitch, as it were (Buffy fans hopefully got that), who does her dirty work. I guess she's grooming Oskar to be the next man-bitch, as the closing scene indicates. 

There are some lame images in the film, too. The first time Oskar is attacked by the gang of misfits. He just stands there while one of the kids beats him on the legs with a really thin stick. And the kid is crying while he's beating him. WTF? Seriously, Oskar? Just reach out and snap the twig. Problem solved. Instead, you practice stabbing trees and saying stupid shit like, "Squeal like a pig!" 

Apparently both of these kids' acting coach told them to never convey any sort of emotion and just stand there and look somber the whole time and the audience will love it and feel sorry for them. Again, not so much. All these kids do is stand there and say their lines, I felt no emotion from them at all. I've heard the film described as so moving that people even cried. Eh, like I said, maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind to watch a movie like this - especially when I was expecting something much different. 

Gotta say though, I freaking love that DVD cover art. The simplicity of the silhouette against an icy glass is very beautiful and provocative. Kudos on that.

P.S. I hated the setup of the DVD... the audio was automatically set to the English dubbed version instead of the original Swedish. I can read subtitles, dillhole.