Let the Right One In

The Right One??

Thanks to this month’s DVD releases, I finally got a chance to see Let the Right One In (Lat den ratte komma in) – a movie that every one of my filmgeek friends has been talking about since FOREVER. All I heard was “it’s fantastic” and “it’s amazing” and “it’s one of the best films I’ve ever seen! YOU HAVE TO GO SEE IT NOW”. And you know what? They were right. I messed up by not getting off my lazy ass and seeing this in the theater.

To be cliche, “this is not your mother’s vampire movie”. Hell, it’s not even my vampire movie, and I’m only approaching 40. This thing makes me think I might be missing out on some kind of super-cool secret Swedish Vampire genre. But, I digress.

Allow me to simplify:

“Aw, this is such a sweet story about these two misfit kids forming a bond…HOLY CRAP SOMETHINGISREALLYREALLYWRONGWITHTHATONE Look out! Augggh! Gross! WHOAAAAAA….what??? Awwww.”

Only 100x cooler than that. Is there splatter? Oh yes, there’s splatter. Along with some shots that are so beautiful I can barely breathe and an effectively creepy CGI’d gang of cats (trust me on this one, guys – it’s not as cheesy as it sounds).

In any case, it’s not like every scene is soaked in blood – the murders are actually timed out quite nicely to the pace of the film – but when they do happen, they sure make an impression.

Also, make sure you watch it subtitled. It makes it even creepier, somehow – and the English dubbing is way too jarring to enjoy.