Let The Right One In (R-2008)

"Let The Right One In" is a Swedish vampire film which is at times very unsettling. The story centers around the relationship between Oskar (Kare Heldebrant), a bullied, lonely boy and Eli (Lina Leandersson), the mysterious girl-next-door who happens to be a vampire. In fact, those two performances are the stand-out performances in the movie and these two kids do an amazing job carrying this film. In fact, the adult acting in this is mediocre at best. It probably did not help that I watched a dubbed version in which the voice-over work was almost laughable. The dubbing was reminiscent of an old-school Saturday morning kung-fu movie. For some reason, the kids dubbing was not quite as bad. The movie explores a very odd and somewhat sordid relationship as Eli becomes close to Oskar and begins to help him tap into his darker side to help deal with the bullies. While we watch them separately deal with their issues (her with vampirism, him with escalating tension with the bullies), we also watch their friendship blossom. One of the more unsettling themes is that vampire films are typically rooted in some level of eroticism, when the two leads are 12-year olds, it becomes almost uncomfortable. Of course, in a story like this, the discomfort works really well. The movie is somewhat gory when it needs to be, but not overly so. It is a deep, dark story and is very entertaining. If you don't mind subtitles, you would probably be better off watching the original language version as the bad voice work was a bit of a distraction in the dubbed version.

Grade: B-

Line of the movie: Eli comes into Oskar's room at night, strips down and slides into his bed. Oskar: "So, you want to go steady?"

Trailer: