Låt den rätte komma in / Let the Right One In (2008)

Having read about Let Me In, the new US remake of Let the Right One In, in this month's Empire, and since we're having a Swedish love-in with Wallander at the moment, the time seemed right to pick up the acclaimed horror movie, on Blu-Ray no less. So this marked the first Blu-Ray I've actually watched since getting a Blu-Ray player several months ago - up until now I've been using it to watch DVDs, although I've acquired about 10 Blu-Ray discs since then. I must say, you can see the difference - it's hard to explain, but the picture on Blu-Ray is just so much sharper.

But to the film... Let the Right One In is a slow burn, creepily effective take on the vampire myth, wih a tween spin. Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is bullied at school and ignored at home, so he's interested when Eli (Lina Leandersson) moves in next door. Eli isn't just a little girl, however, she's a vampire, with a minder who looks after her by murdering people and draining their blood for her to drink. Things go a bit awry when he's caught and pours acid on his face, before taking a tumble out of a window.

As with Wallander, the pace is slow, allowing the gorgeous snowy, Swedish landscape to draw you in. Eli's real identity is teased and revealed slowly, and there are great moments of sudden, bloody violence, as she leaps, catlike on to victims - these are vampires like those of True Blood, not Twilight - when they bite, it f*cking hurts! Here the vampirisim is seen as a sort of disease, as Eli passes it on to a victim she doesn't have chance to kill - when the victim chooses death over life as a vampire, she deliberately combusts in a ball of fire, in a very spectacular scene. Another memorable scene sees cats leaping on and attacking the newly created vampire, it's weird but chillingly effective. A scene I'd rather forget sees Oskar look in on Eli changing, revealing her *ahem* nether regions to the viewer - I've no idea why.

Let the Right One In is a true horror classic, much better than any gore-filled teen-slasher pic beloved of Hollywood (and unfortunately the public in general), as it really gets under your skin. When Eli walks into Oskar's flat unbidden, and begins to bleed from her scalp it makes you wonder at those movies that present vampires as an aspirational lifestyle! The finale in the swimming pool is suitably gory but the camera is restrained. I'm interested to see the US remake, mostly on the basis that the Empire article assures me it's not an absolute travesty.