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Vampires back to being vampires
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Theatrical release poster
Vampires are all the rage these days, no doubt spawning from the ever growing popularity of Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series. Go into any local bookstore and you’ll see stacks of Meyer's four book series, along with countless other knockoffs all hoping for the same kind of success. Vampires have gone from being dark and frightful bloodsucking ghouls to every 15-year-old girl’s dream date. The vampire’s saga is a sad one indeed. Fortunately, not everyone sees vampires as a new sex symbol.
Tomas Alfredson’s “Let the Right One In,” a Swedish film based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, takes a more realistic approach to what falling in love with a vampire would be like. Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is an unimposing 12-year-old boy, who is continually bullied and dreams of one day getting revenge. He meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), his new neighbor, a pale and sickly looking girl about his own age who tells him that they cannot be friends. Although she is initially reluctant, Eli and Oskar do end up sharing a common bond, as Eli encourages Oskar to stand up for himself. All the while, Hakan (Per Ragnar), an older man who lives with Eli is murdering locals, draining their blood, and feeding it to Eli, because she is indeed an ageless vampire stuck in a 12-year-old’s body.
The plot of “Let the Right One In” is simple enough. Two pre-pubescent children experience first love, with the only wrench in the works being one is a vampire. It’s a story similar to that of the “Twilight” series, but where “Twilight” completely and utterly fails, “Let the Right One In” shines. Instead of lazily changing around the rules such as making vampires shine like diamonds in the sun and survive off animal blood, Alfredson’s film sticks to showing vampires as what they truly are: undead, bloodsucking monsters who burst into flames when caught in sunlight. While doing so, he also shows them as sad creatures, in need of love and friendship. Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson do an amazing job in their respective roles. Their performances, along with the stunning cinematography and dark, ominous score, will no doubt mesmerize audiences. There is a reason why this film won over 40 awards at several different film festivals the year of its initial release.
That being said, there is (of course) an American remake already in the works with its scheduled release for sometime next year. Is it necessary? No. This is a practically flawless film which will more than likely become some overly stylized, CG ridden nightmare, that’s a mere shadow of its former self. But hopefully, whatever buzz the remake creates will encourage the mainstream audience to see the original, a truly terrifying, vampire love story.
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