LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

I’ve never been a fan of Vampire related fiction be it books or movies or anything else. …I just don’t find them particularly scary….I don’t find them erotic or anything romantic or interesting about them….The original vampire novel DRACULA was well-written and scary and didn’t confuse the story with all type of psychological BS something that would be a real problem in subsequent works….Modern vampire lore is in a word-awful-substituting all kinds of explanations such as illness for the vampiric condition and also injecting sick sexual imagery and other sensationalist whatnot.

That being said, I was very pleasantly surprised by the Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN which aside from being an excellent well-made film genuinely does a credible job with the vampire premise….The story here is about a much bullied 12 year old boy who befriends his new next door neighbor, a young girl who doesn’t wear warm clothing or shoes despite it being the middle of winter with snow on the ground, only comes out at night, and throws up when tempted to try a piece of candy….Yes, she’s a vampire but one who apparently feels loneliness.

There are a number of subplots all presented logically and in a complete fashion (this is based on a popular novel)….The most interesting part of the film is how to view the relationship between the vampire girl and the boy….He is 12 and when he asks her age she says “12 more or less” it brings to mind an interesting point….This creature is still a girl but mentally has lived for ages and is basically immortal.

And does she really love her young playmate?….At the beginning, she has an elderly human who helps her get blood….It is never explained what their relationship is.

So can the vampire feel emotion or is it just looking for a new human assistant to help do her dirty work?

A very interesting plot point and one I would love to discuss with other fans of this film.