Review:
This film is both hypnotic and disturbing. It has been called, deservingly, a masterpiece.
Let The Right One In is one of those rare adaptations that does full justice to the book, even in condensed form – no doubt largely due to the fact that the author of the book, John Ajvide Lindqvist, wrote the screenplay himself. I went in having not read the book, and on its own merit this movie completely blew me away. This is the type of movie that will stay with you a long time after you’ve see it.
Let The Right One In is the story of a troubled young boy and his relationship with a young-looking vampire. I don’t want to taint your viewing experience in any way, so I’m not going to say anything about the plot or characters, just know this is a true horror film (with a well deserved R rating) that is all the more disturbing for its sweetness. This is like nothing you have ever seen before.
The look, the cinematography, the atmospherics – all are exquisitely rendered. This is a gorgeous piece of cinema.
The upcoming U.S. remake has claimed it’s going to be fairly true to the original, but this is one of those situations were you can’t help wishing they hadn’t bothered to remake it at all, because the original deserves to stand alone. No matter how good the remake, it will always fall short by comparison.
Please, watch the Sweedish version. It is worth the subtitles, I promise you. Netflix streaming has it up now.
And if you want to know more about the differences between the film and the book, the AV Club has an excellent (and spoiler-filled) discussion here.
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