Blu-Ray dvd movie review of Let the Right One In
April 4, 2009
Lately, the horror scene has been dominated by slasher remakes and Asian horror film remakes. Let the right one in is a breath of fresh air in somewhat stale horror genre. The Swedish film was directed by Tomas Alfredson and adapted from John Ajvide’s book. The film takes conventional vampire/romance film and adds a twist in the form of coming of age story of two leads.
The story is about 12 year old Oskar and a girl named Eli. Oskar is constantly bullied by his classmates and secretly fantasizes about killing them in his spare time. One day, Eli and her dad movies into his building and he has chance to meet with her. From early on, audiences are let in on the secret of Eli’s nature. Oskar befriends Eli and they soon hit it off. In a chilling scene, Oskar finds out the true identity of Eli. The rest of the story revolves around the relationship between the two kids and their problems. The interaction is quite touching at times and really brutal at others. It’s really a stark contrast between one moment to another.
The two leads are the only real characters worth noting in the film as the story revolves around their relationship. The rest either end up being food source for Eli or just passerby in Oskar and Eli’s world. This film has garnered a lot of praise and awards in the film festival circuits. I think any horror film fans should see this film. The Blu-ray version does come with the original Swedish sound track. Don’t settle for terrible dubbed version. I’m not sure what’s scarier, the growing up pains or having a vampire for a girlfriend.
What do you think about this movie? Please leave your thoughts below.
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Lord of the Flies meets Dracula
I love to read vampire stories, especially today’s urban fantasy vampire stories. When I heard about this movie, how intriguing it sounded to me, so I rented it. The copy that I rented was in English. This interpretation of the vampire legend is disturbing because of the pre-teens aspect of it. It makes quite a social comment, that I’m not sure is caught by anyone not an adult. When I rented it, the clerk said that she had seen it and that it was very “strange”. I thought at the time, “What an odd thing to say about a horror movie”. “Aren’t they all strange?” And then I found myself, having watched the movie, thinking about Abu Gharib and the Lord of the Flies movie. We don’t really need our monsters to scare us, just show us the monsters within.
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I would recommend this movie to the true vampire fans
If you are a fan of vampire movies and would like a more unique take on the genre, I would recommend you check out “Låt den rätte komma in” Let The Right One In.
The story takes place in the apartment building of one Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a quiet 12 year old who is constantly bullied by Conny (Patrik Rydmark) and his two friends, Martin (Mikael Erhardsson) and Andreas (Johan Sömnes). One day whilst playing by himself (as usual), Oskar is approached by Eli (Lina Leandersson), a mysterious girl about his age who had just moved in to the apartment next to his. The two soon form a relationship of friendship and a bit more which ultimately leads to Oskar learning that she is a vampire.
The pacing of this movie is a bit slow and will turn-off the newbie horror fans who are used to gore over story. Eli has fangs which are never seen, so the cliche Vampire shots are left out – a choice I view as an excellent one since the fangs would have changed our outlook on her quite a bit. Eli is shown to be somewhat of an innocent, a child who has lived through the ages drinking blood and although she has a killer’s instinct to feed, she comes off as lonely and sad the entire time.
Let The Right One In is a love story with the main characters being children. Innocence is exploited, revealed and at times thrown out the door. The cinematography was the highlight of this film for me as we watch the drifting snow fall upon the brick prison of an apartment complex during the initial scene when the kids meet. Filmed in Sweden and critically acclaimed, I would recommend this movie to the true vampire fans.
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WAIT FOR THEATRICAL SUBTITLES!!
This is an amazing film brought down low by lazy distributors not paying attention to A. the integrity of the dialogue, and B. the fans. For a explanation of how they screwed the pooch:
http://iconsoffright.com/news/2009/03/let_the_wrong_subtitles_in_to.html
The sad thing is that I bought this first pressing before realizing the problem and Magnolia/Magnet are not letting people exchange the film for the next pressing. So lame…
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This is NOT the right one to let in, into your DVD player
I bought this movie based on NPR’s (National Public Radio)recommendation. (Usually a good source for intelligent, interesting movies; however, this movie is neither). Now, the movie was very shallow, generic, predictable, and greatly lacking in imagination. All the characters lacked depth and intelligence. This movie was plain and simple a case of “what you see is what you get.” Often you see a movie and think it will get better; well, this is one is one of those that never gets any better. You see the first five minutes and that is as good as it gets.
No mystery, no intrigue, just plain: kid bullied at school befriends vampire girl, vampire girl protects him and, in one of the most anticlimactic endings, kills the bad kids. That is the whole movie, a great, great disappointment.
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“Amelie” meets “Dracula”?
I love the understatement of this movie. No screaming and running around. A gentle, sympathetic vampire movie? That’s what this is.
I can’t stop thinking this is the type of movie that inspires others to make movies but I’m afraid the American remake will be much louder and bloodier.
Is this a minor masterpiece? Even the very effective special effects are subtle but eerie. They don’t have to pound you over the head, Hollywood!
How can they improve on the girl walking barefoot in the snow or her stomach growling (slightly) when she smells blood? The silent but unsettling way she climbs trees and buildings?
I’m afraid Hollywood will have her snarl, growl, and moan loudly when the boy slits his palm.
Hopefully, they’ll prove me wrong but don’t bet the rent on it.
This makes most other bloodsucker flicks seem lurid and grotesque.
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Let The Right One In
Stay away from this movie. Not only the worse vampire movie ever made, possibly the worst movie ever made. A complete waste of time. Giving it one star is being too kind.
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Boooooorrrrriiiinnnnggggg!!!!!!!
Typical pretentious European snoozefest. Don’t waste your time or money, unless you’re one of those pretentious snobs who pretends to be “fascinated” by over-indulgent, boring European pseudo-art films.
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Awesome
Great film. Not intended to be a horror film (cliche). For the budget involved it was magnificent. Really unique.
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Movie is fantastic; translation is horrible
I was recently informed about how the translation done for the DVD release of this film was changed from a narrative translation to more of a literal translation, taking away some important aspects of characterization from the poetry of the language. There are some points where the translations have characters saying things that don’t even make sense the way that the wording is done. Apparently, the distributor cheapskated out when it came to buying the translation that was shown in theaters (which was fantastic; as I saw earlier this year). I hate to downgrade a movie that I loved so much, and the reviews on the cover are true as far as how great the film is. This is what true horror films should all strive for. However, the distributor really dropped the ball when a little bit of money might have gotten them much better reviews.
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let the right MOVIE in…
i’ve seen both…in the theatre and the dvd…do yourself a favor-wait. this one isn’t even close.
the distributer is waiting to release the theatrical version, not the dumbed down version.
i hope directors and producers take notice to how this is being handled and act accordingly. i even heard let the right one in’s director is upset, as he should be.
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Twilight For True Vampire/Horror Fans!
WATCH THIS MOVIE WITH SUBTITLES! DO NOT WATCH IT DUBBED!
This Movie Makes “Twilight” Look Like A Bad “G” Rated Movie. “Let The Right One In” Features REAL Vampires With Fangs That Die In The Daylight, Instead Of Sparkling Like In Twilight (Wow). And It’s Actually Really Cool To See Very Young Vampires For Once. Anyway, Just Give This Movie A Shot, It’s Definitely Worth Seeing (Remember, Only With Subtitles).
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