This is not just a vampire movie. This is not just another love story. This is not just a story of a young boy’s angst as he’s bullied by the kids in his school. Nor is it just a horror film. Let The Right One In is not just any of these things while being all these things at the same time.
Adapted from a novel, Let The Right One In has a title that says it all. Oskar must accept Eli and take on her friendship while blocking out the rest of the world. Eli is all that Oskar is not, Oskar is weak but it is through his interaction with Eli that Oskar learns to fight back. As the vampire story and the love story coverage with snow-laden Sweden as its backdrop, the film creates an atmospheric, eerie, non-gimmicky horror love tale. The film also does a great deal for the Vampire myth. It takes all that we know about Vampires, its mythology and reinvents it in ways that make this age-old genre appear so fresh. And those moments of raw power and emotion that this movie possesses surpasses many. Who can forget the scene, when Eli enters Oskar’s house uninvited and she bleeds. Or the scene where Eli tells Oskat to “hit back and hard.”