Let’s jump way back to 2009. It was another day stuck behind my desk in a dreary office pushing paperwork through the system. It was a bright warm March day outside and there I was stuck in a cold office dreaming of escape. My plan for that weekend was to go and see the then-newly released film adaptation of Let the Right One In. At that point in time, I had become obsessed with the novel it was based on. The skeptic inside of me didn’t truly believe any film version could do the novel full justice, but I still knew that I had to see it based on my newfound love of the novel alone.
So it was release day of the film and here I was stuck in my office bored out of my mind. Much like a vampire's unrelenting thirst, I knew I needed my fix and I needed it right then and there. I couldn’t stand to sit at that desk for another second knowing that the film was playing for audiences. I had to get out and I had to go and see this film. So I tabbed over to the website of the one art-house cinema in Sydney that was playing it and looked up session times.
There were only three sessions that day and the next session was two hours away. I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I picked up my office phone, dialed my boss's extension and feigned a severe stomach cramp. Thankfully my boss bought into it and let me “go home.” Yeah, right! I wasn’t going home. I was hopping on the next train into Sydney to enjoy my day off! Being that I worked only 10 minutes away from Sydney, I hopped a train and made a mad dash to Oxford Street and bought my ticket.
I sat in my seat with my skeptic glasses on as I truly didn’t believe they could capture what it was that made the novel so riveting. The lights dimmed, the curtains drew back and the film began. Two hours later and I felt that ecstatic sigh of relief wash over me. Even with its many omissions, the film still managed to capture the raw bloody heart of the piece. It also managed to win me over in the exact same way the novel already had. It was a moment of pure ecstatic bliss for me.
Ever since that fateful day, I’ve lost count as to how many times I’ve re-watched it. I’ve watched it with English Subs, I’ve watched it without English Subs. Hell, I’ve even watched it with the Japanese dub as an exercise when learning Japanese. It is something of a yearly tradition for me as the film now just plays on an eternal loop somewhere in the back of my mind.
Adapted for the screen by the original author John Ajvide Lindqvist, the film wisely strips down some of the novel's more lurid pulpy detours and finds the raw beating heart of the piece. That being the story of Oskar and Eli. Two outsiders who find solace and comfort in one another.
Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is very much an outsider and is incapable of fitting in. He lives with his divorced mother in an apartment complex just outside of Blackeberg - a blue collar suburb in Sweden. His mother is overworked, underpaid and trying to do her best as a single parent. He spends the occasional weekend with his father out in the countryside where they seemingly have a good relationship. He has delicate and almost effeminate features which makes him an obvious target for the bullies at school. An ongoing bullying that has clearly resulted in a total loss of self esteem.
In his spare time, he dreams of grizzly revenge upon his tormentors. He does so by brandishing a carving knife and stabbing away feverishly at a tree outside of his apartment complex pretending as if it were the bullies in question. He also keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles regarding local murder cases. To say he is off-kilter is to say the least.
One cold winter's night while looking out of his bedroom window yearning for a change, he notices the arrival of strange new neighbors. A 12 year old girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) and a balding man in his late 40s named Hakan - presumably her father. Little is known about the pair other than they travel light and keep to themselves. But then a mysterious string of murders rocks the suburbs of Blackeberg as Eli’s presence fractures the small community.
Let the Right One In serves a few different readings. On the one hand, it’s a dark coming of age story. Another reading of the film could be that it’s the story of how a vampire finds and manipulates a Renfield-like figure to serve them. Another analysis could describe it as a social commentary on how the vampire's presence shines a light on the entire community’s inherent loneliness. There is also the outside theory that Eli doesn’t exist at all and she is just a manifestation of Oskar’s pent up rage.
All of which are perfectly applicable readings that may hold some weight when analyzing the film. For the sake of not going overboard, the two readings I am choosing to adhere to today are the Renfield theory and the nature of love as is presented in the film. At its heart, I believe Let the Right One In is a meditation on the nature of love presented under the guise of a horror film.
In many ways, Sweden is perhaps the perfect backdrop for a vampire film. It’s cold, desolate and it gets nice and dark fairly early with the sun setting somewhere around 3pm in the afternoon. What better environment for a vampire to dwell in? Hoyte Van Hoytema’s cinematography perfectly captures this as the film rarely sees daylight. Although the interesting thing about it is the manner in which it tends to overexpose its artificial lighting.
Most horror films tend to play with shadow and light for mood. Yet Let the Right One In plays out its horror under the exposure of mostly exterior street lighting that bounces off the pure white snow blanketing the ground. It’s an interesting contrast in regards to how most horror films play as here the scenes of violence tend to be exposed out in the public eye for all to see. Hoyte Van Hoytema would go on to refer to this method of lighting as ‘Spray Lighting.’ It’s as if you could capture dull electrical light in a can and spray it like a can of hairspray.
Also, the film's use of dialog is very sparse and almost poetic. Alfredson has said that he almost wanted it to play as if it were a silent film. The entire film is remarkably restrained in its presentation. It never once force feeds you its information and instead gives a slow steady rhythm allowing you just enough breathing room to contemplate its events as they transpire.
Much the same as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy stripped the glamour out of spying, so too does Alfredson strip the glamour out of vampirism. Vampirism in this film is treated as nothing more than a ravaging illness. Eli’s need for blood is like that of a disease. Early on in the film, we see a hungry Eli. Her eyes are wide, pupils dilated, her skin malnourished. Her clothes are clearly scavenged from Charity Bins. In their first meeting, Oskar notes that she smells bad. A noteworthy observation considering later on after she has fed she specifically asks him “do I smell better?” It quickly brings to mind the parallels of a drug addict. Only Eli’s drug of choice is one she desperately needs in order to survive another night.
Initially Eli chooses not to do her own bidding for the shred of humanity she clings onto. We glimpse this humanity in the one instance where she is forced to kill. After she has fed, she buries her head into the victim's chest implying her deep seeded guilt. Instead, she sends out Hakan to do her bidding. The only problem being is he’s a terrible killer. When I say terrible, he is almost the Mr. Bean of serial killers in his ineptitude! Take his first victim in the film as an example. He literally traps and kills his victims in a highly exposed public area and is ultimately interrupted by two locals walking their dog.
It implies one of two things. That he has maybe not been doing this for very long or he is tired and weathered. The biggest change between the novel and film is the removal of Eli and Hakan’s backstories. In the novel, it is explained in vivid detail that Hakan is actually a pedophile and has been freshly acquired by Eli to do her bidding in exchange for certain services. The film wisely drops this as Tomas Alfredson stated that he didn’t feel he could tell that story without it overshadowing the core story between Oskar and Eli.
It’s a wise choice that works in the film's favor as it gives breathing room for the audience to interpret the true nature of their relationship. Perhaps he is a Renfield-like figure that has been with her for a long time? Or perhaps he has been freshly acquired? Although, I do believe there is a shred of the pedophilia plot still in the film as is evident by one particular scene. A scene where Eli caresses Hakan’s face as he quivers at her touch. The reaction given by Hakan at the stroke of her hand is almost uncomfortably sexual in nature.
Eli first notices Oskar as he stabs away at the tree with his knife and takes an immediate interest in him. Initially she does try to guard herself as she warns him that they can’t be friends. But as the nights pass, the two find themselves anticipating each other's presence at the Jungle Gym in the small playground outside of the apartment complex. Soon after, the pair strike up a friendship over a shared love of puzzles and such.
After a savage whipping with a tree branch by his bullies, Oskar eventually confides in Eli about the bullying at school. Eli urges him to strike back. Strike back harder than he dares. This ignites a new strand of long lost self-confidence in Oskar as he applies for weight training the next day at school. Suggesting that all it really takes to get you out of your funk is the sign that someone else may actually care and believe in your potential. Eventually he does strike back earning him a brief moment of relief from their torment.
Their friendship continues to blossom and soon after they find themselves on a first date at a local fairground. Oskar buys a bag of mixed candy and offers her a sample. She politely declines knowing full well that she can’t eat them. Oskar feels that sting of rejection and drops his head to the ground. Noticing his hurt, she accepts the candy and eats it but can’t hold it down and runs off to throw up. Oskar follows her and spots her regurgitating to which he then embraces her. But curiously Eli does not return the hug; instead through a close up, we notice a pained confused expression on her face as she asks Oskar whether he likes her or not. Oskar confesses with a simple “yes” to which Eli drops the first vital clue as to her true nature. “Would you still like me even if I wasn’t a girl?”
Given Eli’s backstory from the novel is almost entirely omitted from the film. One could interpret this as a sly clue of her true nature. However, for those who have read the novel, it is the first clue to something else entirely regarding her gender. While the film never fully explores the nature of Eli’s true gender outside of one brief shot (if you’ve seen the film, you know which one I’m talking about), the line still holds weight nonetheless.
If a vampire ever were to be a real thing then would sex and gender really even matter to them anymore? Outside of physical pleasure or perhaps the practical means of seducing a victim, what good is sex and gender when you are physically incapable of reproducing? Moreover, what good is sex and gender when you’re physically trapped in the constraints of a 12 year old body?
With sex and gender out of the equation, what does love really boil down to? Isn't it true that most normal people seek companionship searching for the potential of reproducing and starting a family? Or do we seek companionship to relieve us from our loneliness? But what does this mean when that will never be an option to you as you are doomed to wander the Earth for an entirety by yourself?
Much has already been said about the Renfield reading of Oskar’s role in all of this. Given some of the clues presented throughout the film, it is certainly a viable reading. We know Oskar has a fascination with real-life murder cases, we know he has grizzly revenge fantasies. He certainly doesn’t seem to consider the value of life as he treats murder as if it were a sick game to some degree. It’s certainly not hard to look at him and see a potential Renfield in the making. Nor is it hard to see that part of his personality being the potential attraction for Eli. But for me, that theory has never really held much weight due to the in-practical nature of it.
Why would Eli recruit a 12 year old boy? Wouldn’t a 12 year old boy be more of a hindrance than a benefit as a whole? How can a 12 year old boy apply for an apartment to live in as they move town to town? How can a 12 year old boy physically take down a grown man or woman? In fact, why does she really need a Renfield when she has supernatural powers? These practicalities always kind of shattered that theory for me with any real thought. Oskar would pose much more of a threat to Eli’s safety than any benefit.
Based on the evidence thus far, I believe Eli’s acceptance of the candy is yet another sign of her going against her better judgment. Of course, you could say it could be a ploy to earn his trust, but given the body language conveyed in the scene, I do believe it's another moment of Eli giving in to her desire for companionship.
Later on in the film after Eli’s true nature has been exposed, we come to the one scene that is the lynchpin for the entire film. Let the Right One In takes its title from the Morrisey song ‘Let the Right One Slip In.’ It plays on the old vampire rule that a vampire can never enter a premise unless they are invited in. It also plays on the idea of letting the right person into your heart. After Oskar learns the truth about Eli, she shows up on his doorstep. Oskar beckons her to come in but Eli knows full well she can’t enter unless invited in. Oskar refuses to invite her in and instead taunts her to enter the apartment. With a reserved frown on her face knowing what is to come, she enters. Almost immediately blood starts to pour from every orifice of her frail body. Coming to his senses and seeing the tremendous amount of pain she is in, Oskar finally invites her in.
Elsewhere, the scene has been called a “haemophilia of rejection.” This leads to another intriguing aspect of the scene that further plays against the manipulation theory. There’s no real reason for Eli to tempt this fate. Even if she is manipulating him, there’s no real reason to tempt potential death. She knows at that moment that Oskar is angry at her. She knows full well what will happen upon entry and yet she still proceeds to give Oskar that power over her anyways by entering. I would argue this is a moment of Eli putting her complete trust in Oskar’s hands. It’s a pivotal moment in their budding relationship.
It’s Eli giving him the ultimate power; you can destroy me right here or let me live. It seems a massive leap of faith to take for someone who is just manipulating another person. Or you can look at it from the other perspective, that Eli is preying on Oskar’s vulnerability. Certainly viable but I can’t think of anything more pivotal to building trust with another person than putting your entire existence in their hands. Or maybe I’m just a hopeless romantic?
Eli then lays it all out as honestly as she can for him regarding her true nature. She confronts Oskar on his desire to kill. Oskar defensively refutes that he “doesn’t kill”, but she insists that he would like to kill if he could. She then tells him “I do it because I have to.” She then asks him to “Be me...for a little while.”
While it's easy to interpret this as her directly asking him to do her bidding I feel that there is another layer to this request. I don’t believe she’s asking him to do her bidding. Rather she is making a plea to his humanity and asking him to understand that this isn’t a game for her. That killing is a matter of life and death for her. In this scene, we catch a brief glimpse of an elderly Eli; it’s quite literally a ‘blink and you will miss it’ moment.
Another thing the film never really explains is Eli’s mental capacity. Is she a child trapped in a permanent state of Arrested Development? Or is she an adult trapped in a child's body? Unlike Claudia from Interview with the Vampire, whom clearly develops the mind of a full grown woman but is trapped in a little girl's body, Eli’s predicament is uncertain in this rendition. Although, there is a sly brief visual clue that shows Eli sleeping in a bathtub as she clings onto a Teddy Bear. Perhaps a sign that there is still a child-like nature to Eli. It’s hard to say as the film never provides a flat out answer.
However I do believe this scene in particular further highlights a moment of Eli being completely and utterly honest with Oskar by simply asking him to fully understand her plight for what it is. This is the point where they are beyond the lies in their friendship and have come to fully recognize one another for their true nature.
As the unexplained murders continue through the suburb of Blackeberg, we come to meet the other residents of the community. Most notably the small gang of drunkards who hang out at the local Chinese Restaurant led by Lacke (Peter Carlberg). Lacke is a Blue Collar schlub. Beaten down by life, he wallows in self pity. He seems to care more for his best friend Jocke then he does for his attentive and caring girlfriend Virginia (Ika Nord). In an early scene, he notices Hakan dining at the restaurant by himself and tries to befriend him in hope that he will pay for the group's drinks, only to be rejected. Lacke is in many ways a potential foretelling of the fate that may be in store for Oskar should he stay in Blackeberg.
Unfortunately for Lacke, Eli’s thirst can only be held at bay for so long and one of her victims just so happens to be his best friend. After Hakan fails at his one job, Eli takes it upon herself to do the deed. As Jocke walks home from the Chinese Restaurant, Eli preys on his good natured vulnerability posing as an injured child and kills him before drinking his blood. However, this event is witnessed by a Cat Loving Recluse named Gosta from his overlooking apartment.
Gosta informs Locke what happened; however, by the time the gang arrives at the scene of the crime, the body has already been removed and dumped in a local river by Hakan. Thus Eli’s presence shatters this small group of friends as Lacke becomes increasingly obsessed with finding and hunting down the person who killed him. Eli’s presence once again shines the light on their loneliness.
With Hakan now deceased after meeting an unrelated tragic end and Lacke hot on her tail, Eli is put in a position of vulnerability. Eventually a broken Lacke, who has now lost everything that is dear to him including Virginia thanks to Eli, tracks her down and conspires to kill her. He finds her in the darkened bathroom, completely vulnerable, sleeping in the bathtub while hugging her teddy bear. Unbeknownst to Lacke, Oskar is sleeping in the other room and happens to hear him enter the apartment.
Armed with his knife, Oskar is put in a moment of kill or watch as his best friend is killed. The fact that he approaches Lacke as his back is turned is certainly telling of the ends he is willing to go to in order to protect her. Fate intervenes as Oskar’s startled cry of shock awakens Eli. Eli leaps up and lunges at Lacke’s throat as Oskar shuts the door and walks back to the kitchen. The camera tracks outward focused on the closed door. Throughout the entire film, we never actually get to see Eli's true nature up close in any of her kills as the camera always remains at a distance.
We then cut back to Oskar who is now visibly shaken at the sounds of Eli killing Lacke. It is here where he is finally confronted with the reality of death. That it’s not just all fun and games like he fantasizes about and that there is an actual gravitas to killing. It is here that perhaps he finally comes to understand the true burden of Eli’s predicament having been faced with it. Afterwards, a blood soaked Eli returns to the kitchen and finally returns the hug from their first date before finally giving him a tender bloody kiss in a moment that finally pits them as equals.
Much like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is less a spy film and more a meditation on lonely men so too is Let the Right One In less a horror film and more so a meditation on the nature of love. It's the age of the two kids that make these questions all the more fascinating. They're right on the cusp of verging sexuality and while they are aware of that, they are still just inexperienced kids.
For Oskar, it could be seen that he mostly has a puppy dog crush on Eli. It makes perfect sense seeing that she is the first one to grant him affection in this manner. For Eli, maybe she is aware and maybe she is using his attraction to her advantage...or maybe she's just another lonely soul who yearns to connect with someone she sees to be an equal? It removes the sexuality and seduction of the vampire almost entirely and instead tells a vampire story that is on the awkward and painful cusp of puberty. It questions the nature of love in a way that I really haven’t seen from any other vampire film before it and that is what remains entirely fascinating to me.
That and I think this film is an interesting depiction of loneliness and how Eli's presence shines the light on everyone's almost child-like loneliness. That aspect of it actually reminds me a little of George Romero's vampire film Martin and how Martin's presence kind of shines the light on the decaying community around him. The same could be said of Eli as her presence helps to further the decay of a small community. But as her presence destroys all around her, there is but one who is ultimately saved in his own right.
The irony being that the real horror of Let the Right One In comes more so from the humans than it does Eli herself. The savagery of Oskar's bullies is perhaps far more inhumane than anything Eli is forced to do simply because its born out of a choice to be cruel rather than a necessity. Or perhaps the real horror comes from Oskar’s final choice. To leave the shackles of a society to which he will never fit into and join Eli as he fully embraces the monster blossoming within. Depending on your moral stance; it could be seen as a happy or tragic ending and that’s the beauty of it. But one thing is for certain in my mind, come the end, I do believe Eli grows to regard Oskar as her equal. Something that she could never do for the likes of Hakan or any other companion she may have had along the way.
The film has stayed with me ever since that first screening and has continued to linger on in my mind ever since. This film came at just the right time for me. At a time when I was growing jaded by the horror genre, this film came into my life with its many questions and reignited my passion for the genre and sub genre as a whole. It’s a film that defies the genre and transcends into something more than just horror or drama. It’s quite an amazing little film that still holds the same power over me that it did all those years ago. All I can say is thank goodness I feigned illness to get out of work that day. Because I got something very special in return.
-Daniel M
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