Let the Right One In is a 2008 Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson.
Based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay, the film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s.
Alfredson, unconcerned with the horror and vampire conventions, decided to tone down many elements of the novel and focus primarily on the relationship between the two main characters.
Selecting the lead actors involved a year-long process with open castings held all over Sweden. In the end, Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson (then both eleven years old) were chosen for the leading roles. They were subsequently commended by both Alfredson and film reviewers for their performances.
Reviews:
“There’s not much here to criticize, as all elements of the production are top notch. There have been a few vampire stories that have attempted to ground the myth into something a bit more realistic, but none of them have felt quite like this because the film is just so bleak and haunting.” Oh, the Horror!
“Filled with enough Swedish angst to make Ingmar Bergman proud and enough genuine scares to appeal to jaded horror fanatics, Let the Right One In moves quietly and deliberately, which makes its feeding scenes and set pieces such as swimming-pool massacre seem all the more jarring.” Rolling Stone
Original Swedish title:
Låt den rätte komma in
