Let the Right One In (2008)

Alright, back to stuff Blaine has showed me. So this next one I thought was some horror movie that had horrid reviews...and that wasn't the case, so let's talk about what it really was.

Plot: Oskar is a 12 year old boy who lives with his mother in the suburb of Blackeberg in 1981. He lives a meek life of being bullied in school and occasionally living with his father in the countryside, but then one night, he meets a pale girl named Eli who just moved next door to him along with an older man. Oskar and Eli begin to form a friendship, but things get a little complicated when several murders and disappearances occur that lead to the possibility that there's a vampire in the town.

So was this the bad horror that I thought I was going to see? *snickers* Not even close. What came out of seeing this film is actually a smart, clever story that involves vampires that is extremely well made. The characters are likable and very well acted, especially the child actors. Oskar and Eli are very well performed, and the friendship - later turned romance - between them is very likable. The romance especially is different in that it's preteens (even though it does come of as a little uncomfortable because of that aspect) and while they do almost nothing physical (which is a good thing because, again, the aspect is somewhat uncomfortable), what they have is clear and it works, and like any good romance, they comes off likable enough that you are rooting for them and that things will turn out between them. The movie is also much smarter with bringing us vampires. There's no CGI or anything to it, it's mainly effects and makeup that come off very realistic. And they only show us a reasonable amount of vampires acting like vampires where you get enough of what vampires too, but no so much that it's all showing the effects rather than giving us the story and the characters. And whenever they do give us these elements of vampires, it appears as if it's something new as if we've never seen this before event though most of us probably have. 

And that's my review for Let the Right One In. It's an intelligent movie that focuses on it's strong, well acted characters and story, while still giving us vampires in a way that reasonably placed with clever use of effects and makeup. If you haven't seen this movie, it's definitely one worth looking into.

Rating: 95%