THE OCTOBER PROJECT Part 18

"I'm twelve, but I've been twelve for a long time."

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (LAT DEN RATTE KOMME IN)  (2008)

Directed by Tomas Alfredson

I once described this film as a lovely story about the burgeoning friendship between two lonely children, one of whom happens to be a vampire. That's an okay description, but hardly captures the elements that make "Let the Right One In" so special. Director Alfredson maintains a mood of quiet desperation and subtle menace throughout, never losing the emotional reality of the story amongst the potentially sensationalistic genre trappings.
A film that proves that there is still horror, magic and poetry to be found in vampire stories.

For the record, the American remake "Let Me In" is actually very good, successfully recreating much of the mood and quality of the original. The problem is that it is completely redundant and evidently audiences thought so too, as it was a complete box office flop. Maybe if the vampire sparkled in the sun......nah that would just be stupid.