MIFF ‘08 film review: Let The Right One In
Guest review by Craig
Film rating: N/A
Walkouts: 2 people (Craig and The Editor)
Pretentious clapping at credits: N/A
BPM sighting: WTF?
Living alone with his mother in a wintry and miserable Stockholm suburb, shy and lonely 12-year-old Oskar is a victim of school bullies. He spends his days plotting revenge, keeping a knife under his pillow and a scrapbook full of paper cuttings of heinous crimes. When a strange little girl named Eli moves in next-door, Oskar and her gradually become friends. But a series of ritual killings in the neighbourhood lead Oskar to suspect that there is something terribly wrong about his new neighbour…
Adapted for the screen by John Lindqvist from his own award-winning novel, Let the Right One In is an original, atmospheric and intelligent twist on the vampire horror genre.
I can describe Let the Right One In in just 2 words: disturbingly realistic.
We arrived early. I had to queue up with the plebs, while the pretentious Editor walked right on in and saved a couple of seats for us. This film’s opening scenes were shocking, with a score the just screamed horror at me. I should have left right away, however, seeing that The Editor had pre-purchased the ticket for me and saved a seat I thought I had better stick it out.
The film centres around a 12 year old Swedish boy who sleeps with a knife under his bed, is bullied at school, and has a very suspicious neighbour. The turning point in this film for me was very early on. In just the second scene the plot spirals down to the dark murky waters of ritualistic murder and serial killing with the first victim strung up from the branch of a tree by his feet like a piñata and promptly drained of his life sap. Cut from the neck like an animal, the blood ran over the curves that made up the face of the victim before running into a dirty drum with the help of a funnel.
It was at this point that I could take no more and slowly drifted off to a safer place: my mind. I came to with The Ed calling my name as loudly AND at the same time as quietly as you can in a cinema.* “I think I almost fainted,” I said.
“You did,” said Ed. “Let’s go.”
With that, we left the cinema. Not even 10 minutes in and it was lights out for me. That was poor form. I must say.
Based on the small portion of the film that I did see, I highly recommend it — if you are into that sort of stuff. I personally would prefer to watch the director’s cut of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
* The Editor notes — What Craig doesn’t remember is that it took me over a minute to wake him up from his twitchy, eyes-rolled-back stupour. Since I couldn’t lift his legs above his head for blood flow I resorted to inflicting pain while everyone in the cinema watched, thinking I was reviving a mate who’d drawn a little too much happiness into the syringe.
15 Comments
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Bridgit Gread (Wednesday 6 August 2008, 9:24 am) #
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