In the Pipeline: Let the Right One In
Yes it’s a Swedish movie with a vampire, but more than anything Let the Right One In is a tender and surprisingly sweet coming of age tale.
It’s about a little boy who is bullied at school and though it’s true that the little girl who moves in next door might be a vampire, the supernatural elements are de-emphasized in favor of a human story.
You can’t have a vampire movie without a little blood, but this is not a special effects laden exercise in thrills, shock and gore. Those who go in expecting a typical horror movie might be disappointed and those who stay away assuming that’s what this is will be denying themselves one of the more interesting movies of the year.
Based upon a best selling novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist (from a screenplay by the author), Tomas Alfredson’s film has been slowly making its way along the festival circuit. In addition to lighting up the Internet with positive buzz, the film has also picked up a few awards along the way including Best Narrative Feature at Tribeca and, most recently, the Audience Award in the horror category at Austin’s Fantastic Fest.
Never ones to let a good idea go un-remade, Hollywood is already planning an English language version of the film directed by Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves. Say what you want about Reeves’ last film, nothing good can come from this remake. If it’s a beat for beat remake, there’s no point in waiting for the new version and if they punch up the horror elements and special effects, they will end up with a less interesting film. Either way, I hope people give the Swedish version a shot when it opens on October 24 in New York and LA.
Meanwhile, stay tuned to LiC in the comming weeks because I’ll have a full review of Let the Right One In and a transcription of a chat I had this afternoon with Mr. Alfredson.
In case you missed them, you can also enjoy the US and international trailers here.
Filed under: Previews
Tags: John Ajvide Lindqvist, Let the Right One In, Tomas Alfredson
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This is the old LiC magic, Craig: you’ve made me quite excited about this one, and the trailer demanded one’s attention as well.
These insta-Hollywood remakes of foreign films must stop. Not that they will.
I look forward to seeing this and reading your review and interview.
Buzz for this sucker is steadily building. Just yesterday, Marilyn Ferdinand gave a rave review to this film. I’m obviously reading and watching as little about this as possible, but it appears that this might be one vampire movie that I might actually need to see. Not particular my favorite genre, but when trusted sources say so, well then there’s hardly an excuse.
Three cheers for another review and interview that I can’t read for weeks…
I steered clear of it at LAFF because it just sounded like another Vampire movie. I like them when they’re well done, but so often they’re not, but then I kept hearing good things about it…granted, mainly from the fanboy crowd, but Ms. Fredinand is no fanboy.
“Buzz fo this sucker…”
Great pun.
Wish I’d meant it to be one.
Thanks for this recommendation. It sounds intriguing.
Yes, Hollywood won’t stop until it beats every dead horse.
One day Alison, they’ll just make a movie called “Dead Horse”
I’m waiting for that day, Craig.
that was yesterday ! ;)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0397387/
LOL, thanks glimmer. I missed that film in the movies that year. :-)
Yup, I’m looking forward to this, your review and that interview.
Thank goodness you don’t think I’m a fanboy. I was starting to worry about my reputation. :-)
Craig, thanks for helping to spread the word about this film. I saw a screener and intend to go see it at the theatre as well. I know I’ll be blown away yet again.
I’m trying to avoid anything further about this film after seeing the first trailer. It feels like it has the creepy going on, something that’s been missing from vampire flicks for some time. I know 30 Days of Night got horrible reviews, but the source material definitely had the creepy going on.
We shall see. I always get a little more excited when critics make a movie their pet project though.
An honor to have you stop by Marilyn! We’ve crossed paths a few times at Getafilm and I was delighted to see you take a particularly snotty reviewer at House Next Door down a few pegs over his misguided pan of I Served the King of England.
As for the film in question…I’m still trying to get my mind around an American remake. I’ll try to keep an open mind about it, but it all seems rather pointless.
Thanks, Craig. I don’t stop by here often enough because new releases of a more Hollywood kind are not my thing. I think you do what you do superbly; my hat’s off to you.
The House Next Door certainly is a mixed bag of thoughtful writers and people who should be doing something else. I thought those comments about I Served the King of England showed no understanding of the film’s POV or Czech film styles and reflected the writer’s own bias about how certain subjects should be approached. I hate that.
As for a remake, it could be OK. I actually liked The Grudge remake because it was a self-contained film that didn’t rely on a history of watching all the Ju-On films to make it comprehensible. Still, where are they going to get two kids who are anywhere near as great as these two? Dakota Fanning and Shia LeBoeuf? That’s what I’m expecting. Yuck!
There are a million movie blogs and only so many hours in a day, I completely understand. I try to skim the cream off the top of the new releases and mix it in with plenty of indie and foreign stuff. The balance isn’t quite there, but I’m working on it.
There are a couple of writers at HND that are fantastic…I wish Matt was still contributing regularly, but that one guy who did King of England had been sticking in my craw for a while now. He seems to be the kind who finds it fashionable to look down his nose at everything. I read a couple of his dispatches from the Seattle International Film Festival and he hated EVERYTHING. Boring.
Besides casting, my main worry with the remake is that they’ll turn away from the human story and focus on thrills and blood and special effects. I guess that could make for an entertaining movie in its own right, but not one I’m especially interested in.
Ah well, I’m hardly anyone’s definition of a target audience anyway.
Hey I went and googled Let The Right On In and found out that it is part of Six-Part Series called Six-Shooter. Here is the link sixshooterfilmseries.com, it looks pretty cool.
That is correct Alex (coughcoughPlant?cough). Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned to LiC for reviews of each one of those films.