Warning: Vampire Sleeping

Every now and then, someone gets it right.

The horror genre has noticed a number of set backs within the field of vampire movies. You’ve seen them. I’ve seen them. They seem to recycle the same old muck in the last few years. Nothing of interest comes out.

Then a movie like “Let The Right One In” (2008) comes and knocks you out of your seat. It’s a foreign movie sharply directed by Tomas Alfredson. But it is a different breed of a vampire movie. But I still like to call it a vampire movie.

But there is so much more to it than that. The film explores the cynicalism of loneliness. It deals with the way people treat each other in a world that has lost its sensitivity. Most people don’t even know their neighbors that well. It used to be in the 1950s that you knew every neighbor on the block. Not anymore. The world has gotten too big. And our hearts have grown too small.

This story revolves a rather unassuming boy who likes to keep to himself. He is shy, easily bullied by three other, older boys from his school. Sometimes he likes to talk to himself. Interestingly enough, the film is based in the 1980s in a suburb of Stockholm called Blackeberg. The fact that the film is set in this period doesn’t really add much to the film other than a few movie references. There aren't even any Michael Jackson songs to underline the 1980s. Not even the song "Billie Jean."

But the story kicks in when the boy Oskar meets the young girl Eli who seems different… like he is. You can see it right away when the girl first leaps to the ground, a supernatural presence about her. She isn’t bothered by the wintery landscape. In some way, she seems colder than the snow is.

He strikes up a very loving relationship with the vampire who is far more than she says. Her very approach gives her away. She seems more like an adult. But throughout the film, they become very dedicated to one another. They care for each other in many ways. But it is the sexuality of the film which may offend many who see the film as the children sleep with each other. Not in any sexual way. But because their friendship is so intimate. I’m surprised this film isn’t banned in many counties with its content.

The film isn’t gory, not violent. But it is very disturbing. Some images strike with a very literary quality. The vampire girl’s guardian who disfigures himself. The vampire who leaps on her prey like an animal grabbing hold. It is fierce and visual effect. The scene where Eli rips off the head of her victim is one of the highlights of the film because it is filled with such stone cold brutality. Yet it is filled with such poetry.

However, it is the friendship of the children that carries the film forward. There’s a sense of mystery around Eli: the ambiguous nature of Eli’s sexuality has many undertones in the film. The audience doesn’t even know who she is. But her voice is older, much older. She is a child that is two hundred years old, not twelve. As Eli often said: “I’ve been twelve a long time.” There are suggestions that Eli may have been castrated when much younger. Eli said in several conversations: “I’m not a girl.” Perhaps it is this ambiguous nature that makes the character so creepy… as if she steps right out of the shadows, so much older than the town itself.

There may be problems when film will be made into a United States version. That means, they’re going to mess it up. They’re already screwing it up. The film is slated to be directed by Cloverfield’s Matt Reeves, a film that I was not entirely a fan of. Because of his popularity, this director will get to throw his worthless two cents into the pot. They’re going to be avoiding the entire ambiguous gender subplot of the original. Already, they’re getting rid of the one thing that made the original version so interesting.

The writer and the screenplay author John Ajvide Lindqvist is unhappy with the news. I don’t blame him. The fact that the director of the remake will be adding nothing new to the film. Lindqvist said, “Remakes should be made of movies that aren't very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong.” There was nothing wrong with the original. It was made cheaply with a good sense of creativity. There’s no real need for it.

Is the remake going to be any good? I wouldn’t hold my breath for the remake that will be aimed more towards the mainstream audiences.

Stupid remakes.

“Let The Right One In” is very sentimental about the characters, in particular the children. While the rest of the world seem so much more brutal, the children remain very close knitted. They have a very good friendship that outshines the banality of the world that surrounds them. They realize that all they need is each other. The young boy looks after his vampire friend. And Eli takes care of him like he is one of her own.

This film isn’t for everyone. It’s a slow movie. There’s plenty of sluggish atmosphere of old buildings and dark forests. You get to see many scenes of falling snow that showers whiteness across the countryside like it is heaven. But it isn’t heaven. Far from it. You see many bad things going on in the whiteness, many deaths. What gives the film so much heart, however, are the children. You can really see they do love each other. And love is something good to hang on to.

There’s so much more to this vampire movie. It blinds you with love. And it gives you a sense that two children can love each other like friends. But there is also a kind of sadness that drags the film on. You can feel it. It makes you feel like you shouldn’t open the door to anyone. You never know who it is on the other side.