Let The Right One In (15)

OSKAR is a 12-year-old bullied at school and living in a snowbound Sweden. Eli is a girl of the same age who helps him find love and his place in life. And, oh yes, she’s a vampire who’s been living on blood for a long time.

Director Tomas Alfredson’s film arrives complete with a long list of awards from critics and festivals.

For once, they are fully deserved.

The main protagonists may be young but Let The Right One In is a very adult story – a sort of thinking person’s Twilight – which the director sees as “a romantic love story with a hopeful and happy ending”.

It’s certainly scary, creating an atmosphere of hidden terror and unexpected violence that is immensely unsettling because you’re never sure what’s going to happen next. Bloody, tender, surprising and original are some of the words you might choose to describe it.

The dark, depressing, snowcovered Swedish suburbs make the perfect setting for this odd love story as Oskar and Eli (remarkable performances from young actors Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson) become sort of blood brothers.