Main informationLet the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den Rätte Komma In) is a 2008 Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson. Based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay. The film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. Alfredson, unconcerned with the horror and vampire conventions, decided to tone down many elements of the novel and focus primarily on the relationship between the two main characters. Selecting the lead actors involved a year-long process with open castings held all over Sweden. In the end, then 11-year-olds Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson were chosen for the leading roles. They were subsequently commended by both Alfredson and film reviewers for their performances.
The film received widespread international critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including the "Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature" at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation's 2008 Méliès d'Or (Golden Méliès) for the "Best European Fantastic Feature Film", as well as four Guldbagge Awards from the Swedish Film Institute and the Saturn Award for Best International Film. |
Plot SummaryIn the suburb of Blackeberg in Stockholm, the twelve year-old Oskar is a lonely and outcast boy bullied in school by Conny and two other classroom mates; at home, Oskar dreams on revenging the trio of bullies. He befriends his twelve year-old next door neighbor Eli that only appears during the night in the playground of their building. Meanwhile, Eli's father is a serial-killer who drains the blood of his victims to supply Eli, so she doesn't have to kill. Eli advises Oskar to react to Conny fighting back; however, he soon discovers that she is a vampire and he feels fear and love for the girl.
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