Let the Right One In

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Those who have seen the Swedish film based on this novel will easily guess this is my present obsession...

I wanted to share this interest as I think it may interest a number of people on WP, it is a novel that is technically horror, it's set in a lower-class suburb of Stockholm in the 1980s and is about a lonely, bullied twelve-year-old boy called Oskar, who meets his new next-door neighbour Eli, a decidedly strange child who on their first meeting tells him they can't be friends. Though this is a vampire novel, the tone is gritty and realistic, and the character of Oskar is largely autobiographical. The story touches on themes such as bullying and its effects, family breakdown, love, moral ambiguity, the need for empathy, loneliness, and what it means to be human. The novel explores a lot of the darker side of human nature, from petty theft to scenes involving sexual abuse, child mutilation, etc. The title is from a Morrisey song and it refers to the bit of vampire folklore that they need to be invited in to be able to enter a building and more broadly it refers to who you let into your life. Despite the book's frank treatment of brutality, it is ultimtely uplifting.

The Swedish film by the same title had the book author as screenwriter, and though it is very good I think the book is better.

sounds good-who wrote it?

Fantastic film. Absolutely chilling.
I haven't read the book, but I wouldn't call the film uplifting at all. Quite the opposite, actually.

John Ajvide Lindqvist. The original Swedish title is 'Låt den rätte komma in'




I thought the ending was intensely bittersweet in both film and book, but still uplifting.

I found the book on Barnes and Noble website after seeing on line that it's not in any library in town. It seemed to get really good reviews. Was the film released in the US? Oh and I can see where you got your avatar.

I don't feel like we can discuss this with out spoiling things for the many people who haven't seen it, but I have to ask, did the book end in the same general way?

I can't help but feel that that thing wasn't capable of anything kind-hearted - all it did was simply use the vulnerable to aid its own selfish self-preservation. It was pure evil.
I get chills thinking about the intense degree of devious evil depicted in that movie.

Yes, the film was released in the US. It's available on DVD, though if you watch it on DVD make sure you see the version with the theatrical subtitles (the first DVDs to be released in the US had low-quality subtitles, inferior to the theatrical ones - later copies come out with the theatrical subs). There exists a dubbed version, but you'd really, really, really miss out with that one - some of the voices in the dubbed version are horrible (Eli's is just ridiculous), whereas in the original the voice acting is amazing, particularly that of Elif Ceylan, who plays Eli's voice.

My avatar is from from page 5 of the following link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35118410@N04/
It's Eli, of course.

I may need to look into this.

ive gotten it recommended from all directions, but havent had the chance yet.

Yes, the book ended in the same general way. The film's mostly faithful to the book (though there are some plot differences), but it's more ambiguous whereas the book is more in-depth - the film I regard as the most family-friendly version of the book you could make that would still be faithful to the book's spirit and core plot. I agree we would spoil it for others if we discuss it here, but the nature of Eli is discussed extensively on the LTROI fansite and on the ImDb boards, for example on this thread, which discusses the ending and the nature of the Oskar-Eli relationship. Obviously, threads on both sites are full of spoilers.

I'll try to find it with subtitles. I read fast.

hmm...can't believe I've missed a Morrissey song...but please let me get what I want, lawd knows it would be the first time...

Will have to check it out

Oh, so the film is the family friendly one?


I'm pretty sure I know some of the book-spoilers, just from reading film reviews that mentioned them. I don't want to click on those links/threads quite yet though, because I think I'd like to read it first.

I'll have to find this book and read it soon. Should be interesting.

Thanks for starting this thread, pbcoll - more people need to hear about/see this movie.

I've got "Låt den rätte komma in" (its title in Swedish) on my reading list. Will most likely be the next book I read.

No problem. What are in my opinion the three most horrific scenes from the book are all missing from the film, though one of them was very nearly included.

amazing thx for pointing this movie out, do you think its still worth it to read the book after you saw the movie ?.

call me crazy but i always see the rest of the world as the bad guys in movies like this. maybe its just a sign of a good movie that even though eli is a killer you still hope she will survive (atleast i did).