Let the Right One In

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As Oskar and Eli’s relationship turns romantic, Eli drops hints about gender (Oskar thinks Eli is female). Directed by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves and starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Abby and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen, it received positive reviews despite not performing well at the box office. Creepy like that "overly affectionate" uncle who stares at you too often and always wants a hug that lasts for an inappropriate length of time. I can only conclude that some inner part of me was secretly yearning for the application of a healing literary salve, to be applied against all the abrasions caused by reading Let the right one in. Nothing comes as close as this one to a true modern EXPERIENCE (that feels simultaneously as old as time itself).

Sweden, a place I've never been, became real to me without having to put much of my imagination to work. Then there’s the remarkably reductive 2010 US remake, Let Me In; two separate play scripts; a comic prequel series denounced by Lindqvist; and, this year, a Showtime television series. In fact, he’s well on his way to becoming the kind of guy who dances around his basement while screaming at his latest victim to put the lotion on it’s skin or else it gets the hose again.Meeting in the courtyard playground after dark, Eli talks like an adult, smells like an old bandage, seems impervious to the cold and solves a Rubik's Cube without effort. But now, one grungy vampire tale Let the Right One In let’s me know in no uncertain terms that Swedes suffer too. He keeps a scrapbook filled with newspaper articles about various murders and often fantasizes about killing his tormentors. We find out how very often innocent people become those feared monsters, we go through the transformation with them, we feel their guilt and shame, we learn about their relationships with their "Guardians" (who sometimes are worse monsters than vampires themselves). I've heard others describe this as a much, much better Twilight, but other than the fact that it has children and vampires and it's very popular, that's about it for the comparison.

If it seems like the author is just thinking,"let's add some weird sex or someone having their toenails pulled off with a staple remover - that should get the readers moaning and groaning!And not only that, but as many persons have pointed out, this is a kind of anti-Twilight, given that the only sexually attractive vampire around is a 200 year old 12 year old girl and the only attracting going on is with an adult paedophile and a miserable lonely 12 year old boy. John Ajvide Lindqvist has looked at Stephenie Meyer's book and said hm, that's not quite right, is it? Let the right one in” is a book to be read with a lit fire, a blanket and the curtains drawn against cold starry nights and the things that stand outside the window in the dark.