.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

One week before the phenomena that is Stephanie Meyers' Twilight comes to our local theatres, an alternative brilliant vampire film hits festival screens with the Swedish horror Let The Right One In.

Directed masterfully by Tomas Alfredson, Let The Right One In tells the story of Oskar, a 12-year-old boy who is bullied at school by three stronger classmates. Oskar is a fair skinned blonde who would be easy to pick on. He is about as strong as a bucket of water and his passion for reading keeps him alienated from other children. Oskar's loneliness takes a turn when he meets Eli, a 12-year-old girl that appears at night outside the apartment complex on the jungle gym. Eli is different from other children Oskar's age. She doesn't seem to mind the cold and she only appears to him at night. Oskar nonetheless befriends Eli and the two forge a relationship that is as real and as deep as any other relationship I have seen in the genre.

As the two grow and bond together over the course of a few evenings, events in the town begin to raise suspicion that a serial killer is hunting its citizens. One man is found strung up to a tree with his blood drained, another goes missing after leaving a local pub. The disappearances and murders don't have Oskar running scared. He has a fascination for the macabre and keeps a scrapbook of newspaper articles on murders and gruesome stories under his bed.

There is not a real build up to Oskar asking Eli, "Are you a vampire?" It is a gradual build to a general and logical question and the film and its viewing audience are better off because of it. Oskar just grows to love Eli and doesn't seem to care that she is someone that feasts on other humans to survive.

But as Oskar and Eli expand the boundaries of their relationships, two subplot factors affect their friendship. Eli loses the man who secures food for her and keeps her safe during the day, while attacks by Oskar's fellow classmates get more and more brutal in their execution and are so severe at times, they could result in death.

Let The Right One In, is what Twilight will hope to be. It is a sweet story of two young kids that fall in love - it's just that one happens to be a vampire. Let The Right One In has all the proper elements in just the proper doses to be one of the better vampire films in many many years. It is eerie without interfering with a great story. It has moments of gore (a man throwing acid over his face and decapitated boys stand out) without going over the top (feeding scenes are pretty much just blood). But mostly it is a platform for the young actors Kåre Hedebrant (Oskar) and Lina Leandersson (Eli) to strut their stuff and they do so magnificently.

Let The Right One In will only have limited releases and interest due to the subtitles, but don't let that stray from you this gem. If Twilight doesn't live up to the hype in just over one week, then Let The Right One In can claim best vampire film of 2008.