HORROR MONTH #7: Let the Right One In, by Tomas Alfredson (2008)

Type of Media: Film

Bullied kids are the subjects of countless horror tales. Ever since Carrie debuted in 1978, writers have employed the tormented outcast as a monster that is frightening and yet sympathetic. While those outcasts may snap and do terrifying things, it's more understandable as their actions are only a reflection of the cruelty that society has shown them for years.

Let the Right One In is a Swedish horror movie focusing on Oskar, a bullied kid, and his friendship with Eli, an old vampire who appears as a 12-year-old girl. Oskar lives with his mother, who doesn't show him much affection, and occasionally visits his father, who prefers drinking with his buddies to spending time with his son. Eli lives with Hakan, a middle-aged man who helps Eli avoid the sun and feed on local townspeople, but who is increasingly failing in his ability to provide Eli victims.

Oskar longs to get revenge on the kids at school who verbally and physically harass him, and collects magazine clippings of violent murders. He's so desperate for friendship he is willing to overlook Eli's increasingly inhuman nature. When Oskar finally figures out the Eli is a vampire, he seems more curious than concerned, and is barely troubled by the fact that Eli has to kill to survive. His disaffection mimics that of his decades, maybe even centuries-old companion.

Let the Right One In shows the toll that isolation can take on a person. You get the sense that Oskar wouldn't be so comfortable with death if he had friends and a healthier family life. The pain of being unwanted has aged Oskar's mind to the point that things that should disturb him simply don't. This is reflected visually in the film with a pale, washed-out color palette that really highlights the cold of the snowy Swedish landscape.

If you're with a significant other on Halloween, Let the Right One In works surprisingly well as a date movie. Though it is morbid, Let the Right One In is also very romantic in a sense. It's a story about two people with very little attachment to the world finding one another. Whether their relationship is a good thing for the rest of society, well... that's society's problem, isn't it?