Swedish Wheatballs

Title:  Let the Right One In

Actors/Director/Anything Worth Mentioning Right Away:  This is a 2008 Swedish movie that you probably have heard of before.   There is an American remake of sorts that came out last year in theaters (2010) and this year (2011) on DVD.   I will see it soon enough. 

Introduction:  I got this from the library twice.  I didn’t make it all the way through the first time, so I had to watch it again.

Location:  Many.  School, a frozen pond, houses and, yes, even under a bridge.  Good budget here.

Plot:  A twelve year old boy befriends what he believes to be a girl about his same age but is actually a vampire.   While this is based on a book I haven’t read, the movie itself comes off just looking like a normal buddy picture between two kids.   While you might expect something along the lines of Interview With A Vampire to the Twilight saga when you think vampires (or something better), this movie comes off more like Bridge to Terabithia.

Acting:  The kid in this looks a lot like Rhys Ifans as he looked in Enduring Love, but I guess the acting is all right since they’re kids and it’s foreign.  I don’t know, I can’t judge it a lot since I watched it with subtitles and dubbed. 

Production:  It had a good budget, it has good production.  Everything looks very cold though, whites and hues of blue. 

Sex/Nudity:   No, these are little kids.   Geez.

Special Effects:  For what little bloodlust there is, it looks good, but, you know, it’s not that much.

Overall Verdict:  Granted this one girl happens to feast on the blood of the living, but otherwise, this is too close to being like any other movie you could see where two kids form a bond versus being an actual horror or even vampire movie.  With a DVD case that reads “Best. Vampire. Movie. Ever.” (so says someone who hasn’t seen enough vampire movies), I expected a lot from this movie.  One thing I did not expect, however, was to be this bored by it.   You want to see a kid being bullied befriend a vampire?  Watch this movie.  You want to see an actual vampire movie?  Go find Bela Lugosi.