It’s taken me a long time to write a review of this film after seeing it. The delay came not from the daunting praise that’s been heaped upon it (well over 60 international award nominations/wins), but by the film itself. It also has ...something ...about it that lingers in the mind; something that I’ll try to hit upon while writing this review.

First let’s talk about the movie’s genre. It has often been mislabeled as horror. It isn’t. It has very few horror elements and should never be cast into that bloody pool (those who’ve seen the film will get my pun ...I hope). Yes, there’s the vampire construct from the beginning, but this vampire film is far different than those that’ve come before. It is touching in the adolescent sense and numbing in the way the story unfolds and is filmed.

So let’s talk a moment about the filming. Shot on-location in Sweden during the winter months, the color film is often muted by the black and white of snow and buildings. This gives the film a unique feel and a connection to the main characters (as they live in a black-and-white world full of knowns ...for a while), but it also makes the eyes of the viewer tired of seeing the same drabness. This is why I gave the film a bit lower rating than most. Although I know where and why writer/director Alfredson did what he did — for the sake of his art — I don’t think it translated completely to the big screen.

The story, however, is pretty magical in that it takes an old genre (vampire films) and puts a new spin on it. The main characters aren’t just young, they’re really young. Oskar (Kare Hedebrant) is just 12 years old. Battling toward adolescence, he is small for his age and is ridiculed and tortured by fellow classmates. One can only imagine the amount of anger bottled up inside him. But we don’t have to imagine it ...because it shows up in the form of a 12-year-old girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson), an aged vampire forever locked in a young body. The two form a friendship based on puzzles (Rubik’s Cube) and their need to connect with someone their own age. For Eli, the connection is a much greater need (as we see by the end of the film). But for Oskar, it must feel just as great.

And speaking of the end, there’s a surprise waiting for those who make it through the film. A big one. The ending, when spoken about in movie circles, is often said to present more questions than answers. Was Oskar just a pawn for Eli? Something she needed to survive? Was Eli even real? Or was she a dark figment of Oskar’s personality that manifested itself via murder? It is a dichotomy that will not be easily un-puzzled.

And herein lay the reason it took me so long to review LET THE RIGHT ONE IN after seeing it: I didn’t know how to respond (myself) to that ending. But one things for sure, it stuck with me. I remember every word the two main characters spoke and recall all of the mixed angst and beauty they represented. It definitely sank a fang into me.