In story of a tormented Scandinavian boy who befriends a girl of the same age who is also a vampire, Let the Right One In shines a new light on the saturated genre of vampire films.
Going into this film and knowing a thing or two about vampire folklore, I looked at the title of the film and recalled that vampires can't enter your home unless you allow them to.
The use of silence in this movie is excellent and appropriate. In a world where Oskar, our protagonist, feels alone and left out -- secluded, if you will -- the presence of deafening silence is essential just to show how alone and dark he really is.
The cinematography is also really awesome. Far away camera shots put into perspective more things that you would get in a close-up. For instance, the scene where the little vampire girl feigns injury under the bridge and attacks the man who tries to help her, you can see a truck go over the bridge -- something about that was really awesome and you don't see a lot of it in many movies. I can't put my finger on why exactly this was so great, but it just resonated with me. The setting of Sweden is also very appropriate -- a place where it's cold and dark, much like how Oskar feels on the inside.
The pool scene was spectacular. SPOILER ALERT: I figured since the movie was so dark, it'd end with Oskar being killed in the pool. Seeing the one bullies' feet drag across the water amid total silence is chilling, then seeing his head in the pool, followed by the perpetrator of the drowning's arm being severed. Wow. Spectacular cinema without ominous music. T'was brilliant.
Overall a really unique film that was a refreshing break from what the Vampire genre has sunken to.
I thought the bridge attack was pretty cool also. The way it was filmed made it seem like you were a helpless onlooker.
ReplyDeleteExactly!
ReplyDeleteThe best part is they created that effect without it having to be a shakey-cam. You know the types of movies I'm talking about. (Rec) was shakey cam done right. But there are a lot of movies that cut away from stuff or start moving the camera around just to give the atmosphere a sense of kinetic energy. Mostly it just gives nausea.
ReplyDeleteThe Blair Witch Project comes to mind as king of the shaky cam films. haha
ReplyDeleteI wanted my 8 dollars back after I watched that movie.
ReplyDeleteThat makes two of us! Ha!
ReplyDeleteyes the bridge scene was also really neat, it's setup much differently than most horror scenes like it would be but since you can see the whole of the frame and know what's going to happen, it's almost more frightening.
ReplyDeleteThe continuous shots where they never cut away type scenes are always awesome. We are so used to things being cut away. Anyone seen Oldboy? The continuous shot in the hallway was just pure awesome all the way through.
ReplyDeleteYeah the hammer scene in the hall in Oldboy was a classic.
ReplyDelete