Let the Right One In

Colin Brookes reflects on ethical and aesthetic issues between vampires and us.

Let the Right One In (2008) was critically acclaimed internationally and received several prestigious awards. It stands out strikingly from previous vampire movies or TV series, such as the recent Vampire Diaries, Twilight, and Being Human. All those have origins in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula and draw on the numerous Hammer Horror versions of the Count’s (non-)life. But religions, folklore and their related symbolic paraphernalia are underplayed in the narrative of Let the Right One In: there are no crucifixes, garlic, or wooden stakes here. Absent too are an aristocratic Count, atmospheric locations, solicitors’ vulnerable fiancées, and wise physicians/vampire experts.

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