Most of this is my review after having just seen the movie in 2008, previously posted elsewhere. 

I also have a review of the book here. 

I first heard about “Let the Right One In” on Rotten Tomatoes where they displayed the red band trailer. The blurb was that Guillermo Del Toro gave the film his seal of approval or something to that effect. Instantly I thought “This must be good!” It turned out to be one of the most satisfying, yet disturbing movies I had ever seen.

I dare say this movie might just be better than The Dark Knight as my fav movie of ’08 for the simple reason that John Ajvide Lindqvist, Tomas Alfredson, and their band of merry cast and crew achieved the same shock and awe that Nolan did with TDK on only 2% of the budget. Speaking of Christopher Nolan, he used to be a low budget master as well and there’s no reason for Alfredson and his cast and crew of this film not to follow his path to greatness if they keep at the craft. The story will blow your mind, the camerawork is phenomenal, the acting is spot on, and the soundtrack is sorrowful.

I regret to say that this movie had such a limited release, and on top of that, Twilight stole most of LTROI’s thunder in the States. Not only that, but my other big regret is that this is one of those stories where it’s so damn good, you wish there will be a sequel and yet know deep in the back of your mind there probably won’t be one given that the actors won’t be able to stay young. That’s the big reason I’m rooting for a US remake while others are booing it: It’s the closest we’ll get to a sequel. There’s plenty of good remakes out there if you open your eyes a little. 

 

I finally saw the remake, “Let Me In,” in 2011. It was more or less a shot-for-shot remake and the acting was almost as good. I liked the scene where the “guardian” character was caught better in the remake, but felt the pool scene was better in the original (the original film uses the “less is more” approach quite nicely).  

Let the Right One In is available on Amazon.