Let The Right One In Essay

‘Let the Right One In’ Essay

‘Let the Right One In’ is a Swedish horror film which was made in April 2009 and is directed by Thomas Alfredson. The film stars Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragner. ‘Let the Right One In’ had a budget of £4 million. The film has been extremely successful and has also since been re-made in Hollywood and is out in cinemas at the moment. The film is based on the horror novel written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The film is set in a Stockholm suburb in 1982.  The film is about a 12 year old boy called Oskar who is getting bullied at school. He appears to have no friends and so does nothing about the problem and always takes a beating. Until when he meets Eli outside his flat. Eli is also twelve and has just moved into the flat next door to Oskar. Eli is looked after by an accomplice, who he is we do not know but he commits murders to collect blood for Eli to feed on. Eli does not tell Oskar that she is a vampire. They get on well and start to form a relationship. Eli convinces Oskar that he needs to fight back at the bullies. Oskar eventually finds out that Eli is a vampire but still is not put off. The film ends with Oskar being drowned by the bullies at school until Eli turns up to rescue Oskar and kills them.

The mise on scene for the film is very basic and very bland. The film mainly shows Oskars school, his walk home and his flat. The film is set in a dark, brutal winter in Sweden. Most of the film is in darkness with the exception of Oskar at school. The producers of the film wanted to use the natural environment of the area to film to show a more dark and grim setting. The flats are shown to be old and dated, to be shown to be 1980’s. The actors clothes are also very dated. All the sets are used to create a damp, dark and cold environment inside as well as the natural environment outside.

The music used for the film is slow when showing the everyday lifestyle of Oskar. This may be trying to show how boring a life he leads. However for the more fast paced events when Eli is attacking people there is more alert and jumpy music used. This helps to build tension and create a more risky environment. Most of the sound for the film is from the environment and is mainly the howling of wind and trees.  However there is also lots of speech from the characters.

The film uses mainly long shots for the camera work when Eli is attacking people. The camera then shows a close up of the victim or someone who observed the killing to show their emotions. There are many panning shots when a person enters a room and follows the character. There are also lots of close ups of Oskar at his window in his flat and also when he is sitting with Eli outside. There are also long shots used when Eli is climbing buildings. Again the camera work uses dark environments to show the bleak surroundings. Also when in Oskar and Eli’s appartments there is very dull light.

Levi Strouss’s binary opposites are shown very obviously in ‘Let the Right One In’. E.g. ‘good vs evil’, ‘boy and girl’.  At the start when Eli’s accomplice is shown hanging the man upside down from a tree and slitting his throat it shows a ‘good vs evil’ binary opposite. Later on we see another ‘good vs evil’ between Oskar and his bullies. We also see later the ‘boy and girl’ relationship between Oskar and Eli. Later on we see the opposite ‘human and non- human’ between Oskar and Eli.

Jacob Boswell