Movie- "Let The Right One In"

Has anyone here seen the movie "Let The Right One In"? I saw the Swedish version, dubbed into English, but I haven't seen the American remake, although I heard it was pretty good too, and faithful to the feel of the original movie.

SPOILER!!! If you haven't seen the movie, don't read any farther.

I liked the way the boy, Oskar, befriends the little girl, but the end was a bit disturbing. It seemed rather innocent, after she saves his life and he decides to run away with her; but I couldn't help thinking, "Well, she's got another ghoul now, to replace the other one. She most likely befriended him as a young boy, too." By the time Oskar is older, he'll probably be willing to kill for her too, just like the other guy... and he doesn't even have the excuse of a blood bond.

I don't know if they meant for you to wonder about that stuff or not, but I guess my time spent playing Vampire: the Masquerade has made me a bit cynical about vampire motives. To me, it wasn't really a 'happy' ending.

It's crazy that you started this thread because I watched "Let Me In", the American remake on Friday night, I downloaded it via torrent. The little boy's name is Owen and the vampire girl's name is Abby, I don't know how much they changed but let me say, the remake was very.... realistic and gritty.

It's crazy that you mentioned at the end of the film you were thinking "Great, she got herself another ghoul who will dedicate his life to keeping her well fed and will put his life on the line for her continued existance", because I thought the exact same thing. It's almost like she get's these 12 year old boys to fall in love with her, uses them for the next 50 years, then discards them for another "servant". She seems so innocent but is quite evil and capable.

The best part is when she DESTROYS those boys at the pool though, that was awesome! HAHA

I don't know whether 'evil' really describes her. Yes, from a moral standpoint, she feeds on blood, and whether she kills her victims personally or her ghoul does it for her, it's still murder. But from her standpoint, I think she is doing what is necessary to survive. It's possible that she planned the whole thing from the start, but I didn't get that feeling. I think she needed the companionship as much as she needed the blood, or she wouldn't have tried to warn him off at the beginning... "I can't be your friend." (Not sure if they had that scene in the remake, but I'm betting they did, if it's as faithful to the original as I've heard.)

Of course, she knew very well that after her previous 'protector' died, she needed a new one. In her way, she may honestly care for the young boy, but she is also calculating enough to know he can be useful, and the only way for them to be together is for him to be her ghoul, and take over those daytime duties that she can't manage. It's not really evil in the traditional, "Vampires are the spawn of Satan" kind of way, where the vamps turn into bloodsucking fiends the moment they are turned. But in a sense, it's almost worse... she's human enough to have a choice, and she chooses to keep living, at the expense of innocent lives. It's sad and terrible at the same time.

It sort of reminds me of one of those little one- or two-page stories from the VtM core rulebook -- the one where the woman has found her prey, and it's almost as though she's falling in love with him a little, even while she plans to drain his life. I think it's meant to be the Toreador viewpoint.

Anyway, I thought the movie had a very 'World of Darkness' feel about it. It also illustrated why Embracing children is not a good idea in the first place.

As for the pool scene... sounds like that part is exactly the same. I may have to watch the American version now, just to compare the two.

PGM1961 wrote:

Anyway, I thought the movie had a very 'World of Darkness' feel about it. It also illustrated why Embracing children is not a good idea in the first place.

While I do agree with that, I have to say it depends on the character. She might be one of the worse examples, even if there aren't very many of the sort. You could have the example like her and Claudia(from Interview With a Vampire), or you could have the example of a child/young teenage(in this case, about fifteen or younger), that is able to go a route that doesn't leave piles of bodies, even if it stretches out over a number of years.

Anyway, I do plan on seeing it, but no doubt it's something that has many on edge. And I am likely to be sure, that they avoided certain things with her, and I don't mean anything risque. I notice many Vampire themed movies tend to avoid showing vamps actually drinking blood casually, even if it can be easily explained away, and it doesn't involve taking it directly from someone.

Ghouls don't age though unless you get them off the blood, then their aging accelerates until it matches what age they should be.

Isn't the vampire also supposed to be a boy? I know there is one where there is a young boy who is castrated then turned and masquerades as a young girl. Could be another book/movie though

8people wrote:

Isn't the vampire also supposed to be a boy? I know there is one where there is a young boy who is castrated then turned and masquerades as a young girl. Could be another book/movie though

There's some ambiguity about that in the movie; she just says she's 'not a girl', and when they show a brief nude shot, there's a scar down there. I thought she just meant she was a vampire, although I later found out that the in the book it's like you said.

Maxus Corvin wrote:

I notice many Vampire themed movies tend to avoid showing vamps actually drinking blood casually, even if it can be easily explained away, and it doesn't involve taking it directly from someone.

I don't know about the American version, but the Swedish version is pretty graphic in the few violent scenes they do have.

Oh -- and the vamps in this movie do NOT sparkle in daylight. Catching some rays is like shooting starter fluid into the barbecue grill.

PGM1961 wrote:

Oh -- and the vamps in this movie do NOT sparkle in daylight. Catching some rays is like shooting starter fluid into the barbecue grill.

Yeah, I thought how sunlight affected vampires in this film was epic. They burst into HUGE flames immediately upon getting hit with direct sunlight, very very cool FX.

About Abby really being a boy and getting his pepe cut off is truly messed up. In the American version they show Abby nude but it's in the dark and you can't see anything, definately can't see a scar. I thought when she said "I'm not a girl" I thought she meant it was because she was a vampire too, I didn't realize she's really a boy missing his pecker.

PGM1961 wrote:

Maxus Corvin wrote:

I notice many Vampire themed movies tend to avoid showing vamps actually drinking blood casually, even if it can be easily explained away, and it doesn't involve taking it directly from someone.

I don't know about the American version, but the Swedish version is pretty graphic in the few violent scenes they do have.

Eh, I mean more of something like the "Lounge" scene in Underworld(i.e that has the line "When Amelia arrives to awaken Markus..."). But generally when it is consumed directly from an IV(similar to those in Bloodlines), or from a glass. Either way, most movies avoid it - and it doesn't help when most of these movies has the "Too-Human" Vampire that states their hunger only when necessary. The only one I've noticed that really dove into this was a TV series called "Moonlight", that had most of the Vamps drinking blood casually in almost every episode(even one that works in a morgue, and drinks it while he works).

I have seen the Swedish version, I really liked it! Popped up on net flix a couple months ago. I shall have to see about getting ahold of the new one.