Let the Right One In

In Brief: What a relief — and what a delight — it is to be able to praise a horror film without a string of qualifiers and excuses! Sure, there’ve been a handful of horror pictures in the past few years that deserved a look, but all required caveats about how this or that or the other thing doesn’t work, how a clunky opening has to be overlooked or a lame ending comes close to ruining the movie. There’s no need for that with Let the Right One In. Indeed, this is a horror film — and make no mistake, it is a horror film and an R-rated one at that — that edges its way into the realm of dark fantasy à la Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). If it doesn’t quite enter that realm, that’s no disgrace — very few films do. Brilliantly made — and with moments of very real sadness and genuine charm — Let the Right One In is that rare horror movie that stands apart from the crop and shows the rest of the moviegoing world that not all genre efforts are rubbish. Here is proof — if proof is needed — that the genre can be, and sometimes is, just as valid as any other. This excerpt was taken from a review by Ken Hanke originally published on Dec.17, 2008.