Lat Den Ratte Komma In (aka Let The Right One In) (2008)

A disturbed and lonely 12 year old boy (Kare Hedebrant), who's the target of the school's bully, befriends a strange young boy (played by a girl, Lina Leandersson), also 12. They form a close friendship that allows them to open up to each other, accepting each other for who they are and satisfying their need for human contact. Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and directed byTomas Alfredson. It's the basis of the children's relationship that is at the film's core and what makes it resonate. I hesitate to call it a "horror" film (Leandersson is a child vampire) because as a horror film, it's very weak. There's no mood, no atmosphere, no style, no suspense, no ... well, horror. But director Alfredson captures perfectly the angst of being a "misfit" in a world of normalcy. While I liked the film's portrayal of the almost dull day to day existence of being a vampire, some of it just seemed sloppy to me. One particularly slow and methodical killing is done near a road in full view of passing cars! The film eliminates some of the more unsavory aspects of the Lindqvist novel. Per Ragnar plays Leandersson's "father" in the film, in the novel, he's a pedophile who looks after him and the film doesn't address Leandersson's castration. A dark, often fascinating film that doesn't quite succeed. Remade in 2010 in English.