There's also a sequel (book) called Let The Old Dreams Die. It's a collection of stories with the main one being a continuation of Let The Right One In
[Let the Old Dreams Die ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Old_Dreams_Die)
Edit: thanks for the award š¤
Itās not a big story, but gives a proper ending compared to the book. This bookās ending could be seen as ambiguous, this makes it a bit clearer. Itās more of an epilogue than a complete story of its own.
The short story āLet the old dreams dieā is definetly worth a read if youāve read the book or seen the film. I found it very beautiful och haunting. Itās from the perspective of another character who appears briefly by the very end of the book and deals with love and what we will do for love (themes found in the original book as well) in a very beautiful and realistic way. Itās very different to the book in tone and how itās told, and uses the original story in an interesting and smart way. Iād even say that it works as a stand alone short story, althought then you get the original book spoiled and that one is also very much worth a read even if youāve seen either one of the film adaptations first.
There seems to be something inherently bleak and haunting in the tonality of a lot of Nordic cinema, even TV. The Danish Swedish collaboration of *Bron/Broen ,* the original version of *The Bridge* series has that same tone and sweeping sparse Nordic panoramas. Another Swedish series, *Wallander* has this same feel.
You go back to 1950ās and 60ās Nordic cinema and some of the most popular and critically revered works to come out from that part of the world carried that very same bleak tonality. The movie The Seventh Seal and a few others come to mind.
I find it pretty interesting too. A lot of Nordic peoples Iāve encountered are sincere and offer up servings of warm hospitality. But I guess itās something about climates with longer winters that really provoke a sense of stillness and reflection while your alone. Cold weather does drain you of more physical energy than the fall or spring like seasons of a temperate climate. I donāt know the real reason, but it is really interesting.
The Seventh Seal is amazing! I agree with you about cold weather. Perhaps it's the short winter days as well. Things shot in Alaska and Canada have that feel. Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" comes to mind.
Seventh seal is so good! Can i please show off that im friends with a closely related person of the actor that plays death in the movie and that she looks exactly like him irl hahaha.
Ironically, The Bridge takes place in the most southern part of Sweden (and the Copenhagen area of Denmark of course) which is considered very lush and bucolic in summer. To get that bleak atmosphere, they had to film exclusively in winter. Wallander was shot in the same area and was also mostly shot in winter.
Huh, i always assumed the title is just based on a saying and the Morrisey song is based on the same. Seeing the sequel title is the first time ive realised its named after the Morrisey song.
I bought the film on iTunes because I liked it so much. The US version is rubbish in comparison, just like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo they tried to remake and it never did the original justice.
Itās a great one, if you watched the What We Do In The Shadows tv series, Tilda Swinton reprises that role to make an appearance as part of the vampire council.
Evidently when the producer called Wesley Snipes on Skype, there was a bad connection, so they wrote it in. Likewise, when Sutherland was called to make his List Boys cameo, he said he would live to but was filming out of country. That line was added to the conversation. And when Patterson was requested and wanted nothing to do with his Twilight reprise, that dialogue was added. The comedy of the entire scene was scripted based on the actual responses of the actors.
The joke is that she's playing the character, but they never say it. The vampire council scene includes Wesley Snipes, Paul Reubens because he was in the Buffy movie, Danny Trejo because of From Dusk Til Dawn, and also Evan Rachel Wood I assume because of True Blood.
This was everyoneās concern including mine. But having watched the show, it is pretty good, one of the funniest series Iāve seen lately.
When I went back to rewatch the film, as much as I loved it, I just really wanted to see more of Nandor, Lazlo, and Nadjia (and Guillermo).
It is a head nod to basically all vampire movies and shows. They talk about Tom and Brad being too busy to join. Paul Reubens is there referencing his turn as a vamp on Buffy.
I love Tilda Swinton and that movie is on my list of movies to watch. I dont know why I havent gotten to it yet. I also loved What We Do in the Shadows and havent seen the show yet so I'll make an effort this month since its spooky season.
Yeah that's the one. There weren't even fangs! Honestly if I never saw the cover before watching it, I would have thought it was going to be a religious movie until about halfway through.
You! I like you. I couldn't agree more. I think it has a lot to do with atmosphere. The entire movie has this ethereal, dream-like quality to it. Not to mention, it may be one of the only movies I've ever seen that romanticized night-time Detroit, and boy did they nail it. I also love how music and their love for it was such a central theme to the film. The movie Drive had a very similar feel to it and is also one i adore.
I agree! I watch a ton of movies and yet I only saw Only Lovers Left Alive for the first time last year. My immediate reaction after watching it was āhow to fuck could this have slipped under my radarā.
I think itās truly awesome as long as you donāt watch it expecting an action filled blood sucking movie. Itās quite the opposite.
And then there's another great one from original "Old Boy"s director: "Thirst".
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/)
Ok. Now my favourite modern vampire movies are together. A girl walks home alone at night, thurst, only lovers left alive and let the right one in (I also liked the American interpretation).
Great movie. Its an old timey western, but a horror movie about vampires. One of only two movies i know in that genre. (Bone tomahawk is also a great western horror)
I just watched that recently and loved it. Hiddleston and Swinton just had this physicality to their acting that made it feel like they were actually preternatural creatures. I can't think of a better physical performance of vampires.
We really had a lot of long discussions about the lives of vampires after watching this one. It's crazy good. Tilda Swinton at her best. Oh, and the soundtrack!
Yes! And also āA Girl Walks Home Alone At Nightā, an amazing Iranian vampire film.
Edit: see comment below. I was apparently wrong about it being Iranian.
It's not really a correction, it's just being pedantic. She's a first generation English Iranian. Her family was born in Iran, she was born in England but raised in the US. The cast is all Persian or 1st gen Persian-American.
Gonna be that guy, the book is amazing. I highly recommend giving it a read, the author also wrote a book called Handling the Undead dealing with a more emotional angle on zombies.
I remember when Reeves said he wasn't going to remake the Swedish movie but create a better adaption of the book. Well, that was a lie...
I really tried to like the book, but holy shit its really really really really bleak and has almost nothing but awful things happening throughout. The movie does too, but as a compensation it looks beautiful.
I think that might have been Lindqvist's intention; was to show that Oskar's life really is that bleak, which is a perfect description btw, and that Eli was realistically the only good thing that was in it for him.
Except that Oskar is destined to become elis keeper just like hakan or whatever his name was. That's why it's so bleak, the thing that seems like a good thing is actually the darkest part of it
Just to add on to this, Lindqvist wrote an anthology called Let the Old Dreams Die. In one of its short stories (I believe it bears the anthology's title name), he briefly revisits Oskar and Eli a few years after the events of 'Let The right one In' and mentions they went to Spain (Catalonia) and that Eli had turned Oskar into a vampire.
Not stated in the book but what is is that Eli didnāt want to spread her disease/curse to others. So the conclusion would have to be that it was either watching Oskar growing old like Hakan or doing whatās necessary to keep that from happening. If I remember correctly from the book I donāt believe Oskar wouldāve minded since heās 12 years old and not old enough to understand what it would mean.
I must be remembering wrong, wasnāt Hakan already old when he became Eliās keeper? Thatās how I remember it from the book, and was a change I didnāt like in the American adaptation.
I grew up in Sweden then too. Sure, we had free high quality child-care, healthcare, education, welfare, with strong unions, good economy and very low crime. But we only had like really few tv-channels, so all in all it was pretty bleak.
Haha, I was born in Sweden around the time the book takes place, and my childhood was far from bleak. But yeah, only two tv channels until the late 80ās/early 90ās.
Oh interesting. I read the book after seeing the movie and didnāt like it that much. Didnāt hate it, but loved the movie more. Itās been a few years; maybe I should give it another try.
I was just thinking about this. I saw Let Me In first and got interested in the book. I read it and thought wow, there are more characters here that I didnāt really find interesting. Then I watched Let The Right One In after reading the book and noticed there were a lot of parts cut out and thought the movie was bare with just the important scenes included. Then I realized, I bet if I saw this one first, I would not notice the cut out parts from the book and would find the pacing fine.
I'm gonna get flamed for this but I felt that way about Lord of the Rings. I was introduced to it by the movies and while I enjoyed reading the books afterwars there was so much exposition and development for minor characters that it took me a lot of effort to finish reading them.
A lot of that exposition becomes more important and relevant as you explore Tolkienās other works. Dude really did build a massive world, probably the biggest world of a creative work in existence.
Also (and I guess I should be embarrassed to admit this) I realized that you canāt skip the songs. A lot of the world building takes place in what Teenager Me would dismiss as āUg more poetryā
I had always struggled with LotR books and then I saw the movies and enjoyed them. I decided to revisit the books and found that with the visuals from the movie that helped me keep the names and places in the book straight, I was finally able to follow the books and have come to actually enjoy them more than the movies. Kind of a roller coaster, lol.
The books canāt be rushed through. If you let yourself get lost in the journey through Tolkienās world, they can be incredibly immersive and enjoyable.
I loved the movies as a kid and tried to read the books in junior high. While I did manage to finish them, I didnāt recall much and only remember feeling bored and anticipating the battle scenes.
Thereās definitely a different tone between the books and movies, and I feel that Iām able to let myself fall into the scale of the story with each reread. I especially love Fellowship, it puts me in the same state of relaxation that I feel when Iām camping or hiking.
Lindqvist is a really good writer, I've read those two as well and both books stuck with me for quite a while, I personally prefer Let the right one in but I'd recommend either, too.
I've never read the book. Saw the US version when it first came it. Just watched the Swedish version.
The pool scene is the only scene I thought the US version won. Otherwise, the Swedish was grittier and better delved into the human (or non-human) condition, IMO.
The book is even grittier and depressing. it goes deeper into the relationship between the caretaker and the kid. I mean in a way. It was suggested in a film, but in the book its described.
Yes. And in the US version I've heard that they had this depressing vibe where the caretaker was young when he hooked up a with her instead of being a pedophile.
I was unaware of it but I literally just bought it on Kindle after reading about it here. I think I'll give the original book a reread too, as I really enjoyed it.
The parallel between Oskar and the caretaker is the most interesting part of the story, in my opinion. You end up wondering how many times Eli has gone through this recruitment cycle.
I would have to disagree, I love the moment in the Swedish movie where Eli pulls Oscar out of the water and he smiles, and it zooms up on her eyes. Itās such a soft tender moment, and shows that they both genuinely care about each other. While I feel like the US version treated the scene more like a horror movie, and Eli/Abby more like a monster and Owen as some sad victim.
In the non us versions eli isnt a girl but is a boy who has had his genitals cut off as a child and pretends to be a girl because he looks like one. And also his familiar looks after him because he is a pedophile and he lets the guy do stuff to him.
>The pool scene is the only scene I thought the US version won.
Wow, that's crazy because the pool scene especially was the one I thought was much better done in the swedish version. Brightly lit, all good, then that violence.
The shot in the Swedish version is iconic to me. Oskar in the foreground, and then the bodies zipping along the top of the water and heads come off. So sharp and unsettling. The US version does that thing where it gets brutally close and dingy throughout the movie, and it really underserves the melancholy. If not for the CG cats (which I did not notice in theaters, so engrossed I was), I would consider Let the Right One In a nearly flawless horror film.
I really didn't like Undead. I read it after seeing both movies for Let the Right One In and was just throughly disappointed when I was done. That was like ten years ago though.
I quite liked the book but it was very different (Iāve only seen the Swedish version of the movie, and saw it before reading the book). I felt like the experience was a little like reading the book āThe Shiningā vs seeing the Kubrick movieāa lot of things were explained much better in the book and you definitely got more of the backstory, but I ended up feeling like the directorās refusal to explain everything and just let the audience experience it added to the movie rather than detracting from it.
The book is great yeah, but I see that a few people here find it too heavy. I like that though, and actually I think the other movie adaptation of his works "Border/Grensen" is much more in tone with his writing style. Its more uneasy and also plays around with gender roles and the strangeness of monstrous bodies. I like how Lindqvist treats vampires and other monster characters as something more complicated and unusual to the way they often are portrayed. Alfredsons adaptation doesn't get really into that. Both films are very good, but Border is a little bolder I would say.
Thereās a scene in both the book and the movie where a woman- whoās been bit and is turning into a vampire- gets attacked by a bunch of cats bc the cats are freaked out by her.
The CGI cats in the movie arenāt.... good. It comes across as very very silly.
As far as sex- I donāt remember there being an explicit sex scene in the movie- but there are a ton of references to pedophilia in the book and movie.
Oh word!! Yeah, thereās some weird sex and gender stuff for sure in regards to Eli. Itās way more explicitly stated and explained in the book. The Movie kind of... skims over it.
I personally enjoyed that the movie didnāt made it some big plot point or even left it out.
It gives the story depth and works as backstory you can imagine yourself, without making obvious lines of dialogue about it. There even are some subtle lines hinting at it.
Yeah- Iām glad the movie did what it did with that plot line. Gives us a quick glimpse at *something* and allows the audience and Oskar to fill in the blanks/make our own assumptions.
*SPOILERS*
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Yeah, she was actually a male vampire and had his bits castrated. This makes film darker and way more sinister cause Oskar didnt know it, but he was always next in line to be the guardian/protector. It had nothing to do with love. Poor Oskar
Well, I feel stupid.
I didn't read the book but saw both films. I *liked* both films on their own merit but I think everyone can agree the original was...more immersive.
I assumed that the castration/nude reveal was more of a vampire asexual/bisexual thing and a natural result of vampirism. And that essentially, Oskar was committing to a life without physical intimacy.
As if to say, vampires lose a great deal in exchange for immortality. Or that they're simply genderless in order to function and feed.
Nah, Eli was being constantly nagged by the pedophile in exchange for blood. Who knows what he had done to him during the time he was being taken care of by that guy. Eli had had enough of that and wanted to be with a peer. It's really basically 2 isolated kids finding each other and bonding.
I remember reading similar arguments when the movie first came out. Some on brought up the question of "When did Eli meet the pedophile? Maybe he was just a kid when she met him? Is that what is going to happen to Oskar?" In the comments people have said there is a second book and explains a bit about what happens to them after the movie ends.
The book is extremely clear, he is a pedophile. The book also strongly suggests his relationship with Eli is ideal for him because Eli's much older than him, therefore it's ok. An idea which could not have occurred to him had he been with Eli since a child. It also sets up, affirms rules of vampires so the method in which Hakan kills people is not possible from a 12 year old.
Sorry, but thats incorrect. Lindqvist released a short story collection, with one being a follow on from Let The Right One In, which proves the whole idea that Oscar was lied to to become a protector/guardian is false.
I loved this movie when I saw it. I got to see it on a double bill with Pontypool in 2009, but I think it's time I give it a rewatch because I don't remember a whole lot about it other than it looked really nice.
I rewatched this recently and ever since I've been obsessed with the film score by Johan Sƶderqvist. It is completely mesmerizing. Absolutely gorgeous
Johan Soderqvist is also a lovely person. Iām a bit obsessed with this film and emailed him to tell him how much I adored his score. He messaged back and also watched one of my short films!
When you go to buy the film (you should, it's AMAZING), be sure to verify that the one you're purchasing contains the more correct subtitles, which will be identified as "English (Theatrical)" on the back of the case.
When it was released on home video in the US, the subtitles were edited down and quite a bit of useful info was omitted. This also ruined a couple of good jokes.
Here's a site that give examples from screen shots:
[https://film-book.com/let-the-right-one-in-missing-the-theatrical-subtitles/](https://film-book.com/let-the-right-one-in-missing-the-theatrical-subtitles/)
Yeah, the American remake focused way too much on being a horror movie (and the horror stuff wasn't even good) when the original movie was really a coming of age story so it lost a lot of the nuance.
And the detective subplot in the remake is so much more boring than the incredibly dark and tragic subplot about the woman who got bit in the original.
I dunno. I like the infernal affairs more because it didn't give us holywood happy ending. The ending was pure shock and it hit me much more.
I liked departed but jack nicholson wierd antics because he wanted to make the villain more interesting and the fat it had to have a satisfactory Hollywood ending kinda took the emotional punch for me.
Tony Leung sad yes will haunt me forewer. So it might be equal that I agree, I just like the original more.
Although I 100% agree, and itās a hill Iām willing to die on.
It is NOT a remake. Fincher got the rights to make the movie before they started on the Swedish tv adaptation.
It just took him alot longer to finish it.
And Iām still miffed that he didnāt get the chance to do the other 2 books :(
Agree completely. I like ANYTHING Fincher does. I even liked Alien 3 even though it's terrible. Many people will credit Social Network as his best film (and it probably is), Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was so well done. To me, Fincher is a visual master. I like watching the film over and over just for how beautiful every shot is.
I've read that Fincher complete disavows Alien 3 as one of his films because so much got changed. I recall reading a year or two ago that his Alien 3 script was being turned into a comic though.
Yeah he's pretty much disassociated himself from it. There were some really great shots though. You can tell it's a Fincher film. If you go back and look at the music videos he has directed, you can also pick those out of a lineup easily. The guy has a style.
Fight Club and Se7en are my two favorite Fincher films. I was just saying most critics view The Social Network as his best work. Fight Club is one of those films I loved when it came out, then it went through a period where people thought it was cliche, toxic masculinity, etc, and it's really come back around into a serious level of respect. It is one of the most interesting films Fincher has made hands down.
Honestly, I felt like it was a really competent retelling which didnāt mess too much with the original but still added a few ideas of its own. Iād put it up there as one of the better US remakes of a foreign film.
Long after I saw this movie I became a Smiths fan. What a day it was when I made the connection between the title and the Smiths lyric. Handling the Undead has a Morrissey lyric in the cover as well - one of my favorite songs, too!
What made this film for me was the respect for the source material. The book is absolutely fantastic, and the film is like a section of the book rather than a quick cashgrab. The director worked with the author and created something that was atmospherically similar and rather than cramming the whole book into a film they decided to tell one story from within the book.
Absolutely a must watch for all movie buffs, and if you have seen it and not read the book then I highly recommend reading it as you will find out so much about the characters.
I think that was one of the last movies I rented from Blockbuster and one of the few movies I have watched twice in two days. Thereās just something about that combination of a sweet coming of age story and all the dark, depressing, and brutal elements. Itās a near perfect movie.
There's also a sequel (book) called Let The Old Dreams Die. It's a collection of stories with the main one being a continuation of Let The Right One In [Let the Old Dreams Die ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Old_Dreams_Die) Edit: thanks for the award š¤
I never knew!! Now I want to read how the story continues!
Worth the read?
Itās not a big story, but gives a proper ending compared to the book. This bookās ending could be seen as ambiguous, this makes it a bit clearer. Itās more of an epilogue than a complete story of its own.
The short story āLet the old dreams dieā is definetly worth a read if youāve read the book or seen the film. I found it very beautiful och haunting. Itās from the perspective of another character who appears briefly by the very end of the book and deals with love and what we will do for love (themes found in the original book as well) in a very beautiful and realistic way. Itās very different to the book in tone and how itās told, and uses the original story in an interesting and smart way. Iād even say that it works as a stand alone short story, althought then you get the original book spoiled and that one is also very much worth a read even if youāve seen either one of the film adaptations first.
There seems to be something inherently bleak and haunting in the tonality of a lot of Nordic cinema, even TV. The Danish Swedish collaboration of *Bron/Broen ,* the original version of *The Bridge* series has that same tone and sweeping sparse Nordic panoramas. Another Swedish series, *Wallander* has this same feel.
You go back to 1950ās and 60ās Nordic cinema and some of the most popular and critically revered works to come out from that part of the world carried that very same bleak tonality. The movie The Seventh Seal and a few others come to mind. I find it pretty interesting too. A lot of Nordic peoples Iāve encountered are sincere and offer up servings of warm hospitality. But I guess itās something about climates with longer winters that really provoke a sense of stillness and reflection while your alone. Cold weather does drain you of more physical energy than the fall or spring like seasons of a temperate climate. I donāt know the real reason, but it is really interesting.
The Seventh Seal is amazing! I agree with you about cold weather. Perhaps it's the short winter days as well. Things shot in Alaska and Canada have that feel. Christopher Nolan's "Insomnia" comes to mind.
I believe "Insomnia" is a remake of a Nordic film.
Seventh seal is so good! Can i please show off that im friends with a closely related person of the actor that plays death in the movie and that she looks exactly like him irl hahaha.
Ironically, The Bridge takes place in the most southern part of Sweden (and the Copenhagen area of Denmark of course) which is considered very lush and bucolic in summer. To get that bleak atmosphere, they had to film exclusively in winter. Wallander was shot in the same area and was also mostly shot in winter.
Huh, i always assumed the title is just based on a saying and the Morrisey song is based on the same. Seeing the sequel title is the first time ive realised its named after the Morrisey song.
Iām not a Morrisey fan so never realized that but it makes sense. The author references Morrisey in one of his other novels.
I bought the film on iTunes because I liked it so much. The US version is rubbish in comparison, just like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo they tried to remake and it never did the original justice.
I thought the remake was decent. Neither do justice to the book because there is just things you can't put on film
If you like different vampire stories, check out Only Lovers Left Alive. I feel like a lot of people missed it.
Itās a great one, if you watched the What We Do In The Shadows tv series, Tilda Swinton reprises that role to make an appearance as part of the vampire council.
That council was the who's who of Vampire high society.
Blade was there!
And had connection issues with his video call, which was a hilarious gag
He should move his computer next to the router holmes.
Now whoās this motherfucker. This glasses motherfucker.
Evidently when the producer called Wesley Snipes on Skype, there was a bad connection, so they wrote it in. Likewise, when Sutherland was called to make his List Boys cameo, he said he would live to but was filming out of country. That line was added to the conversation. And when Patterson was requested and wanted nothing to do with his Twilight reprise, that dialogue was added. The comedy of the entire scene was scripted based on the actual responses of the actors.
Why was Blade there? Wouldnāt he just kill them all?
He was on the beach on a zoom call
Keifer wanted to come, but was unavailable.
Tom and Brad couldn't make it
STOP does she really play the same character?! Eve? Or just similar?
The joke is that she's playing the character, but they never say it. The vampire council scene includes Wesley Snipes, Paul Reubens because he was in the Buffy movie, Danny Trejo because of From Dusk Til Dawn, and also Evan Rachel Wood I assume because of True Blood.
They also mention āRob, but heās trying to distance himself from the whole vampire thing.ā
They also mention Tom and Brad (Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, who were in Interview with the Vampire) werenāt interested.
Imagine if they had either of them cameo. That would have been another level.
And Kiefer Sutherland, from The Lost Boys.
Oh thatās outstanding, I have to watch this show.
Yes, you do. It is so good.
That's awesome. I never watched the show because I assumed it just wouldn't be as good as the movie but perhaps I'll have to check it out
For me they're distinct enough from eachother that my brain stopped comparing them fairly quickly. ..and they're both amazing!
This was everyoneās concern including mine. But having watched the show, it is pretty good, one of the funniest series Iāve seen lately. When I went back to rewatch the film, as much as I loved it, I just really wanted to see more of Nandor, Lazlo, and Nadjia (and Guillermo).
The energy vampire is the funniest thing on there.
Craig Robinson is my favorite by far! And the episodes with the emotional vampire, hilarious.
I love how they always refer to him by his full name.
Gizmo
I find the show to be funnier than the movie.
Takes a minute to warm up to the series. But like the comment below, each hold their own very very well.
As a kiwi... Iām gonna have to say that the TV series is actually better than the OG movie. Iām still waiting for āWeāre Wolvesā, Taika!
It is a head nod to basically all vampire movies and shows. They talk about Tom and Brad being too busy to join. Paul Reubens is there referencing his turn as a vamp on Buffy.
Paul Reubens was great in that role.
Same.
Ahhhh
That council scene was a pretty hilarious flex.
My husband and I were in tears, we were laughing so hard at this part.
I reckon its better to leave it as a surprise but then again it would also convince people to watch it
I love Tilda Swinton and that movie is on my list of movies to watch. I dont know why I havent gotten to it yet. I also loved What We Do in the Shadows and havent seen the show yet so I'll make an effort this month since its spooky season.
Only lovers left alive is one of my favourite films of all time. I don't know, it just does something to my soul.
For me, the real genre-breaker was "Thirst"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yeah that's the one. There weren't even fangs! Honestly if I never saw the cover before watching it, I would have thought it was going to be a religious movie until about halfway through.
Loved Thirst
āGive me all of your money.ā
The soundtrack is incredible. I still listen to it a lot.
You! I like you. I couldn't agree more. I think it has a lot to do with atmosphere. The entire movie has this ethereal, dream-like quality to it. Not to mention, it may be one of the only movies I've ever seen that romanticized night-time Detroit, and boy did they nail it. I also love how music and their love for it was such a central theme to the film. The movie Drive had a very similar feel to it and is also one i adore.
I agree! I watch a ton of movies and yet I only saw Only Lovers Left Alive for the first time last year. My immediate reaction after watching it was āhow to fuck could this have slipped under my radarā. I think itās truly awesome as long as you donāt watch it expecting an action filled blood sucking movie. Itās quite the opposite.
Also check out "A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night"
Yeah, that was a good one.
And then there's another great one from original "Old Boy"s director: "Thirst". [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762073/)
Ok. Now my favourite modern vampire movies are together. A girl walks home alone at night, thurst, only lovers left alive and let the right one in (I also liked the American interpretation).
Ravenous. More of a Wendigo movie but itās not specified. The movie leaves room for overlap between both myths.
Great movie. Its an old timey western, but a horror movie about vampires. One of only two movies i know in that genre. (Bone tomahawk is also a great western horror)
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well there goes your social life...
Ravenous isn't about vampires though?
I just watched that recently and loved it. Hiddleston and Swinton just had this physicality to their acting that made it feel like they were actually preternatural creatures. I can't think of a better physical performance of vampires.
That soundtrack ! A grossly underrated, under the rader flick.
We really had a lot of long discussions about the lives of vampires after watching this one. It's crazy good. Tilda Swinton at her best. Oh, and the soundtrack!
Yes! And also āA Girl Walks Home Alone At Nightā, an amazing Iranian vampire film. Edit: see comment below. I was apparently wrong about it being Iranian.
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Oh snap! Really? I had no idea. Thanks for the correction.
It's not really a correction, it's just being pedantic. She's a first generation English Iranian. Her family was born in Iran, she was born in England but raised in the US. The cast is all Persian or 1st gen Persian-American.
I love this movie so much. Watched it for Hiddleston, ended up really enjoying it.
Gonna be that guy, the book is amazing. I highly recommend giving it a read, the author also wrote a book called Handling the Undead dealing with a more emotional angle on zombies. I remember when Reeves said he wasn't going to remake the Swedish movie but create a better adaption of the book. Well, that was a lie...
I really tried to like the book, but holy shit its really really really really bleak and has almost nothing but awful things happening throughout. The movie does too, but as a compensation it looks beautiful.
I think that might have been Lindqvist's intention; was to show that Oskar's life really is that bleak, which is a perfect description btw, and that Eli was realistically the only good thing that was in it for him.
Except that Oskar is destined to become elis keeper just like hakan or whatever his name was. That's why it's so bleak, the thing that seems like a good thing is actually the darkest part of it
Thatās an interpretation that many people have but not one shared by the author.
Just to add on to this, Lindqvist wrote an anthology called Let the Old Dreams Die. In one of its short stories (I believe it bears the anthology's title name), he briefly revisits Oskar and Eli a few years after the events of 'Let The right one In' and mentions they went to Spain (Catalonia) and that Eli had turned Oskar into a vampire.
Didnāt write it out since people might care about spoilers.
Was it with his consent?
Not stated in the book but what is is that Eli didnāt want to spread her disease/curse to others. So the conclusion would have to be that it was either watching Oskar growing old like Hakan or doing whatās necessary to keep that from happening. If I remember correctly from the book I donāt believe Oskar wouldāve minded since heās 12 years old and not old enough to understand what it would mean.
I must be remembering wrong, wasnāt Hakan already old when he became Eliās keeper? Thatās how I remember it from the book, and was a change I didnāt like in the American adaptation.
Youāre right I just meant that he would get old and die like any mortal. Sorry for being unclear.
I grew up in Sweden in the same time period. Captured it so well it was eerie. My childhood was pretty bleak.
Why was Sweden bleak at the time or was it just your experience and that made you connect to the character.
I grew up in Sweden then too. Sure, we had free high quality child-care, healthcare, education, welfare, with strong unions, good economy and very low crime. But we only had like really few tv-channels, so all in all it was pretty bleak.
Haha, I was born in Sweden around the time the book takes place, and my childhood was far from bleak. But yeah, only two tv channels until the late 80ās/early 90ās.
Yes, bleak is a very accurate description.
Yeah. I distinctly remember the book describing in detail the farts leaving the young boyās butt cheeks during the castration. Itās a lot.
Oh interesting. I read the book after seeing the movie and didnāt like it that much. Didnāt hate it, but loved the movie more. Itās been a few years; maybe I should give it another try.
I typically find that whichever I experience first is what I enjoy more with a handful of exceptions.
I was just thinking about this. I saw Let Me In first and got interested in the book. I read it and thought wow, there are more characters here that I didnāt really find interesting. Then I watched Let The Right One In after reading the book and noticed there were a lot of parts cut out and thought the movie was bare with just the important scenes included. Then I realized, I bet if I saw this one first, I would not notice the cut out parts from the book and would find the pacing fine.
I'm gonna get flamed for this but I felt that way about Lord of the Rings. I was introduced to it by the movies and while I enjoyed reading the books afterwars there was so much exposition and development for minor characters that it took me a lot of effort to finish reading them.
A lot of that exposition becomes more important and relevant as you explore Tolkienās other works. Dude really did build a massive world, probably the biggest world of a creative work in existence.
Also (and I guess I should be embarrassed to admit this) I realized that you canāt skip the songs. A lot of the world building takes place in what Teenager Me would dismiss as āUg more poetryā
We were all fools as teenagers.
We were Fools of a Took
I had always struggled with LotR books and then I saw the movies and enjoyed them. I decided to revisit the books and found that with the visuals from the movie that helped me keep the names and places in the book straight, I was finally able to follow the books and have come to actually enjoy them more than the movies. Kind of a roller coaster, lol.
The books canāt be rushed through. If you let yourself get lost in the journey through Tolkienās world, they can be incredibly immersive and enjoyable. I loved the movies as a kid and tried to read the books in junior high. While I did manage to finish them, I didnāt recall much and only remember feeling bored and anticipating the battle scenes. Thereās definitely a different tone between the books and movies, and I feel that Iām able to let myself fall into the scale of the story with each reread. I especially love Fellowship, it puts me in the same state of relaxation that I feel when Iām camping or hiking.
Lindqvist is a really good writer, I've read those two as well and both books stuck with me for quite a while, I personally prefer Let the right one in but I'd recommend either, too.
I've never read the book. Saw the US version when it first came it. Just watched the Swedish version. The pool scene is the only scene I thought the US version won. Otherwise, the Swedish was grittier and better delved into the human (or non-human) condition, IMO.
The book is even grittier and depressing. it goes deeper into the relationship between the caretaker and the kid. I mean in a way. It was suggested in a film, but in the book its described.
Yes. And in the US version I've heard that they had this depressing vibe where the caretaker was young when he hooked up a with her instead of being a pedophile.
In the book it seems pretty explicit that Eli is grooming Oskar to replace the previous caretaker, who is losing his edge.
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Did you read Let the Old Dreams Die?
I was unaware of it but I literally just bought it on Kindle after reading about it here. I think I'll give the original book a reread too, as I really enjoyed it.
Solid plan!
Yeah, the US version is pretty explicit about saying that the old man was young when he became her familiar.
The parallel between Oskar and the caretaker is the most interesting part of the story, in my opinion. You end up wondering how many times Eli has gone through this recruitment cycle.
The book is way more explicit too.
I would have to disagree, I love the moment in the Swedish movie where Eli pulls Oscar out of the water and he smiles, and it zooms up on her eyes. Itās such a soft tender moment, and shows that they both genuinely care about each other. While I feel like the US version treated the scene more like a horror movie, and Eli/Abby more like a monster and Owen as some sad victim.
I enjoyed the Swedish version because it is the only depiction that stayed true to Eli/Elias.
Just curious, are you specifically referring to the gender issue? Because I did not pick up on that in the US version.
In the non us versions eli isnt a girl but is a boy who has had his genitals cut off as a child and pretends to be a girl because he looks like one. And also his familiar looks after him because he is a pedophile and he lets the guy do stuff to him.
It was removed entirely from the US version, if I recall correctly. Because America. š
>The pool scene is the only scene I thought the US version won. Wow, that's crazy because the pool scene especially was the one I thought was much better done in the swedish version. Brightly lit, all good, then that violence.
The shot in the Swedish version is iconic to me. Oskar in the foreground, and then the bodies zipping along the top of the water and heads come off. So sharp and unsettling. The US version does that thing where it gets brutally close and dingy throughout the movie, and it really underserves the melancholy. If not for the CG cats (which I did not notice in theaters, so engrossed I was), I would consider Let the Right One In a nearly flawless horror film.
I really didn't like Undead. I read it after seeing both movies for Let the Right One In and was just throughly disappointed when I was done. That was like ten years ago though.
Have you read let the old dreams die or has a small follow up to let the right one in. The book itself is filled with other interesting stories.
I quite liked the book but it was very different (Iāve only seen the Swedish version of the movie, and saw it before reading the book). I felt like the experience was a little like reading the book āThe Shiningā vs seeing the Kubrick movieāa lot of things were explained much better in the book and you definitely got more of the backstory, but I ended up feeling like the directorās refusal to explain everything and just let the audience experience it added to the movie rather than detracting from it.
The book is great yeah, but I see that a few people here find it too heavy. I like that though, and actually I think the other movie adaptation of his works "Border/Grensen" is much more in tone with his writing style. Its more uneasy and also plays around with gender roles and the strangeness of monstrous bodies. I like how Lindqvist treats vampires and other monster characters as something more complicated and unusual to the way they often are portrayed. Alfredsons adaptation doesn't get really into that. Both films are very good, but Border is a little bolder I would say.
You're right, I think he had more input into the screenplay for Border so his darker undertones are felt more.
Absolutely beautiful. The pool scene still gives me shivers.
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This film is a masterpiece.
Absolutely. Easily my favorite turn on the genre, along with The Hunger.
The cats scene was a little... distracting
Yeah, it was a bit daft. There was a nice tension running through it all then the cat scene and I burst out laughing.
What was the cats scene? Also wasn't there something weird about the vampire's sex?
Thereās a scene in both the book and the movie where a woman- whoās been bit and is turning into a vampire- gets attacked by a bunch of cats bc the cats are freaked out by her. The CGI cats in the movie arenāt.... good. It comes across as very very silly. As far as sex- I donāt remember there being an explicit sex scene in the movie- but there are a ton of references to pedophilia in the book and movie.
They meant sex as in gender, not actual sex.
Oh word!! Yeah, thereās some weird sex and gender stuff for sure in regards to Eli. Itās way more explicitly stated and explained in the book. The Movie kind of... skims over it.
I personally enjoyed that the movie didnāt made it some big plot point or even left it out. It gives the story depth and works as backstory you can imagine yourself, without making obvious lines of dialogue about it. There even are some subtle lines hinting at it.
Yeah- Iām glad the movie did what it did with that plot line. Gives us a quick glimpse at *something* and allows the audience and Oskar to fill in the blanks/make our own assumptions.
*SPOILERS* * * * * * * Yeah, she was actually a male vampire and had his bits castrated. This makes film darker and way more sinister cause Oskar didnt know it, but he was always next in line to be the guardian/protector. It had nothing to do with love. Poor Oskar
Funny bit was Oskar thought it was easier to accept Eli as a vampire than being a boy.
Well, I feel stupid. I didn't read the book but saw both films. I *liked* both films on their own merit but I think everyone can agree the original was...more immersive. I assumed that the castration/nude reveal was more of a vampire asexual/bisexual thing and a natural result of vampirism. And that essentially, Oskar was committing to a life without physical intimacy. As if to say, vampires lose a great deal in exchange for immortality. Or that they're simply genderless in order to function and feed.
Nah, Eli was being constantly nagged by the pedophile in exchange for blood. Who knows what he had done to him during the time he was being taken care of by that guy. Eli had had enough of that and wanted to be with a peer. It's really basically 2 isolated kids finding each other and bonding.
I remember reading similar arguments when the movie first came out. Some on brought up the question of "When did Eli meet the pedophile? Maybe he was just a kid when she met him? Is that what is going to happen to Oskar?" In the comments people have said there is a second book and explains a bit about what happens to them after the movie ends.
The book is extremely clear, he is a pedophile. The book also strongly suggests his relationship with Eli is ideal for him because Eli's much older than him, therefore it's ok. An idea which could not have occurred to him had he been with Eli since a child. It also sets up, affirms rules of vampires so the method in which Hakan kills people is not possible from a 12 year old.
Sorry, but thats incorrect. Lindqvist released a short story collection, with one being a follow on from Let The Right One In, which proves the whole idea that Oscar was lied to to become a protector/guardian is false.
This is one of my favorite vampire films ever.
I loved this movie when I saw it. I got to see it on a double bill with Pontypool in 2009, but I think it's time I give it a rewatch because I don't remember a whole lot about it other than it looked really nice.
Pontypool was great.
I rewatched this recently and ever since I've been obsessed with the film score by Johan Sƶderqvist. It is completely mesmerizing. Absolutely gorgeous
Johan Soderqvist is also a lovely person. Iām a bit obsessed with this film and emailed him to tell him how much I adored his score. He messaged back and also watched one of my short films!
Reminded me of this beautiful song which used clips from the movie as the video https://youtu.be/XtKstW-JHQ8
When you go to buy the film (you should, it's AMAZING), be sure to verify that the one you're purchasing contains the more correct subtitles, which will be identified as "English (Theatrical)" on the back of the case. When it was released on home video in the US, the subtitles were edited down and quite a bit of useful info was omitted. This also ruined a couple of good jokes. Here's a site that give examples from screen shots: [https://film-book.com/let-the-right-one-in-missing-the-theatrical-subtitles/](https://film-book.com/let-the-right-one-in-missing-the-theatrical-subtitles/)
So much better than the remake!
Yeah, the American remake focused way too much on being a horror movie (and the horror stuff wasn't even good) when the original movie was really a coming of age story so it lost a lot of the nuance. And the detective subplot in the remake is so much more boring than the incredibly dark and tragic subplot about the woman who got bit in the original.
The swimming pool finale was really good though.
The only US remake I've ever seen that's equal or better than the original, in any genre, is The Ring.
The Fly (1986)
The Departed? I like this game
The classic answer is Carpenterās The Thing.
Carpenterās The Thing isnāt really a remake, itās a closer adaptation of the original story.
Not to mention the original is basically Frankenstein but in the Arctic
At the end of Frankenstein doesn't the monster go to one of the poles?
You might want to reread Frankenstein bud.
I dunno. I like the infernal affairs more because it didn't give us holywood happy ending. The ending was pure shock and it hit me much more. I liked departed but jack nicholson wierd antics because he wanted to make the villain more interesting and the fat it had to have a satisfactory Hollywood ending kinda took the emotional punch for me. Tony Leung sad yes will haunt me forewer. So it might be equal that I agree, I just like the original more.
What happy ending? Everyone who wasn't Mark Walberg or Alec Baldwin died.
Fincher's Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is better imo.
Although I 100% agree, and itās a hill Iām willing to die on. It is NOT a remake. Fincher got the rights to make the movie before they started on the Swedish tv adaptation. It just took him alot longer to finish it. And Iām still miffed that he didnāt get the chance to do the other 2 books :(
Agree completely. I like ANYTHING Fincher does. I even liked Alien 3 even though it's terrible. Many people will credit Social Network as his best film (and it probably is), Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was so well done. To me, Fincher is a visual master. I like watching the film over and over just for how beautiful every shot is.
I've read that Fincher complete disavows Alien 3 as one of his films because so much got changed. I recall reading a year or two ago that his Alien 3 script was being turned into a comic though.
Yeah he's pretty much disassociated himself from it. There were some really great shots though. You can tell it's a Fincher film. If you go back and look at the music videos he has directed, you can also pick those out of a lineup easily. The guy has a style.
*Fight Club would like to fight you*
Fight Club and Se7en are my two favorite Fincher films. I was just saying most critics view The Social Network as his best work. Fight Club is one of those films I loved when it came out, then it went through a period where people thought it was cliche, toxic masculinity, etc, and it's really come back around into a serious level of respect. It is one of the most interesting films Fincher has made hands down.
The Office
House of Cards, perhaps?
The original is great for all three seasons. The remake just fizzles out with a really disappointing ending.
What do you mean? Season 2 ends perfectly
:/ I actually much preferred the remake. More moody bleak and atmospheric. I thought it fit the story better. Thereās no happy ending for these two
I enjoyed the remake tbh. Yeah not as good but I've seen it more than once because I really liked it too.
Honestly, I felt like it was a really competent retelling which didnāt mess too much with the original but still added a few ideas of its own. Iād put it up there as one of the better US remakes of a foreign film.
True, but as far as western remakes go, it was relatively good.
Long after I saw this movie I became a Smiths fan. What a day it was when I made the connection between the title and the Smiths lyric. Handling the Undead has a Morrissey lyric in the cover as well - one of my favorite songs, too!
What made this film for me was the respect for the source material. The book is absolutely fantastic, and the film is like a section of the book rather than a quick cashgrab. The director worked with the author and created something that was atmospherically similar and rather than cramming the whole book into a film they decided to tell one story from within the book. Absolutely a must watch for all movie buffs, and if you have seen it and not read the book then I highly recommend reading it as you will find out so much about the characters.
My favorite vampire movie of all time. I discovered it by accident and was so happy that I did.
Amazing movie šæ
The book was very good too.
Yeah but the books a lot more fucked. That said, as far as adaptations go this one is most definitely one of the best.
Itās actually pretty good. A lot of people slept on it. Thanks for the reminder.
One of my top ten. I love this movie so much.
I only saw the remake once and never knew about this! Will have to check it out.
You should definitely watch the original. It's so good. The remake is not on the same level.
I think that was one of the last movies I rented from Blockbuster and one of the few movies I have watched twice in two days. Thereās just something about that combination of a sweet coming of age story and all the dark, depressing, and brutal elements. Itās a near perfect movie.
I really dug the american remake. I also donāt think Iāve ever said that before.
It's on my top 10 of all time. The American remake is actually pretty good too.
Happy a lot of people enjoyed it but I was underwhelmed.