Let the Right One In: Difference between revisions
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[[File:let_right_one_in.jpg|frame|[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Eli has been 12]] ["Not Growing Up Sucks|"for a very long time""
''Låt den rätte komma in'' (English: ''Let The Right One In'') is a 2004 horror novel by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, who adapted his story for the 2008 film version. It's the story of Oskar, a 12-year-old boy who is being bullied at school. One night, he meets Eli, a girl who just moved in next door with her dad. Eli isn't affected by the cold, however, and it's quickly shown her "dad" kills people and drains their blood to feed her. As Oskar befriends Eli and more people go missing, some people start becoming suspicious.
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=== These works provide examples of: ===
* [[A Boy and His X]]: A boy and his murderous vampire.▼
* [[Adaptational Attractiveness]]: In the book, Oskar is an overweight child, and there's more description of Eli being filthy and mangy.
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]: The Swedish version distills it down to just the boy and the vampire, with a minor subplot about the strained relationship of an older couple, all other elements solely serving to move the A plot forward. The American version distills it further, so that barely any characters other than the boy and the vampire even register, and one new character is created to fulfil the function of one of the demoted characters at the climax.
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* [[The Alcoholic]]: Oskar's dad, adding to the guy's overall misery.
* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: A ''lot'' of people thought Oskar's dad was gay in the Swedish film due the scene where his friend comes over for drinks and Oskar acts uncomfortable. [[Word of God]] (and the original book) clarifies that that he was just an alcoholic and that his friend was a drinking buddy.
* [[Anti-Villain]]: Lacke, and how. ▼
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: Hakan in the book.
▲* [[Anti-Villain]]: Lacke, and how.
* [[Battle Discretion Shot]]: The climax of both films where {{spoiler|Eli/Abby slaughters all of the bullies}}. See [[Gory Discretion Shot]].
* [[Berserk Button]]: Don't screw with a vampire's best friend. {{spoiler|The bullies at the end learn the hard way.}}
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* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Mr. Vila complains in Argentinean Spanish about how messy the students are.
** In the last scene of the Swedish film, Oskar taps "kiss" in Morse code to Eli and Eli taps back "small kiss".
* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: ''Relatively'', in the Swedish film version at least, with [[Gory Discretion Shot|Gory Discretion Shots]] or long-range/obscured views preferred – so the horrifying slaughter is conveyed with surprisingly almost no blood to be seen, considering how much is let. The Hollywood remake didn't hold back nearly as much, though.▼
* [[Blondes Are Evil]]: Abby isn't evil [[Creepy Child|but]]...
▲* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: ''Relatively'', in the Swedish film version at least, with [[Gory Discretion Shot|Gory Discretion Shots]] or long-range/obscured views preferred – so the horrifying slaughter is conveyed with surprisingly almost no blood to be seen, considering how much is let. The Hollywood remake didn't hold back nearly as much, though.
▲* [[A Boy and His X]]: A boy and his murderous vampire.
* [[Boy Meets Ghoul]]
* [[Chastity Couple]]: According to the director, Oskar and Eli are meant to be this, due to their age {{spoiler|and Eli's lack of genitalia.}}
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* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: {{spoiler|What Jimmy does to Oskar. You smacked my little brother? Now I'm going to drown you in the pool and cut your eye out if you come up. Then there's what Eli subsequently does to the bullies...}}
** Well, the pool scene in the novel is Jimmy and Jonny's revenge for {{spoiler|accidentally burning their photo album with their father in it,}} which [[Sarcasm Mode|is actually completely justified.]]
* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: Oskar.▼
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: We are told this is what happens to most vampires. {{spoiler|We're shown it with Virginia and Håkan, though the latter isn't quite successful. (In the films, Hakan/Thomas doesn't become a vampire.)}}
* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: {{spoiler|Eli, though his genitals were cut off by the vampire who bit him.}}
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** Oskar describes the feeling upon seeing Eli's "bloodthirsty" face as the same natural fear everyone has of fire or sharp objects.
* [[Evil-Detecting Dog]]: Cats detect and viciously attack vampires on sight.
* [[Fan Disservice]]: {{spoiler|Eli's crotch. Physically twelve years old, and she didn't start off as a girl. If you disagree, seek therapy.}}▼
* [[The Faceless]]: Used in the English-language film to signify this is principally a tale about childhood ([[Not Growing Up Sucks|more or less]]), with adult characters mostly peripheral and often fleeting. Owen's island-like status is emphasised by his absent father only making one scene by telephone, and his mother – a fairly constant presence in the book – appears numerous times yet is ''never once seen properly on camera'': she varies from being a distant figure, a ghostly reflection or obscured by a door, to fully visible yet thrown way out of focus or seen only from the neck down; even a passport-type photo glimpsed in her wallet is crumpled to the point of indistinguishability.
▲* [[Fan Disservice]]: {{spoiler|Eli's crotch. Physically twelve years old, and she didn't start off as a girl. If you disagree, seek therapy.}}
* [[The Film of the Book]]
* [[First Kiss]]: Oskar's first, anyway...
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** In the book, Tommy is a strange case. While he spends his free time getting high off glue, stealing stuff, chewing tobacco, and reading porn, he does treat Oskar nicely, as apposed to the bullies. He even tells Oskar to stay away from porn. But tobacco's okay, for some reason.
* [[That Makes Me Feel Angry]]: Used frequently in ''Let Me In''.
▲* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: Oskar.
* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: The American trailer shows {{spoiler|Virginia's death.}}▼
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Lacke tries to kill Eli with a kitchen knife...that he drops before she even wakes up.
** Or how about turning his back on a vampire without finishing the job?
** In the book it is stated that he couldn't bring himself to kill a child.
▲* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: The American trailer shows {{spoiler|Virginia's death.}}
* [[Trial Balloon Question]]: Twofold. Eli asks Oskar if he would still like her if she weren't a girl. He says sure he would. What Eli really means is {{spoiler|she is neither female nor human.}}
** In [[Let Me In]], Abby is simply referring to the fact that she's a vampire, since [[Word of God]] maintains that Abby was always meant to be a girl and a deleted scene proves it.
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* [[Weakened by the Light]]: Vampires and sunlight.
* [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Oskar in the Swedish film is about as stereotypically Swedish as you can get. [[Creepy Child|Physically]] [[Protagonist Journey to Villain|speaking]], of course.
* [[Window Love]]: Lots of this. When we first meet Oskar, and again after {{spoiler|Eli leaves}}, he presses his hand against his window, perhaps an expression of his isolation and longing for connection. When Eli watches Oskar through the window as he does his after-school session in the swimming pool, she presses her hand against the window for the same reason; in this scene she's also, says [[Word of God]], trying to look like a normal kid by wearing heavy winter clothes although she doesn't feel the cold. Finally, when Oskar comes over to Eli's apartment and asks if she's a vampire, she backs away from him behind a glass-paned door and they press their hands together on opposite sides of the pane, she moving her bare hands around, first one and then the other, and he following with his gloved hands. Right after this, she opens the door to let him through. Also, when Eli comes to Hakan's {{spoiler|hospital room and is sitting outside on the window ledge unable to come in}} she presses her hand to the window.▼
* [[Wise Beyond Their Years]]: [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] by Eli, who despite having lived for over 200 years, is somewhat mentally limited by being physically 12.
** Although at least in the movie, there's a decent question of how much is genuine and how much is a necessary act.
*** [[Word of God]] says she really is supposed to be a 12-year-old; an unusually knowing one, but 12 in mind as well as body. Apparently she goes into long sleeps during which she loses a lot of mental development, hence remaining stuck mentally as well as physically.
▲* [[Window Love]]: Lots of this. When we first meet Oskar, and again after {{spoiler|Eli leaves}}, he presses his hand against his window, perhaps an expression of his isolation and longing for connection. When Eli watches Oskar through the window as he does his after-school session in the swimming pool, she presses her hand against the window for the same reason; in this scene she's also, says [[Word of God]], trying to look like a normal kid by wearing heavy winter clothes although she doesn't feel the cold. Finally, when Oskar comes over to Eli's apartment and asks if she's a vampire, she backs away from him behind a glass-paned door and they press their hands together on opposite sides of the pane, she moving her bare hands around, first one and then the other, and he following with his gloved hands. Right after this, she opens the door to let him through. Also, when Eli comes to Hakan's {{spoiler|hospital room and is sitting outside on the window ledge unable to come in}} she presses her hand to the window.
* [[Your Vampires Suck]]: Amazingly averted. There are virtually no references to any vampire tropes not used in the movie. In many ways, this helps to create a greater sense of realism. The character's are smart enough to know that what works in the movies won't work in real life, and that discussing things in terms of what movies they are or aren't like is totally pointless.
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