Let the right one in

Let The Right One In, is a 2008 Swedish horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson. It was shot on 35mm film rather than HD video and uses mostly natural sounds. Its very odd, its a horror romance but is very subtle in how it uses the language of a horror film. There is gore and some CGI but mostly it is very naturalistic in how its shot and played. I think the locations are fantastic, its mostly set in a Stockholm housing estate, school and playground and has few gothic elements.


Theres a fantastic use of focus with the actors often being really close and the set slightly blurred which gives tension, instead of relying on things jumping out of the dark. The intimate cameras, realy close to the actors work with really close mic'd sound. You can hear the breathing, gulping and movement of clothes. The sound recordist said he didnt want any hollywood sound effects, and even though he did manipulate them electronically he always started with a natural sound.


The sets had no ceilings so that it could be shot with as much natural light as possible. When the two main characters meet its often on a jungle gym in a play ground, this was specially made because they were shooting in wide screen and normal jungle gyms are to high. This one needed to be long and wide so it didnt get cropped.

There is one over the top scene which is in fact really funny where a woman turned vampire is attacked by a room full of cats. It uses stuffed cats attached to the actress, CGI cats and real cats. Still, the scene works really well, a bit like Alfred Hitchcocks The Birds, in the scene where the heroine is attacked by birds in a small room.