Let the Right One InMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Let the Right One In."

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Avg. Critic Score: 82 out of 100 Universal acclaim Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
15 Iffy for 15+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Washington Post |

    In the basest of terms, a horror flick. But it's also a spectacularly moving and elegant movie, and to dismiss it into genre-hood, to mentally stuff it into the horror pigeonhole, is to overlook a remarkable film. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Stick your neck out for this Swedish horror show. It's a winner, full of mirth and malice, plus a young romance you'll never see on the Disney Channel. Read full review

  • 88
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    The young actors are powerful in draining roles. We care for them more than they care for themselves. Alfredson's palette is so drained of warm colors that even fresh blood is black. Read full review

  • 80
    The Hollywood Reporter |

    A moody adaptation of the Swedish best-seller about a fateful mortal-vampire romance, Let the Right One In is atypically literate and unexpectedly affecting suspense fare. Complex characters, ominous situations fraught with mortality and the recklessness of youthful ardor create a tense and subtly shaded narrative. Read full review

  • 80
    Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern

    A remarkably fine and genuinely frightening movie about a teenage vampire. Read full review

  • 80
    Los Angeles Times | Carina Chocano

    In this sinister but gorgeous and compelling film by director Tomas Alfredson, being human and acting human don't always go together. Read full review

  • 80
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    There is a remarkable stillness to many of the film's most indelible images, particularly the exteriors, which are so carefully photographed, and without the usual tiresome camera jiggling, as to look almost frozen. Read full review

  • 75
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    Strikes a surprising array of notes: scary, sad and hopeful. The director, Tomas Alfredson, does a great job of presenting peril in the film. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety |

    Calling to mind the work of Anne Rice and Stephen King, atmospheric adaptation of Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist's bestseller is well directed by his countryman Tomas Alfredson ("Four Shades of Brown") and should click with cult and arthouse auds. Read full review

  • 50
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    If random arty blood thrills are your cup of fear, perhaps you'll enjoy Let the Right One In, a Swedish head-scratcher that has a few creepy images but very little holding them together. Read full review

View more reviews for Let the Right One In on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 15+ Swedish vampire tale is much grislier than Twilight.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this vampire drama has brief but intense, bloody scenes of biting, dismemberment, beheading, and grotesque images of an acid-scarred face and severed limbs. Sunlight turns one vampire into a fireball, while another begins suddenly bleeding all over. Swearing includes a few uses of "f--k." A "blood brothers" ritual is attempted. There is a bleak depiction of kids on their own in a world where adults are distant/distracted/divorced/drunk, in varied combinations. There are strong overtones of bullying and kids warped by divorce. The boy-girl relationship at the center of the film starts to take a homosexual turn. This movie was filmed in Swedish, but an English-dubbed version is a DVD option for viewers who don't like subtitles.
  • Families can talk about whether Eli is an "evil" vampire or not. What do you think will happen to the characters after the ending?
  • Oskar is a regular target of bullies. Talk about Eli's advice for him to fight back -- hard -- and whether that's a good idea or not in real world.
  • Vampire movies continue to be popular. Ask kids who their favorite screen bloodsuckers are and why.
The good stuff
  • message true1 Positive messages: Theme of unconditional friendship among lonely young people, with outcast Oskar drawing close to paranormal Eli, who also can't be part of normal society. Foreshadowing that Oskar may come to a bad end later in life because of his association with Eli.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: There may not be any "good guys" in this story at all; Eli is a vampire who kills when necessary (though not seeming to enjoy it), while small, bullied Oskar has fantasies of deadly revenge against his enemies. Grownups, even parents, seem distant from the children, though Oskar has a few (very few) cozy moments with his split-up mother and father. Other adults are bitter drunks and hooligans.
What to watch for
  • violence false4 Violence: Gore in horrific -- but usually brief -- bursts, including severed heads and limbs, snapped spines, a character falling from a high window, a boy hit with a rod, and of course, ferocious vampire attacks on necks. Eli bleeds from skin and orifices, and another character bursts into flames, illustrating famous vampire weaknesses. A near-drowning, and shots of a dead body after the victim's throat was slashed and the blood drained. One character is shown disfigured after acid in the face.
  • sex false3 Sex: Eli is an androgynous creature who sleeps with Oskar naked (though nothing shown or happens in the way of conventional sex). A brief glimpse of what seems to be a naked male groin with a scar from the penis being surgically removed. A character is jokingly accused of masturbating. The boy-girl relationship at the center of the film starts to take a homosexual turn.
  • language false3 Language: The f-word on a few occasions.
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false2 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Supporting adult characters are a band of drunkards.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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