LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Release date: 24th October 2008 (Sweden)

Box office: $49,295, 26 (Opening weekend USA) 

Directed by: Tomas Alfredson 

Cinematography by: Hoyte van Hoytema

Screenplay: John Ajvide Lindqvist (author of original 2004 novel) 

Edited by: Tomas Alfredson and Daniel Jonsäter 

Plot summary: Set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982, Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, finds love and revenge through Eli, a young, beautiful but peculiar girl.  

Film narrative structure: follows Todorov’s narrative theory - classical narrative structure in horror genre. Levi Strauss theory - includes binary opposites of: male/female, love/violence, life/death and mortality/immortality - used to enhance film's narrative of reaching an equilibrium at the end

Chosen extract: 1:33:55 - 1:37:55, near end of the film. One of the film's anatgonists, Lacke, traces Eli down to her apartment and breaks in, hoping to kill her for his revenge. He finds her asleep in the bathtub and is about to kill her when Oskar, in the apartment waiting for Eli to wake up, screams to scare Lacke and wakes Eli up. She attacks and kills Lacke, drinking his blood. After feeding, Eli thanks Oskar, but informs him that she must leave. 

In relation to the rest of the film, my chosen extract reveals:

- how Propp's Theory is subverted - Eli rescues Oskar and protects him (subverts role of the princess/rescue of the 'final girl' in horror films) 

- Eli is Oskar's outlet for his suppressed violent emotions - Oskar is consumed by anger from being bullied at school - opening scene Oskar repeatedly shouts, “Squeal Pig!” whilst stabbing the air with his pocket knife.  Throughout film, Eli encourages Oskar to release his aggression - opportunity is presented to Oskar in chosen extract as he almost uses his pocket knife against Lacke to save Eli 

LTROI follows some typical conventions of the HORROR genre:

Iconography of vampire traits: Eli doesn't physically age, needs to kill for blood, pale, can’t go out in sunlight and is obsessed with solving puzzles (Rubix cube) ALL STEREOTYPES OF VAMPIRES IN HORROR FILMS

Setting: secluded suburb of Stockholm, most scenes filmed in everyday places like homes, schools and parks - scaring audiences more as we observe supernatural inflitrating reality 

HOWEVER LTROI also subverts typical conventions of the HORROR genre: 

Not using 'gore-nography' and shock factors to scare audience: INSTEAD explores themes of sexual repression, pedophila, parenthood, loneliness and emotional attachment to unsettle audiences and reveal a disturbing, twisted tale gore ONLY used to clarify mystery within the film, not to gross out the audience. Every moment is specifically timed to drive the plot forward + strengthen the relationship between Eli and Oskar.  

The narrative arc is more related to the ROMANTIC DRAMA than HORROR: Little time is spent wondering about what’s around the next corner, or who out of the main cast will die next. Instead, audiences watch Oskar as he desperately tries to accept each of Eli’s supernatural violent tendencies in the name of friendship and love.

Let the Right One In combines supernatural elements with social realism...

Based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist Let the Right One In is set in Blackeberg, a suburb built in the 1950's off Stockholm. 

Location scouting: Alfredson chose to film in Lulea, Sweden instead of Blackeberg (a suburb of Stockholm) where original novel is set. Lulea, almost 600 miles north of Blackeberg, was guaranteed a cold, bleak atmosphere to echo Oskar’s lonely environment. 

1980s Stockholm's modernist housing projects presented in film as grim, depressing and disconnected from the world (the type of place you could easily get away with murder a.aka ELI): Film opens on anonymous slabs of housing lying in permanent darkness with snowbound pathways outside their windows which are entirely deserted subverts idealistic portrayal of Sweden socialism: wealth, excellent housing and social welfare 

LTROI was very well publicised and received great success with the UK and US:

Empire magazine praised the film as 'A superbly crafted genre exercise, Let The Right One In can stand toe-to-toe with Spirit Of The Beehive, Pan's Labyrinth or Orphee. See it.' Empire also rated film 5/5 stars - highlights extent of film's success as Empire is the biggest selling film magazine in UK. 

Nominated for a BAFTA award for the Best Film Not in the English Language in 2010 - BAFTA is the biggest film academy awards ceremony in Britain. 

Winner of Saturn Award for 'Best International Film' at Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in USA, 2009 - The Saturn Awards were created in 1973 and are the oldest award ceremony that rewards the achievements of science fiction, fantasy and horror films.

Characters/Acting: Main character focus: Eli and Oskar fighting off anatagonist, Lacke. Finding two charismatic leads was a vital part of pre-production: Alfredson took over a year to scour Sweden for two child actors to play the parts of Oskar and Eli eventually discovering Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson to play the parts. Alfredson stated that “Casting is 70 percent of the job; it’s not about picking the right people to make the roles. It is about creating chords, how a B and a Minor interact together, and are played together.” 

Camera angles: beginning of extract: shot within eye-level as Lacke explores Eli's apartment - connotation:audience is present observing the scene, signifying that we are also making discovering + exploring Eli's apartment alongside Lacke. 

As Lacke finds the bathtub covered up with blankets, camera moves to birds eye view angle - signifies danger / creates dramatic irony: audience know Eli is in the bathtub sleeping however Lacke doesn't, if Eli wakes up + sees Lacke we know she will attack and kill him

Camera shot types: beginning of extract: predominantly MWS of Lacke investigating the apartment: the preferred reading is anchored through use of MWS to create suspense and tension - wide enough to show the physical setting of Eli's apartment YET close enough to see Lacke's facial expressions, signifiying that he is IN DANGER

End of extract: during conversation between Eli and Oskar, use of shot-reverse shot and close ups: SRS displays characters in conversation HOWEVER the preferred reading is anchored through the use of close ups which signifies an intimate moment is being shared between the characters, particularly as Eli is telling Oskar that she must leave Blackeberg. Makes us feel sympathetic towards Oskar as he is losing the only friend he has ever had, out of his life. 

Camera movement: camera movement ALWAYS emphasised before a big scene, sets scene for murder. EXAMPLE IN EXTRACT: denotation: pans of empty streets before Lacke enters apartment: The preferred reading is anchored by pans camera movement because it enables us to make sense of the film's narrative + builds up tension for a climax to happen in the story

Framing and composition: denotation: white door frames Eli's attack on Lacke: connotation: Hoytema achieved this through filming with long lenses. The preffered reading is anchored through the use of long lenses as it compresses our perspective and enhances frames geometric precision as vertical and horizontal lines to remain parallel to the edges of the frame - signifies the character's isolation + entrapment 

Lighting/Shading: denotation: low-key lighting as ANY light in scene appears as a threat. connotation: the preferred reading is anchored through low-key lighting to signify Eli's vulnerability - lives in darkness to be as unnoticable as possible - emphasising how danger of the film isn't hiding in the  shadows, it already exists within everyday situations e.g LIGHT FROM THE WINDOW blinds Lacke when he firsts draws curtains back + exposes Lacke's attempt of killing Eli as Oskar sees Lacke's knife near Eli's throat from light shining on it, initating his scream to wake Eli up. 

Colour: Eli's attack on Lacke: denotation: white door splattered with blood from Lacke’s hand grasping for escape from his death. connotation: The colours white and red represent the relationship + juxtaposition between Oskar and Eli. Oskar is naive + pure VS Eli is dangerous + intense and she causes these outbursts of red which CONTRAST with the film's predominant colour palette of black, white + grey to echo Oskar's loneliness. 

 Costume/Props: Throughout the film, Oskar is seen wearing clothes of mainly brown, white and blue - bland colours express dullness and bleakness of his life - school scenes: other children seen wearing brighter colours. Eli is seen wearing long white, t-shirt throughout film - adheres to idea of instutionalism. Chosen extract: Eli seen wearing red-checkered shirt - foreshadowing her attack and feed off Lacke's blood. Oskar's icy blonde hair further emphasises his purity which heavily contrasts to Eli's features of dark brown hair signifying her mysterious nature.   

Oskar's pocket knife: symbolises his supressed violence and anger - the fact he doesn't use it to kill Lacke in scene conveys his immaturity and naivity  

Editing/Sequencing: 26 shots used in total in chosen extract.

editing pace fluxates from slow to fast: slow pace used in editing to draw out key events of the scene: e.g introductory shot of scene is 1 minute long as  Lacke enters the apartment, Lacke's discovery of the hidden bathtub is 37 seconds long + Eli's attack on Lacke is 25 seconds long. The preferred reading is anchored through slow pacing of editing to signify how these moments are significant to the film's narrative as the editing has been left alone to breathe.

WHEREAS in between these key moments, the pace of the editing increases. The preferred reading is anchored through the use of increasing the shot length to enhances the build up of tension and suspense within the scene to help lead up to the climax of the scene; Eli's attacks on Lacke.  

Sound: DIEGETIC SOUND: Lacke's screams as he flails against the bathtub + Eli's animalistic, supernatural feeding sounds. The preferred reading is anchored through the use of diegetic sound which signifies how we can hear what Oskar is hearing and seeing, even though the film doesn't directly show it to us. ALSO Eli's attacks are left open to our imaginations, so the digetic sound is significant in order for us to visualize what they are like. 

NON-DIEGETIC SOUND: high-pitched music plays in the background of Eli's attack on Lacke. The preferred reading is anchored through the use of high-pitched music which signifies a scream of agony and pain which correlates to the attack happening on screen.