Let The Right One In

[Lord of The Curry 0]

 

Without really getting too much into the plot it's a 2008 Swedish film about a 12 year old boy Oskar and his relationship with a new girl that moves into the apartment next door, Eli. Eli is a vampire.

 

Came out on DVD this week.

 

This was really fucking good, one of the better "horror" movies I've seen in a while. I use that in quotations because the film overall doesn't really make it's main goal to scare or terrify the audience so I'd call it more of a romantic drama with a supernatural influence to it. The two young leads were excellent, amazing work and when the dark stuff goes down it's done in a very unique way. Gives an interesting spin on the forbidden love romances that seem kinda par for the course when it comes to vampire works. Fantastic score to boot. Well worth a look.

 

For those who did see it....

 

So, that bare snatch shot was a bit out of left field. I felt really weird after seeing it because I'm pretty sure child porn laws say that it would have to be a prosthetic but still....bit off-putting. Also the CG cats mauling the woman felt kinda silly but the rest of the effects were fucking ace. I really liked when Eli first meets Oskar and more or less glides down to the ground from the jungle gym.

[Gary Floyd 0]

I've seen it. Easily the best horror movie of '08 bar none.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I'd go as far as to say one of the best vampire movies of all time.

[Jingus 0]

I don't know if I'd definitively say it's the best horror movie of '08, but damned if I can't think of anything better off the top of my head. Definitely the best vampire movie since... uh... since... um... well, the best vampire movie in several years at the very least.

 

Someone gimme the straight dope here: I've heard two mutually exclusive reasons why this wasn't nominated for the Best Foreign Picture Oscar. One is that the Foreign nominees have some slightly different rules regarding deadlines, that Let the Right One In had its general release after those deadlines had already passed, and that in theory it could be eligible for next year's awards. The second is that Sweden got cold feet about presenting such a grim movie as their official Oscar selection and chose to go with another movie instead. Which one's true?

 

So, that bare snatch shot was a bit out of left field. I felt really weird after seeing it because I'm pretty sure child porn laws say that it would have to be a prosthetic but still....bit off-putting.

I guess you naturally looked away. In utter disbelief, I rewound to confirm I saw what I just thought I saw. Upon that second glance, I noticed it

was a prosthetic, Eli had a big ugly scar there, like an old deep wound that had been clumsily stitched up. I'm told that in the original novel, it's somewhat implied that Eli might actually have been a boy who had his junk cut off before becoming a vampire. The "what if I wasn't a girl?" line does tend to support that theory, as does the rumor that they actually dubbed over the actress's voice with a male voice actor for her dialogue.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Sadly this has already been green-lit for an American remake set to come out in 2010 called Let Me In. The director of Cloverfield will be doing it which means this will be a nice and safe PG-13 rating to minimize the backlash if it had stayed true to the source material and maximize profit.

 

In regards to your last point Jinus, I dunno about that rumor. Voice sure sounded like a young girl to me but the scar thing makes sense I guess. I do want to check out the book now.

 

Also if Eli has a boy that was castrated he/she had some seriously feminine facial features. I just took the "What if I wasn't a girl?" line as Eli getting the whole vampire thing off her chest without actually putting it out there.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Re: Eli and the voice thing....

 

There's an actor listing in Wiki for "Eli's voice" and they mention overdubbing it with somebody less feminine. Doesn't mention if it's linked at all to the novel.

[Ravenbomb 0]

It was in my top 5 of '08 and is the best vampire movie I've seen not named "Nosferatu." I love this movie to death and would have it on DVD now if I weren't saving my moneys.

 

EDIT: And the scar looked like an ectopic pregnancy scar.

[NoCalMike 0]

I saw it in the theater, and plan on purchasing it on blu-ray later this week when I get paid, the blu-ray is only $19.99 on amazon.com

 

It was fantastic. I thought the makeup job done on Eli's caretaker put the two-face makeup job to shame, it was fucking frightning to look at.

[cd213 0]

I don't know if I'd definitively say it's the best horror movie of '08, but damned if I can't think of anything better off the top of my head. Definitely the best vampire movie since... uh... since... um... well, the best vampire movie in several years at the very least.

 

Someone gimme the straight dope here: I've heard two mutually exclusive reasons why this wasn't nominated for the Best Foreign Picture Oscar. One is that the Foreign nominees have some slightly different rules regarding deadlines, that Let the Right One In had its general release after those deadlines had already passed, and that in theory it could be eligible for next year's awards. The second is that Sweden got cold feet about presenting such a grim movie as their official Oscar selection and chose to go with another movie instead. Which one's true?

 

So, that bare snatch shot was a bit out of left field. I felt really weird after seeing it because I'm pretty sure child porn laws say that it would have to be a prosthetic but still....bit off-putting.

I guess you naturally looked away. In utter disbelief, I rewound to confirm I saw what I just thought I saw. Upon that second glance, I noticed it

was a prosthetic, Eli had a big ugly scar there, like an old deep wound that had been clumsily stitched up. I'm told that in the original novel, it's somewhat implied that Eli might actually have been a boy who had his junk cut off before becoming a vampire. The "what if I wasn't a girl?" line does tend to support that theory, as does the rumor that they actually dubbed over the actress's voice with a male voice actor for her dialogue.

 

I finished reading the book early last weeks and

it's not implied that Eli was a boy, it's clear in the book that she was a he. Basically the scene when Eli says to Oskar, "be me" or whatever the line was, and then kissed him, in the book it was a flashback to when Eli turned into a vampire and had his penis cut off.

The book is amazing, and the author did an amazing job with the book. The book goes more in depth with many of the side characters. I'm really afraid for the American version, as I can't see them "getting away" with enough to make it interesting.

 

I would say this was the best vampire film since THE LOST BOYS, and this was everything that TWILIGHT wanted to be, but just couldn't. The kids that played Eli and Oskar were amazing, especially Eli.

[dubq 0]

C'mon guys? Best Vampire film? Queen of the Damned anyone???

 

 

 

Kidding!

 

Seriously, though. I definitely want to see this. I caught the trailer a few weeks ago online and it's been on my "to watch" list. Is it a standard or bluray release on DVD?

[Ravenbomb 0]

I don't know if it is or isn't on Blue-Rey, but I know it's on DVD.

[dubq 0]

Just checked (yay internet) and it does have a bluray release. Defintiely going to check it out this week for sure.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Beautiful and unsettling movie. I love pretty much everything about it.

 

Re: "Eli's voice"--I think that credit is for the moments in the film where

she speaks in a deep, nasty growl when feeding

.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Just finished it and I'm really unsure how I feel about it

 

Watching a movie dubbed to English takes away from it I imagine. It's hard to tell how good the acting it. I could pick up that the two main kids did a great job, but the adults were hard to read and didn't come off as well.

 

I didn't dislike the movie, but I don't think I loved it, and don't think I need to see it again.

[bushwickray 0]

watch it undubbed. Watch it with subtitles. It pisses me off the dvd starts off default dubbed

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I can't ever imagine watching a foreign filmed dubbed. That's just unnatural to me.

[The Niggardly King 0]

I tried it with Oldboy and it became quite the comedy. Sad thing is that's one of the "good" dubs.

[Jingus 0]

It is possible to have good dubbing; take a look at any of Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. Usually, Eastwood and Van Cleef were the only guys on the set actually speaking English, but the finished result is still tolerable and there's not much noticable lip-flap. Or check out the American release versions of Hayao Miyazaki's anime movies; even discounting their all-star vocal lineups, they're just plain well-done on a production level. So I'm confused as to why almost nobody else can ever get it right.

 

Of course, some subtitled versions can be pretty awful too. Ever seen a subbed version of, say, a Godzilla flick or some of John Woo's earlier action movies? It goes beyond simple spelling or grammatical errors with the classic mangled interjection "Damn up!" being an old favorite among my friends back in college. In Bullet in the Head, at one point we can clearly hear what some American soldiers are saying in English, and the English subtitles are mistranslating what they said!

 

But still, obviously, for a movie like Let the Right One In where so much of the movie's impact hinges upon the fine quality of the acting, the subtitles are preferable to any dubbing. Whatever film executive who decided to make the dubbed cut the default setting is probably also one of those choads who brags about having never read an entire book after graduating from school.

[Grenouille 0]

I didn't dislike the movie, but I don't think I loved it, and don't think I need to see it again.

 

This is basically my feeling on the film. It just kind of fell flat for me after all the hype I read about it.

 

The dubbing was awful. Thankfully I switched it 10 minutes in.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I watched it with the dubbing and my issue was with the adult characters (mostly Oskar's parents) more than the kids. I'm going to rewatch it sometime this week with the subtitles.

 

Best vampire movie I've seen in a while, but not the best horror movie. It doesn't even feel like a horror movie. But the pool scene was awesome.

[cd213 0]

For those that saw the movie before it's DVD release, be afraid, be very, very afraid. It looks like they couldn't wait for the American remake to ruin the movie.

[MDH257 0]

"Let The Right One In" Subtitle Issues

In other news today, you might recall that we recently reviewed Magnet's Let the Right One In on Blu-ray Disc. Well, it's just come to our attention that the DVD and Blu-ray versions have English subtitles that differ substantially from those of the theatrical art house presentation, in that much of the subtle nuance has been lost and many original lines of dialogue are untranslated entirely. Unfortunately, having only seen the film once in theatres, I wasn't familiar enough with the translation to spot the differences. But Icons of Fright has posted some examples of just how different the subtitles are. We contacted Magnet directly on this issue this afternoon, and they were quick to respond as follows:

 

"We've been made aware that there are several fans that don't like the version of the subtitles on the DVD/BR. We had an alternate translation that we went with. Obviously a lot of fans thought we should have stuck with the original theatrical version. We are listening to the fans feedback, and going forward we will be manufacturing the discs with the subtitles from the theatrical version."

We asked Magnet some follow-up questions, specifically how people will be able to identify the new discs, when they'll be available in stores and if there will be an exchange program for those who have the existing version. Here's what they said:

 

"There are no exchanges. We are going to make an alternate version available however. For those that wish to purchase a version with the theatrical subtitles, it will be called out in the tech specs box at the back/bottom of the package where it will list SUBTITLES: ENGLISH (Theatrical), SPANISH."

 

The no exchange thing is going to upset many that have already purchased the disc, and understandably so. We're at least encouraged to see that the title is being corrected. We'll let you know when the discs are available, and rest assured we're letting Magnet know that an exchange program might be a wise idea...

[Ravenbomb 0]

*phew* Good thing I didn't already buy it.