Genre Research #5

Genre Research: Let The Right One In

    This movie begins with the production company listed then “Let the Right One In” scrolled vertically in blood red font white sticks out form the snow-white fonts of the director, most of the production crew, and subsequently the actors last. This is all over a black screen that has the incidental music of a far off snow storm playing eerily or maybe just it was nothing really at all. Already an unsettling tone is set for this Swedish adaption of a novel. The black screen then cuts to snow falling on a black night which eventually comes out of focus to reveal the main character, Oskar with a noticeable scar over his face staring out over the play ground in the center of his apartment complex. He simply says “squeal like a pig, so squeal”. The two minutes is now over. The film at its core is already full of mystery yet has a sense of dread thanks to its use of sound. The entire story is that Oskar is a bullied boy that discovers his neighbor is centuries old vampire that forms a bond with Oskar. Together they conquer Oskar’s bullies as wells as have events that drive the story along. The film had a budget of about $4.5 American dollars and made about $11.2 million in the box office. This was by no means a block-buster as it was indeed a foreign film and more of cult movie or at least would become a cult classic. Its awards include countless foreign film wins and even best horror movie wins. It spawned an Americanized film “Let Me In”, which made $24 million. This is certainly a different route to take from the comedies.