Fantastic Fest 2008

Brief Summary:
An awkward, introverted boy (Oskar) befriends a new neighbor girl (Eli) who helps him to confront the bullies at school. Eli, however, has a dark secret, and there are bodies piling up at the local morgue.

Full Description:
"Please be sure to keep an eyeball out for this one, horror fans. LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is very smart, very sweet, very sick and very special indeed," - Scott Weinberg, FEARnet

"Alfredson has helmed a classic-in-the-making, with a final set piece that uses visuals in a fresh, inventive, and startling combination that will be talked about for years to come." - Film Threat

Oskar is a shy and introverted young 12-year-old boy, the product of a failed marriage, bullied mercilessly by a trio of his stronger classmates. They are vicious and unrelenting in their attacks but Oskar never retaliates, instead retreating into violent fantasies of one day cutting the bullies down. Oskar seems to have no friends whatsoever until one day a strange girl moves in to the apartment next door.

Eli is distant, verging on antisocial. She never appears during daylight hours, only coming outside to talk to Oskar in the evening time, regularly wandering out into the snow barefoot and wearing only thin indoor shirts and pants. But she never complains of the cold. She is unusual, strange even, but she talks to Oskar, even encourages him to find strength within himself to stand up to the bullying at school. And so the two strike up an unlikely friendship Eli, it turns out, has a dark secret, and since her arrival, an alarming number of corpses are starting to pile up at the morgue.

There are moments here that are truly iconic and loaded with a blood drenched poetry but the film simultaneously never forgets that it is primarily about the relationship between two outcast children and it gets that relationship achingly, poignantly right. Beautifully shot and flawlessly performed this film will remain etched in your brain for days after the final frame runs. (Todd Brown)

Twitch.net writer (and Fantastic Fest programmer) Blake Etheridge interviews the filmmaker HERE!

And read this rave review from excellent film site Headquarters 10 HERE!

This film is sponsored by Hungrymantv.com.