Introduction ********** Sweden has a long tradition of fine film-making, from Bergman up to the Millennium trilogy (_The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo_ et al). Let the Right One In sees our Scandinavian neighbours dipping a bloodied toe into the pool of the horror genre. What sets it apart from many other offerings in this field however are the wonderfully understated performances, use of real-time pace and atmospheric location. This slow-burn, low-key treatment juxtaposed with the film's more shocking moments only serves to heighten our anticipation and 'enjoyment'. Such a muted approach appears to be prevalent amongst many other of, director, Alfredson's ...  Read the complete review

Oskar is a twelve year old boy who is bullied at school and generally over-looked by everyone who knows him. Then he meets a young girl of his own age who has apparently moved in next door. Her name is Eli and she lives on blood. The man she lives with, Hakan, provides her with the blood by killing locals, but there is a hunt on for the murderer and Eli could well be at risk. Her friendship with Oskar develops and she helps him to stand up for himself, injuring his main bully quite seriously. Then Hakan is no longer able to help Eli. Can Oskar continue where Hakan left off? And will Oskar's bully try to get his revenge? Oskar is played by Kare Hedebrant, who ...  Read the complete review

Let The Right One In has been highly touted as one of the best vampire movies ever made. This kind of praise tends to lead to a major disappointment when you eventually see the film though. For a change Let The Right One In actually exceeds your expectations, mainly because it is not only incredibly stylish but also because it is nothing like what you expect it to be. Oddly enough the first thing I would suggest you do if you have any thoughts about seeing this film is to avoid all reviews of it. I think you can rely on most reviews (including a couple of newspaper reviews I read afterwards) to reveal too much and include what is the surprising part about ...  Read the complete review

A review of the Momentum DVD, currently selling for £11 on amazon. This is a recent arty vampire film from Sweden. It's been getting some wildly over-the-top praise. As a bitter old cynic who's seen more vampire films than you have, I was half-expecting to be disappointed by this. But it more or less delivers, even if it inevitably isn't as great as some of the praise suggests. A 12-year-old boy - lonely, bullied, knife-obsessed Oskar - tries to make friends with the girl who moves in next door, Eli, also 12, sort of. Some reviews I've read have suggested that this next bit is a spoiler, but I disagree: Eli is a vampire, as is made obvious by the ...  Read the complete review

Imagine if someone said to you: "Fancy watching a Swedish film? With subtitles? About vampires, except it's not really about vampires at all?" Now imagine your reaction. You might look at them as if they had been drinking (or suggest that perhaps they should start). You might look at them like they were a little mad and nervously edge away or just laugh in their faces. I'm pretty certain of one thing, though: you'd probably say "no". Which would be a big mistake, if they were talking about Let the Right One In. The Swedish film industry may not be quite as big and powerful as Hollywood, but on the evidence of this, ...  Read the complete review