In horror, as in other fandoms, there’s a tendency to hype titles in a breathless way that makes those who don’t share our passion raise an eyebrow or two. And certainly I’ve been guilty of this, perhaps consistently so. But I’d almost like to take back every other time I’ve extravagantly praised a film if it will lend greater credence to this statement: if you’re going to see one feature-length horror movie this year—maybe this decade—it should be Tomas Alfredson’s Let The Right One In.

When Fangoria’s Tony Timpone introduced the film at a New York screening about ten days ago, he called it “one of the greatest horror films of all time.” Such sentiments made be glad to be in the theater, and I certainly respect the opinion of someone who’s undoubtedly seen more movies in the genre than I have, but I wasn’t about to concede that kind of status so easily. However, as you can see from the title of this piece, while concurring with Mr. Timpone’s assessment, I’ve also decided to up the stakes by making an even more outrageous pronouncement.

While hardly a specialist in the vampire subgenre—and I’d love to hear from those who are on the points that follow—I do have a general fondness for it and am particularly partial to older titles, everything from VAMPYR (1932) to FRIGHT NIGHT (1985). (Some of this is evidenced in my review of the recent doc BLOODSUCKING CINEMA, which can be found here.) But truth be told, I’m just not a huge fan of the fang-and-cape set.

All right, then, so why should anyone pay attention to my inflated claim that Let The Right One In is the greatest vampire flick ever?

Well, in short, for precisely that reason.

That is, it’s the kind of movie for which someone like me has been waiting for years and years without even realizing it. Miraculously, by paying close attention to all of the little things and even closer attention to all the big ones, Alfredson has, in one stroke, accomplished two polarized objectives: revitalized both the wonder of vampirism and its humanity.

Wait, you say, but vampires aren’t human. In fact, that may be one of their defining features.

So, sure, technically they’re not. But they’ve always spoken to us, to our—cliché alert—darkest desires. Their immortality, uninhibited sexuality, and usually guiltless predatory habits are projections of the things that our hidden hearts want the most. But then, in true Romantic fashion, vampires are tragic at the same time, and when we see them staked or in flames we can reassure ourselves that we’ve made the right choice in opting to stay civilized: we’ll swig a pint of blood along with them at the bar but we’re very careful not to, er, swallow.

The best vampire fiction plays with such existential, philosophical, and psychosexual ideas on a fairly regular basis. And actually vampire movies do too, but typically on a far more superficial level. To make matters worse, films made in recent times tend to drive home the same points again and again, as if deeper issues are touched upon merely to keep the filmmakers (and audiences) honest while engaging in what are otherwise largely exercises in style-over-substance.

So when someone as jaded and as bored by vampires as I am can suddenly, through one film, feel a much more profound connection to the archetype than I can ever recall feeling… well, that means that lightning has struck. Maybe this is what the rest of the vampire fetishists have been experiencing all along—to which I can only say, “All right, now I get it.”

And LTROI does this all by being a horror movie. Not a novel, dissertation, or symphony. And definitely not a movie that, in a phrase that should be outlawed, “transcends the genre.” Indeed, part of what’s amazing about writer John Ajvide Lindqvist’s achievement is the degree to which it transfigures the subgenre’s tropes, not by being self-consciously revisionist, but simply by so authentic and grounded in recognizable reality. The screenplay, which is based on his novel, takes many of the standard trappings of vampire movies—exsanguination, the thirst, burning at sunlight’s touch, the whole business about being invited into a dwelling—and doesn’t sidestep them or reinvent them with a new adornments… but rather presents them in a context so compelling that the original power behind those concepts leaps off the screen and headlong into the imagination.

(photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)

Of course Alfredson’s brilliant direction plays a big role in the process just described, as he takes pains to tell a story in which wonderment pulses behind nearly every image. Meanwhile, that story itself is told so purely and with such depth of feeling that the audience can’t help getting steeped in its humanity—even while the top of its head is being lifted off by the many magical moments the film has to offer.

So although I’m hardly trying to dethrone masterworks such as Murnau’s NOSFERATU, perhaps we can all humbly agree that once in a very long while room needs to be made on that impossibly high top shelf for a new film. Yes, I know 2008 is still pretty early in the general scheme of things, but right now I wouldn’t take any bets that Let the Right One In will be eclipsed by too many other vampire films this century.

On Screen Now (10/24)

Pasadena, CA: Playhouse 7 Cinemas
West Hollywood, CA: Sunset 5
Irvine, CA: University Town Center 6 Cinemas
New York, NY: Angelika Film Center (6)

Opening Soon…

10/31/2008
Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa, Bijou Theater

11/7/2008
San Diego, CA: Hillcrest Cinemas
Washington, DC: E Street Cinema
Huntington, NY: Cinema Arts Centre

11/14/2008
San Francisco, CA: Embarcadero Center Cinema
Chicago, IL: Landmark's Century Centre Cinema
Cambridge, MA: Kendall Square Cinema
Baltimore, MD: Charles Theatre
Minneapolis, MN: Lagoon Cinema
Philadelphia, PA: Ritz at the Bourse
Seattle, WA: Varsity Theatre

11/21/2008
Denver, CO: Mayan Theatre
Providence, RI: Avon Cinema

11/28/2008
Santa Fe, NM: The Screen
Nashville, TN: Belcourt Theatre

12/12/2008
Hartford, CT: Real Art Ways Cinema

(image courtesy of Magnet Releasing)