(This review will contain a few spoilers for those who haven't read the book or viewed the film. I will denote these sections with an asterisk *).

Oh, dear. Movies. They can never quite adapt a book to the big screen just right. They always skimp on the important stuff.

Because this was the Swedish version, and I have enjoyed their films considerably, I was confident that combined with the book's story, it was going to be a fright night beyond compare. The long and short of it, though? It was good. Not great. Not knock your socks off fantastic. Nowhere near as gory as the book. It was just... decent.

A few weeks ago, I read Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and loved it. LOVED it. Read it in a couple days and looked over my shoulder every few minutes when I was alone and the house was quiet. When my dog and cat perked up at absolutely nothing in a corner, I was a wee bit nervous.

Here's the premise: A young girl is a vampire and lives with an older man who assists her blood diet by helping to kill people. She's about twelve-years-old (for a long time, of course) and befriends the next door neighbor, Oskar, who is always bullied. They develop the friendship that each of them sorely need and have been lacking their whole lives.

But the young girl is a vampire and she's brutal. She smells, she looks horrific when she kills, and innocent people do die when she needs to feed. No glitter and sparkle here.

To be clear, the book could occasionally approach troubling subjects in a a quieter and more thoughtful way. Bullies, feeling alone and isolated within your family, child abuse, murder, etc., etc. It didn't always deal with the vampire world, but the primary story was that Oskar's new friend led a horrible life and yet somehow she and Oksar had a lot in common.

We all know that the movie version of a book is never quite up to par, but sometimes, you just hold out hope that it will be. My hopes, however, were dashed and I was particularly upset with one aspect that only those who have read the book would know: *The older man the vampire lives with is a disgusting filthy abuser of children in the book, but in the movie, there is no mention of how horrible this person is. I struggled with accepting this difference and I do realize I should separate the two differing mediums as individual creative outlets of one story, but I was challenged in accepting this change in character. I could not look kindly upon this man, although I tried to separate it. Not to mention, this character goes through multiple scenes of gore and fright which are separate from this awful aspect that were completely horrifying, and for a film that was supposed to be classified as horror, it didn't tap into really any of these spine-tingling moments.

Oh, and the bullies? In the book, they were brutal but had a back story. In the film, they were less in brutality with no explanations so it's difficult to understand why a brother of one of the bullies shows up to deliver to Oskar what he feels is appropriate justice. It doesn't make sense. It's pretty clear in the book why he's there, but if you haven't read it, you have to create a reason for why he is there.

The film missed out on another valuable and enriching story with a boy named Tommy who also feels alone in his life, with his friends, and with family. His mother is dating a fairly annoying police officer who is investigating the crimes of horrific death that the vampire and the man she's living with are perpetrating. This storyline is significant to the conclusion, yet Tommy doesn't exist in the movie.

*And the scene when the cats attack Virginia? Oh, my goodness, the special effects were lacking.*

And here's the main thing. It's just a really, really quiet film. There's a lot of deep silence, meaningful looks at corners of a room, but the blood-curdling and truly frightening moments of the book are either wiped out in the film version, or they are included only to occasionally draw quiet reflection over...being a vampire. The true conflicts that the regular child and adult deal with are missed out on in the film It's just...quiet.

It was good, not great. Maybe I should rephrase and instead determine that, in my honest opinion, it was just all right.

For those who haven't read the book, you might like it, but don't expect a lot of stuff to happen. It's quiet. For those who have read the book, you probably won't like it.

This is my first selection for the RIP Challenge Peril of the Screen. You can read more RIP reviews from other participants by clicking here. 

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist is creepy horror writing done right. If I end up doing one of those best-of-the-year lists, this would make mine.

And let's get this out of the way first: alcoholism, politics, bullying, and vampires. All this and more are in this story. And yes, vampires. But wait - I don't mean vampires with pretty eyelashes and perfect outfits.

Set in 1981 and taking place over a three week period in Blackeberg, a subdivision of Stockholm, the story weaves in the occasional newspaper article of murder, obscure acts throughout the area, along with a description of  the physical process of turning into a vampire. Using Sweden's vision for planned neighborhoods from the 1950s as a vilified backdrop for the monstrous events and combined with an occasional non-fiction feel, the creepy atmosphere was heightened.

Oskar is a twelve-year-old boy living in these suburbs and is bullied almost every day. He returns each night to a small apartment and to his mother, who loves him, but it's just not enough. He is alone and feels it; the life of the  bullied is a lonely one. To keep himself company, Oskar is a little bit obsessed with serial killers and practices killing his bullies by attacking trees in a forest by the Vällingby neighborhood with a sharp knife. When the brutal murder of a young boy is discovered in these woods, hung upside down and seemingly drained of all blood, Oskar collects the articles of the investigation and looks through the details by himself. Always alone.

But then he meets his next door neighbor, a young girl his age, who shares his interest in puzzles and they seem to click. Building a friendship on Morse code tapped between their bedroom walls, Oskar finally feels he has a friend. Sure, she's a little bit different - after all, what person in Sweden goes outside without a coat in the winter? Who can see in the dark like it's the middle of the daytime? And is that really her father she lives with? But this is a real friend, his first. And it means everything to him.

Fear not, fellow readers. As I mentioned before, this is not just another vampire story with glitter and angst and trivialities overlapping with evil authoritative figures. Deliciously disturbing and frighteningly graphic, it is what horror fiction should be.

Layered into the story are significant secondary characters that are skillfully tied in together. There is the older teenager, Tommy, who doesn't care for his mother's new boyfriend, a police officer investigating the odd murders and attacks in the area. There are the alcoholics who get together as often as they can to drink and commiserate over politics, life, and the like. When one of their own goes missing, it's a tough to believe that a friend saw...a very young child lure him into the woods, never to be seen again.

Normally when characters casually crop up in a storyline as a plot device to move things along, it's annoying. Not so much with this book. In fact, it artfully builds with expert pacing that kept me gripping the book in those last fifty pages.  And although there are multiple characters and story lines, it  isn't confusing; instead, it is masterfully organized and there are no loose ends at all. While graphic and not for the squeamish, Let the Right One In satisfied every urge I had for creepy reading. I highly recommend it and look forward to more horror fiction from this author.

About the Author (from his website)

John Ajvide Lindqvist was born in 1968 in Sweden. After a career as a magician and stand up comedian, he finally became an author of horror stories. His books are published in 29 countries - among them China, USA, United Kingdom, Brazil, Denmark, and of course, Sweden.

Click here to visit the author on his website (English version coming soon).

About the Translator
Excellent translation written by Ebba Segerberg. While I can't read it in Swedish, I feel fairly confident that she efficiently communicated the exact level of tension and discomfort that is in the original. Segerberg is an adjunct lecturer at Washington university in St. Louis, Missouri and noted translator. She has translated seven novels, including books by John Ajvide Lindqvist, Henning Mankell, Kjell Westö, and Kjell Eriksson.

This is my fifth selection for Stainless Steel Droppings' hosting of the RIP Challenge VI. You can read more RIP reviews from other participants by clicking here.







FTC Disclosure: This book comes from my own personal library.