I've been stewing over this one for almost a week now since seeing it at Fantastic Fest, primarily because I hesitate to call something so early in the life of a festival, but here a day before closing night, I haven't seen a single film that I esteem more highly on all counts than Let the Right One In.
The first thing I have to say is stay away from Wikipedia, IMdB boards, or any review you can tell is starting to give you a blow-by-blow of the events that occur in the film. Also try to avoid screencaps from the film, as there are a couple I've seen out there that give away some wonderful moments in the film.
The movie is based on a Swedish novel about a socially awkward boy who becomes very quickly attracted to a girl who has recently moved in next door with her father. He is mercilessly bullied but won't fight back at school. She only comes out at night. They meet and both of their lives change.
Let the Right One In surprises you and holds back from going overboard in any respect. You should go in as blind as possible, so I'm going to do my best to prevent telegraphing the plot any further than I have.
I've seen a couple things recently (not at the fest) where I've been able to say a piece of the production takes away from the overall potential of the movie, whether it's ham-handed acting, lazy direction, or blind cinematography, and this movie really utterly spoils you because they get it all right when no one else seems to but rarely anymore.
Particularly in a vampire movie, the lighting and darkness have to be absolutely perfect, and they pull it off in every location and every shot flawlessly. They balance a less-is-more approach with what they have to show and it reveals a degree of professional precision filmmakers on any continent just simply aren't displaying the chops for anymore. Tomas Alfredson and his cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema are both absolutely brilliant at what they do.
What I love most about the film is that it is serviceably a coming of age drama, a vampire horror film, and a boy meets girl romance without too heavily dwelling in the tropes of any of those genres. There are plenty of moments that make you chuckle too.
Let the Right One In is the best film I've seen at Fantastic Fest all told and has become, over the last few days, one of my favorite films of the year thus far. Others I talk to number it among their favorites as long as they caught it, and at the screening I saw, a couple other web critics and I concurred afterward that this movie probably spoiled us for anything and everything we would see the rest of the week, and for myself, I can say it absolutely did. I have other films I'm behind getting posted, but I needed to go ahead and get this one up, since I've only yet to see a couple things tomorrow, and whether Secret Screenings or not, I doubt any of them will top this one for me.
Another unique bit of perspective on this one: there aren't many horror films I could safely bring my wife to (knowing she would enjoy them), but I dare say she will not only like this movie a lot, but find it a better film than whatever Twilight turns out to be. I should clarify a couple things so you don't get the wrong idea about her or her sensibilities. Neither one of us has read these Twilight books or really ever intend to, and she likes good movies (Malick, Fincher, many others), just not gory ones. If you or a friend or loved one shrinks at the idea of a vampire horror movie with subtitles, rest assured that if you can deal with the graphic violence in The Dark Knight, I can say with a pretty great degree of certainty that you (or your friend/loved one) can take this movie with no problem.
I would honestly love to see Let The Right One In take on Twilight in terms of sustained per screen average over time. I really think Twilight is more likely to fade quickly like most holiday blockbusters aimed at the mall crowd and Let The Right One In will sustain thanks to rabid word of mouth. Going with a vampiric metaphor, once bitten, you find it difficult not to spread word to everyone near you. That may read cliche, but wait until you see the movie.
I can't fathom how the Hollywood studio system will remake this, but since it's already "In Development", I'd guess they'll maybe re-title it Let Me In, as the book title has been translated in some instances. The thing that would surprise me most about this director-less, script-less remake would be if they found young actors as good or effective as Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson for the lead roles of the two twelve year olds.
Magnet Releasing (a sub-group of Magnolia) is releasing it, Timecrimes (a big favorite at last year's Fantastic Fest), Donkey Punch (played this year, review forthcoming), Eden Log and a couple others in what they're calling a "Six Shooter" strategy that I'm trying to get more info about. Support this version of the film by seeing it in theatres and telling all your friends. Then buy it on DVD or VOD if you like it, and I'd be really surprised if you didn't.