“He opened his eyes and saw nothing but light blue... pink veils”: Notes on Let the Right One In.

Abstract

Published in Sweden in 2004, Låt den rätte komma in is an unconventional vampire novel written by John Ajvide Lindqvist whose successful reception led to a film adaptation by director Tomas Alfredson in 2008. The film received numerous international awards and critical acclaim and inspired an American remake directed by Matt Reeves. Over this same period many other vampire-themed works have appeared (such as the Twilight saga, or the television series True Blood), inviting us to reflect on the reemergence of this almost ancestral theme and its cinematic recoding in the new millennium. This article also aims –in the context of this convulsive setting– to analyse the misfortunes, echoes and departures in Alfredson's and Reeves' film adaptations of Lindqvist's seminal novel.