Let the Right One In

Låt den rätte komma in (2008)

Timing: 1:55 (115 min)

7.549/10
3176

6.935/10
39643

7.8/10
239000

All about film

Video 4

Photo 65

Actors and characters

Release date

2008-10-24

Country

France, Norway, Sweden, Germany

Production

SVT, Canal+, Svenska Filminstitutet, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Chimney Sweden, Bavaria Film International, EFTI, Sandrew Metronome Sverige, Filmpool Nord, WAG, Fido Film AB

Genre

Horror, Drama

Budget

$4 000 000

Revenue

$11 227 336

Website

Director

Tomas Alfredson

Actors

Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Mikael Rahm, Karl-Robert Lindgren, Anders T. Peedu
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

John Ajvide Lindqvist

Producer

Carl Molinder, John Nordling

Operator

Hoyte van Hoytema

Composer

Johan Söderqvist

Artist

Anna Paulson

Audition

Anna Zackrisson

Editing

Tomas Alfredson, Dino Jonsäter
All team (79)

• The film is based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, "Let Me In" (Lat den ratte komma in, 2004).
• The title of the book and film alludes, to some extent, to a folk belief that a vampire can only enter a home after being invited.
• Although the story takes place in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg, filming took place almost entirely in the city of Luleå in the north of the country. This was due to the need to guarantee snowy and genuinely cold weather, which might not have been present in Stockholm, located further south.
• Due to the very cold winter weather, a number of scenes with close-ups of the actors that were supposed to take place outdoors had to be filmed in a studio.
• Long before the film's release in the American market, the independent studio Hammer Films acquired the rights to an English-language remake at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008.
• The American DVD and Blu-Ray release of the film in March 2009 sparked outrage among fans. The subtitles from the theatrical release were replaced with a simplified version, which many found completely unacceptable and capable of ruining the viewing experience. After numerous complaints, the distributor agreed to reissue the film with theatrical subtitles, stating that already released discs would not be exchanged.
• The Russian title of the film, “Let Me In,” is a translation of the English version “Let me in,” although the original Swedish title “Låt den rätte komma in” should correctly be translated into Russian as “Let the one who should come in.” When the novel was being prepared for release in America, American publishers asked Lindqvist to shorten the title because it did not fit the specified cover format. In Russia, the novel was also published under the shortened title.
• The rights to adapt the novel were acquired by producer John Nordling of the film company EFTI as early as late 2004. He initially contacted Lindqvist’s publishing house “Ordfront,” but was put on a waiting list at number 48, at which point Nordling called the author directly. Lindqvist liked Nordling’s vision, which coincided with his own.
• In one interview on Swedish television, the host asked Lina Leandersson if she had read the book by John Ajvide Lindqvist on which the film was based before starting filming. Lina replied that she hadn’t, as she was only 11 years old and the book was too mature for her.
• The jungle gym on the playground where many scenes about the relationship between Oskar and Eli unfold was built specifically for the film. Its design was developed to fit entirely within the overall shot of a widescreen frame, while real jungle gyms are very often elongated in height rather than width.
• The film was shot with a single Arriflex 535B camera, which was moved only on rails.
• In Lindqvist’s novel, Håkan was a pedophile, and Eli was a boy, Elias, castrated many years ago by a sadistic vampire and transformed into a girl. While this transformation is explained in detail in the novel, it is only briefly mentioned in the film. Despite this, Eli's low, androgynous voice was preserved, but it does not belong to Line Leandersson; she was dubbed over by actress Elif Seýlan.
• Tomas Alfredson did not want to shoot one of the key scenes in which Eli's skin begins to bleed because Oscar wouldn’t allow her to enter. The author of the book and the film's screenwriter, John Ajvide Lindqvist, insisted on filming this episode. Subsequently, many critics praised it, with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calling the moment “the hemophilia of rejection.”
• The scene in which Eli attacks Juke in the tunnel was filmed in the town of Rocksta, as the real tunnel in Blackeberg was too high for the intended image format. The scene in which Eli crawls along the hospital wall was filmed in Boden, with the wall of the city hall serving as the hospital wall.
• The film is based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, "Let the Right One In" (Lat den ratte komma in, 2004).
• The Russian title of the film, "Let Me In," is a translation of the English version, although the original Swedish title, "Lat den ratte komma in," should be correctly translated into Russian as "Let In the One Who Needs To." When the novel was being prepared for release in America, American publishers asked Lindqvist to shorten the title because it didn't fit the specified cover format. In Russia, the novel was also published under the shortened title.
• The rights to adapt the novel were acquired by producer John Nordling of the film company EFTI as early as late 2004. Initially, he contacted Lindqvist's publisher, "Ordfront," but was put on a waiting list at number 48, so Nordling called the author directly. Lindqvist liked Nordling's vision, which coincided with his own.
• Tomas Alfredson did not want to film one of the key scenes, in which Eli's skin begins to bleed because Oskar didn't let her in. The author of the book and the film's screenwriter, John Ajvide Lindqvist, insisted on filming this episode. Subsequently, many critics praised it, with Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calling the moment "hemophilia of rejection."