For those who think the Twilight series is an edgy vampire epic, check out Let the Right One In. I like to think of it as the anti-Twilight. Where Twilight shows vampires in a sexy, appealing light, LTROI gives you a vampire that’s harsh and terrifying. The novel is dark, deals with controversial topics, and is outright disturbing in certain parts. Did I mention the vampire in LTROI is a 12-year-old girl?
I’m not critical of Twilight‘s success. I’m just frustrated by the attention it gets and what it does to the vampire genre. Every time I set foot into Borders or B&N I’m constantly reminded of the number of imitations Twilight has spawned. LTROI stands on its own; not to be imitated. I’ve never read anything from the Twilight series, nor do I intend to. If I understand the marketing strategy for this faux-vampire series, it’s aimed for tweens who are alienated from the family and friends, and want to take comfort in an outsider who understand them. If that’s that target demographic, then great…mission accomplished.
What I’m not excited about is the confusion is generating. Vampire’s are evil. Since Stoker introduced Dracula, vampires have been creatures of the night preying on the living. Assimilation was never really in the cards for them in most literary or film cases. Until Twilight made them into a bunch of whiny, brooding teenagers. Once evil becomes palatable, most people will accept and forget just how dangerous it can be. I might have the whole premise of Twilight wrong, but based on what I’ve read about this series I’m lead to believe it’s like watered down version of the “Lost Boys”.
I can only wonder what form this classic horror monster will look like in ten years. Maybe they’ll go retro and actually be scary again and do things that made them…evil.
3 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Chris Narbone 
Though I knew nothing of ‘Let the Right One In,’ I do agree with you on the misappropriation of emotional attachment. I just finished reading Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and I enjoyed the ‘light’ that was used to portray the vampires. They were still horrible creatures of the dark but a few of them still felt a bit of humanity.
Nice post!
I haven’t read Let the Right One In, but the movie is damn good. I agree, vampires are supposed to be scary, not angst teens who “sparkle”.
I’ve read the first book and I think my IQ dropped 20 points with the experience. Meyer’s writing is absolutely awful.
If you want another good vampire novel, try The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen. It’s the Stoker story from Dracula’s point of view and it’s very well done.
[…] is second Swedish film I’ve seen over the course of a year. The other movie was Let The Right One In. I’ve commented on this movie and book in a previous post. As usual, I loved the book and the […]