Let the Right One In

Everyone knows that a vampire can’t enter a house unless invited—by you. You have to call into your life what will destroy you… or maybe save you. A lonely boy named Oskar is twelve years old. He lives in a working district on the outskirts of Stockholm, and outside it’s just the beginning of the eighties. At school, he’s brutally bullied, and all he can do is run into the woods and, in helpless hatred, stab trees with a knife—pretending it’s his classmates. But Oskar isn’t the only one who roams the local woods with a knife. One day they find a boy his age there: throat cut, hanging from his legs on a tree. People suspect a ritual murder. But Oskar’s thoughts are taken up by something else: a very beautiful girl has moved into the neighboring apartment building with her father. Strange family—staying inside all day with the windows covered. And it’s clear there’s something wrong with the girl—something strange. And she comes out only at night…

“Let Me In” is a dark, tense, original thriller that effortlessly does without the romantic clichés typical of genre vampire fiction. Films based on the book were made both in the author’s home country, Sweden, and in the USA. The director of the 2010 American adaptation, written by Lindqvist himself, was the well-known director Matt Reeves (“Planet of the Apes: Revolution,” “Planet of the Apes: War,” “Batman” (2022)).