I have decided to base my third analysis on the Swedish romantic horror film "Let the Right one in". It has been based on the 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, following the same title. This film focuses on a boy called Oskar, who is overlooked and bullied; however finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire. The director of this Swedish masterpiece is Tomas Alfredson, with producers Carl Molinder and John Nordling. This particular film involves a series of actors who I am of course not familiar with as they are of Swedish origin. The protagonist actor of the film are Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar. The company responsible for the distribution of this particular film to get it out there and up on the market was Sandrew Metronome. It is a scandinavian film distributor Sandrew Metronome which is one of the biggest distributor companies in the Nordic countries. Sandrew Metronome is currently the Nordic distributor for films by Warner Bros.
It could be argued that this film follows Todorov's theory of an equilibrium as the film commences. It begins, focusing on the boy Oscar going to school, leading an every day life. At the start, not a lot is revealed so as far as the audience are concerned there is nothing wrong. I would say that a disequilibrium is caused, altering the calm, when it is first revealed to the audience that the boy is being bullied by people at his school. This shows that the boy possibly isn't very happy. He therefore befriends a young girl, Eli. This could be portraying a further disequilibrium as, although they are fine at first, it is later revealed that she is a vampire which isn't good news for the boy as she is his only friend. Her being a vampire is obviously a great threat in case she gives in to her temptations when being around him. The next stage of Todorov's theory is the recognition stage. I would say that the recognition stage in this particular work is the same as the disequilibrium stage, where the boy finds out that the girl is in fact a vampire. After this recognition, he remains her friend and they agree to be boyfriend and girlfriend. Also, the finding about about killings of people within the film by the vampire is another point of recognition I would say that the film continues to follow Todorov's theory as there is an attempt to repair this disruption of the boy finding out and of the killings of innocent victims as the girl Eli moves away from the area for a little while as it people are becoming increasingly suspicious. The film concludes with a final equilibrium where the girl Eli returns and kills all of the bullies who are harming Oscar. They then leave the area together, showing a great sense of happiness in both characters. The final stage is Todorov's theory is of a new equilibrium being presented, therefore this film completely abides by his view.
I believe that the audience, when watching this film, will empathize with the characters of Oskar and Eli and understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. Oskar doesn't have any friends, therefore the audience are going to feel sorry for him and want him to find someone to spend time with. The fact that the girl kills all of his bullies will make the audience feel uplifted because of the way the boy is treated by them. The audience will expect and want both Eli and Oskar to make it out alive at the end and end up staying together as they are both presented as very lonely characters in the film. The fact that this film is a romantic horror film makes the audience expect to see a love relationship between one or more of the protagonist characters. This is why Oskar's relationship with Eli is presented as very strong.
I would say that the aspects which put this film within the horror sub-genre is the use of the vampire who commits a series of killings throughout the course of the film. As the girl is a vampire, it would be expected that there are elements of gore within the film. I find that the gore elements are very evident when the character Eli kills her prey for blood. Some of the scenes show her actually taking the blood from the corpses which is quite shocking from the audiences perspective. There are a number of aspects of this film which are quite shocking and take the audience by surprise. The part when Eli's 'father' is in the hospital, close ups are shown of his face which is extremely unpleasant as it has been completely torn apart. Following on from this scene, when Eli sucks the blood from her 'father' and he falls out of the hospital building and onto the ground outside is extremely shocking as it is something that the audience were not expecting at all. A great deal of blood is shown within the movie, highlight the horror aspect.
#This particular film quite clearly fits under horror from the time period of the 1950s to 1970s. The name given to this period was 'Hammer Horror'. This style of horror basically focused on the use of vampires and other supernatural creatures killing innocent victims. For example, Dracula was a film created within this time period which was one of the first films brought out which set off the Vampire trend in horror movies. The film of Let The Right One In is unusual as it is the first horror I have ever seen where a female character is the killer. This film is extremely different in comparison to movies that have been brought out in the last decade due to the killer being a young female. Because of this, it also contrasts to Hammer Horror in the 1950s to 1970s as there were no films created in this time period which I have heard of that had a female as the predator. It could however be reflecting the issues caused with hammer horror in the mid to late 1900s. This was the time period when great uproar was caused through the belief that violence in Hammer films was impacting antisocial behavior among infants. The fact that a young infant is playing this role could be a representation of a young child's bad behavior. I think this film has set its own type of genre as it is so inimitable in comparison to any other horror film I have seen.
With regards to Vladimir Propp's theory where he suggested that within a horror movie there is stereotypically a hero, a villain, a donor, a helper, a father, a princess, a dispatcher, and a false hero, I would say that Let The Right One In doesn't portray very many of these character types. There is no real hero; however it could be argued that the Vampire Eli is in fact the hero when she kills the bullies who almost manage to kill Oskar by drowning him. I would say that the villains are obviously the bullies. Oskar and Eli's father could both be regarded by the audience as the helpers for they both help and stand by Eli during her quest.
With regards to binary opposition, I would say that there is a clear portrayal of good and evil. The evil are clearly the bullies of Oskar, while the good unexpectedly is the Vampire Eli and Oskar. The way in which these characters are portrayed make the audience see them as good. One is able to understand Eli and that she has no choice but to take others lives to protect her own. Both Eli and Oskar are very young which shows a degree of good and innocence within their characters; therefore they are seen as complete opposites to the bullies.
Overall, I would say that the romantic horror movie of Let The Right One In is very unconventional compared to the vast majority of horror movies out there on the market. It has been widely credited by general audience and critics ever since its release. I personally find this horror movie very interesting as it challenges the norm. The aspect which I find the most interesting about this horror movie is that younger people are used to play the protagonist roles. I like the fact that the killer is a young girl as it is very controversial and it takes the audience by surprise. It is interesting that the killer is revealed so early on within the horror, yet it still manages to scare and shock the audience.
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