Let the Right One In (novel)

Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) is a 2004 vampire novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. The story centers on the relationship between a 12-year-old boy, Oskar, and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. It takes place in Blackeberg, a working-class suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. The book grapples with the darker side of humanity, including such issues as existential anxiety, social isolation, fatherlessness, divorce, alcoholism, school bullying, pedophilia, genital mutilation, self-mutilation, and murder.
The book was a bestseller in the author's home country of Sweden; it was translated into several languages, including English.
It has been adapted as three independent films, a play, and a television series. A Swedish-language film, Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson, was released in 2008. Another adaptation was created in English and based on Lindqvist's screenplay. Entitled Let Me In, it was directed by Matt Reeves and released in 2010. An English-language stage adaptation premiered in 2013.
The 2021 Irish horror comedy film Let the Wrong One In is loosely based on Lindqvist's novel.
American network TNT ordered a pilot episode for a television series based on the novel, to premiere in 2017. TNT ultimately passed on the series. In 2021, Showtime gave the Let the Right One In series a 10-episode order, to be produced by Tomorrow Studios and starring Demián Bichir. The series premiered on October 9, 2022.
Oskar is a boy who is on the verge of his 13th birthday. He lives with his mother, who is loving and with whom he seems to have a connection. His father is an alcoholic living in the countryside. Oskar has gained interests in crime and forensics. He keeps a scrapbook filled with articles about murders and often fantasizes about killing his tormentors. He even goes as far as taking out his aggression on a tree in the woods near his apartment.
Oskar befriends Eli. Eli lives with a man named Håkan. She is revealed to be a vampire who was turned as a child and is stuck forever in a child's body and mind. Oskar and Eli develop a relationship, and she helps him fight back against his tormentors. Their relationship becomes closer, and they reveal more of themselves, including fragments of Eli's life. Among the details revealed is that Eli is a boy named Elias who was castrated when he was turned into a vampire over 200 years ago. She dresses in girls' clothing, is perceived by outsiders as a girl, and insists on being referred to as one.
Håkan serves Eli by procuring blood from the living. He struggles with his conscience and chooses victims whom he can trap, but who are not too young. Eli pays him for doing this. Håkan offers to go out one last time if he can spend a night with Eli after he gets the blood. Eli says that Håkan may only touch her.
Håkan's attempt to get blood fails, and he is caught. He disfigures himself with acid so that the police will not be able to trace Eli through him. Eli visits Håkan, who offers his blood. Eli drinks, but a guard interrupts them and Eli fails to kill him. Håkan throws himself out the window to the ground below, but is reanimated as a vampire driven by his desire for Eli. Håkan pursues Eli and tries to rape her. Eli fights him off and escapes. Håkan is destroyed by Tommy after he gets locked in the basement with him.
Lacke suspects a child is responsible for the murder of his friend. Lacke witnesses Eli attack his girlfriend. Eli tries to drink her blood, but Lacke fights her off. Virginia survives, but starts turning into a vampire. She does not realize her "infection" until she tries to prolong her life by drinking her own blood, and finds that exposure to the sun causes boils on her skin. Virginia realizes her transformation and kills herself in bed by exposing herself to daylight. Lacke is thwarted by Oskar and Eli.
Oskar fights back and injures his tormentor. He and his older brother corner Oskar at night at the pool and try to drown him. Eli rescues Oskar and beheads the two brothers. Eli and Oskar flee the city with Eli's money and possessions.
The title refers to the Morrissey song "Let the Right One Slip In". It is a play on the concept in vampire folklore which says that vampires cannot enter a house unless invited. The American version is called Let Me In because the publishers believed that the original title was too long. They first suggested the title be changed to Let Her In, but Lindqvist suggested Let Me In instead, given that 'Her' was inaccurate. It is the vampire who must be careful to let the right person in on her secret. A paperback with the original title was later released to promote the film.
Lindqvist wrote a short story titled Låt de gamla drömmarna dö ("Let the Old Dreams Die"), exploring what happened to Oskar and Eli after they got off on the train.
The story is told from the perspective of a friend of a couple consisting of Karin, a police officer who oversaw the investigation of the killings at the pool, and Stefan, the last person to see Oskar and Eli alive. Stefan saw Oskar and Eli after they had disembarked from the train on which they were riding in the epilogue. They were sitting on a trunk holding hands which they had cut to engage in the pact which Oskar had described to Eli previously, suggesting Oskar was intent on becoming a vampire along with Eli. The story concludes with new evidence that Oskar and Eli were recently in Barcelona, Spain.
In 2008, a Swedish film adaptation of Let the Right One In was released, directed by Tomas Alfredson and starring Lina Leandersson as Eli and Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar. The film received critical acclaim and was voted the 94th greatest film since 2000 in an international critics' poll conducted by BBC.
An English language film based mainly on the Swedish film's screenplay was released in October 2010. The film's setting was changed from Blackeberg to Los Alamos, New Mexico, and the main characters' names were changed to Owen and Abby. Directed by Cloverfield director Matt Reeves and starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Abby and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen, it received positive reviews despite not performing well at the box office.
In March 2015, A&E Studios confirmed the television series adaption of the novel. The series will air on A&E and is written by Jeff Davis and Brandon Boyce. In August 2016, TNT ordered a pilot. In September 2016, Kristine Froseth was cast as Eli in the pilot. In October 2016, Thomas Kretschmann and Benjamin Wadsworth were cast in the pilot. TNT decided not to produce the series, and it was shopped around.
In March 2021, Showtime ordered a pilot. Demián Bichir joined the cast and the pilot will be produced by Tomorrow Studios. In April 2021, Anika Noni Rose joined the cast in the pilot. Later that month, Grace Gummer joined the cast of the pilot. In June, Madison Taylor Baez was added to the cast to star as the vampire-daughter Eleanor; other actors are Kevin Carroll, Jacob Buster, and Ian Foreman. In September 2021, it was announced that Showtime had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of 10 episodes. In February 2022, Željko Ivanek and Fernanda Andrade joined the cast in recurring roles. The series premiered on October 9, 2022.
In an October 2022 interview John Ajvide Lindqvist mentioned he had nothing to do with the TV show and lamented inadvertently selling all rights to the book for only 1 SEK when he thought he was only giving Hammer Films the rights to make the movie (Let Me In), meaning he will earn no royalties from the TV show. According to Lindqvist, Hammer had misled him of the nature of the contract; “There were thick bundles of American legal prose. And that would then mean that I sold all the rights for a penny, but that was just a mere formality and would have no practical meaning, they said.” In January 2023, the series was cancelled after one season.
An adaptation directed by Jakob Hultcrantz Hansson with a script by John Ajvide Lindqvist premiered March 16, 2011, on Uppsala Stadsteater, Uppsala. It premiered at Nord-Trøndelag Teater in Steinkjer, Norway, on November 15, 2012.
A new stage adaptation produced by Marla Rubin and the National Theatre of Scotland written by Jack Thorne directed by John Tiffany premiered at Dundee Rep Theatre in June 2013 and transferred to the Royal Court Theatre for November and December 2013. The show transferred to the Apollo Theatre in March 2014, having received positive reviews from a number of national media outlets. The production toured to New York with a run at St. Ann's Warehouse in 2015.
Thorne's play premiered at Rogaland Teater in Stavanger, Norway on January 24, 2015, in a new production as La den rette komme inn.
In January 2016, a production opened in Seoul, South Korea.
In October to November 2022, a production directed by Alexander Berlage was performed by Darlinghurst Theatre in Sydney, Australia, presented by arrangement with Marla Rubin Productions. Will McDonald played Oskar, while Ell was played by Sebrina Thornton-Walker.
In April 2010, Hammer Film Productions and Dark Horse Comics announced a four-issue comic book limited series with Marc Andreyko as the author. The series, titled Let Me In: Crossroads, is a prequel to the American film. The first issue has Abby and her "guardian" facing a ruthless real-estate tycoon who wants to steal their home and was released in December 2010.
Original author John Ajvide Lindqvist said, "Nobody has asked me about [doing a comic] and I think that the project stinks. I am looking into this matter and hope that they have no right to do this." Later, he told fans that he learned he had unwittingly sold the rights for the comic to be made. He said that the producers had misled him about the contract he had signed for the adaptation of his work.