Horror legend John Carpenter reveals that Let The Right One In is the one modern horror movie he really admires. Carpenter is renowned for his work in the horror genre, with films such as 1982's The Thing and 1978's Halloween. The director is currently serving as a producer and composer on the ongoing Halloween sequel film trilogy, including 2022's Halloween Ends.
Beginning his career with 1974's sci-fi comedy Dark Star, Carpenter is one of modern Hollywood's most influential directors. Alongside action hits like Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble In Little China, and They Live, the director defined the slasher genre with Halloween, laying the groundwork for many of the genre's tropes and conventions. While Carpenter continued to create horror classics like The Fog, The Thing, and Christine, he returned to Haddonfield in 2018, producing and composing the score for Halloween, Halloween Kills, and the recently R-rated conclusion Halloween Ends.
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While Carpenter has an impressive number of iconic features across his own filmography, the director reveals which modern horror film had a great impact on him. In an interview with The New Yorker in which he reflected on his own filmmaking career, Carpenter is asked whether he had kept up to date with recent horror movie releases. The director says that he does to an extent, citing and praising Tomas Alfredson's horror movie Let The Right One In as a notable movie he'd seen. Check out his full response below:
I thought there was a great one that came along, called “Let the Right One In.” I thought that was a movie that reinvents the vampire genre—it really does—and I admire it for that.
While a Showtime television series is in development, the original Let The Right One In was released in 2008, adapting John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel to screen. The Swedish horror movie told the story of Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a bullied young boy who befriends his mysterious neighbor Eli (Lina Leandersson), who is kept isolated in her apartment. The two form a relationship, with Oskar soon learning that Eli is a vampire who has to regularly feed on humans. The film received global acclaim upon release and picked up multiple award nominations. A Matt Reeves-directed American remake, Let Me In, was released in 2010, starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead roles.
Carpenter has often reflected on his own work and the state of the industry through a critical lens, having recently shared his honest thoughts on Halloween's future following the release of Halloween Ends. As such, many longtime fans of the director are sure to be curious about how the director views modern additions to the genre. His praise of Let The Right One In is sure to inspire many to either revisit it, or watch Afredson's vampire tale for the first time.