CdL; Analysis of Let The Right One In (Alfredson, 2008)

With a focus on genre and representation & ideology

·         A romantic horror foreign language film

·         The audience’s expectations of the text would be reinforced through the use of a snowy night time setting, as darkness is traditionally associated with horror films

·         However, the sequence doesn’t use any music to build tension during the titles which is unconventional for a horror film, and the orchestral soundtrack is not used until after the characters have been introduced

·         The film opens with a state of calm equilibrium which follows the conventions of a narrative

·         The use of a pale child shows awareness of horror conventions- the creepy child such as the antagonist in The Omen (Donner, 1976) - however he is shown as quite quiet and not intense or obviously evil and is in this case the protagonist.  The fact that he is shown reflected in the window suggests distance from the audience and maybe other people in general, both physically and emotionally

·         The social groups represented are Swedish people in a rural and possibly quite isolated community, with a focus on young teenagers

·         The protagonist is a pale and skinny young boy, shown as quite a loner by the fact that he is disconnected from the world by the window, the way that he looks down, through a high angle shot, on the other characters from the window and also by the MLS which shows him reflected against the dark glass completely alone,

·         The fact that his first words are “squeal like a pig” reinforces the belief that he is a strange loner child

·         The lack of music throughout the title sequence reinforces the idea of a quiet and isolated community which is quite creepy as very little is given away about the characters

                                  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCGapsqUNM

                                     (Embedding disabled by request on YouTube)