Let the Right One In (2008)

Vampires are into edging. Even the serial monogamists among them express this kink by "protract[ing] their murderous enjoyment with the refinement of a connoisseur, and heighten[ing] it by the gradual approaches of an artful courtship," as the fabulous pervert who wrote Carmilla, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, put it.

Eli is not one to sip and stall. She’s a companion-seeker vamp, rather than a passionate obsessive. She'd really rather not get her fangs wet, and would prefer a nice jug of blood obtained by her familiar. So she needs to edge in other ways.

This is a story of trading a hapless, incompetent vamp companion for a visually age-appropriate (for now) new running mate. The meeting of a human on the edge of pubescence and a vampire permanently on the cusp of adulthood is itself precipitous edging made all the more edgy because it’s a crossing of human and monster timescales, where he is there for less than a blink of her eye.

It starts innocently enough with her new companion, the towhead monsterboy Oskar. He buys her candy, she says no thanks, he expresses coy disappointment, she says well, OK, maybe just one. Soon enough she’s ralphing in a parking lot and stiffly accepting a hug (while making sure Oskar would still like her if she wasn’t a girl). Later the edge play gets more intense, once Oskar suspects his new friend who can scale buildings and doesn’t eat anything but blood is a vampire. He gets points for not being hung up on gender or monstrosity, but he’s kind of a dick about respecting Eli’s boundaries. She swings by his place and he sees the opportunity to fuck around with the old invitation clause. In this telling, verbal consent is required. He won’t give it, but gestures Eli inside. She gives him a pretty good fine, asshole face and casually steps into his lair.

We’re getting confused here about whose kink this is, and consent is getting cloudy, which is never a good thing. Also, at least one of these two is a kid. Horror films are here to ask the tough questions, even as they are compelled toward taboo (in this case childhood sexuality as well as coercive non-consent and, yes, grooming—we could write a separate piece about that last bit, but monstrous grooming is a different sort of transgressive play at the borders of humanity and monstrosity that perhaps gets overly complicated by the invisible age discrepancy here).

Back in Oskar’s apartment, after some more I’m indulging you here face from Eli, her pores open and the precious blood comes oozing out. She’s starting to look pissed now, but it’s become a game of chicken. And she’s winning, because vampires are into edging. Oskar relents: No! You can come in! Which is both a mixed message and kind of ironic, since Eli is already inside.

Turns out Oskar let the right one in. 5 out of 5 sacs of blood.

—J †Johnson