We, The Infected

LTROI and LMI are reviewed in the Horror Movie Podcast's episode about arthouse vampires.

The discussion of LTROI and LMI begins around 42:45.

Those of you who like to see a love story in LTROI will be frustrated as these fellows conclude that Eli is a manipulative "old man" ensnaring Oskar. And reverse pedophilia, etc. Lame!

http://horrormoviepodcast.com

I'm embarrassed FOR THEM!

Oh man that was hilarious...

Poor, poor, Eli. I blame the anti-vampire prejudice in society today.

Seriously though, I don't mind the "manipulative Eli" interpretation. It's more funny than anything else: like if Eli had been human and grew old together with Oskar, I imagine that those people will say that one day Eli will look over at Oskar and be like: HA! I tricked you into spending a long and fulfilling life with me! You must feel like a sucker now, huh?

I do find it puzzling that they thought LMI was the sweeter film, even though it downright stated that Owen's future would be as bleak as they imagine Oskar's to be. Maybe seducing a 12 year-old boy is sweeter because Abby had been born a girl?

OK, ok, I think that there's one school of thought that goes that Abby really does have feelings for Thomas, whereas Eli doesn't have feelings for Hakan and therefore wouldn't have feelings for Oskar in the future. I personally would prefer a manipulative, cold-blooded Eli to an Abby that dooms the ones she loves to die for her over and over again. At least the evil vampire showed some initiative and is in control of its life rather than eternally being mopey and sad but not doing anything to change, but maybe I'm always being too harsh on Abby...

It's okay with me if they want to reach that conclusion. I just think they could have taken the time to do a little research about the love story and keep an open mind on the question.

TB;SLFA- (Too Boring; Stop Listening Fell Asleep)
It took over 40 minute to start, what the... Here is a quick review of the review-"Swing and a miss!"
As far as LTROI being an "Art House Film" I never thought of it as an "Art House Film", I see the "Art House Film" as something done by a film student with a morose clown flipping a pancake in a skillet with a plastic bag floating around in the background. Something weird and abstract.
Sooo am I to understand if a film isn't in english, made in hollyweird, with the Sex symbol du jour its "Artsy" or are they just lost in the sauce.

a_contemplative_life wrote:It's okay with me if they want to reach that conclusion. I just think they could have taken the time to do a little research about the love story and keep an open mind on the question.

They spent 40 minutes jabbering about nothing before getting started. (maybe they should be in politics)

a_contemplative_life wrote:It's okay with me if they want to reach that conclusion. I just think they could have taken the time to do a little research about the love story and keep an open mind on the question.

I think at least one person read the book and it was more a policy thing to not bring "other material" into it. I don't think it was a case of "not doing the research as they got Eli's gender correct. As for an open mind, it was interesting that one person said that he thought of the story as sweet at first and that it got darker the more he watched it. I think the same person remarked that coming in uninvited was a "serious risk" on Eli's part, which kinds of hints that he's not completely sold on the Reinfield theory...

(I must say that I'm disappointed that they didn't go all out and say that the invite scene was Eli at her most manipulative, as it's easier to shout "You can come in!" rather than watch a friend bleed out in front of your eyes, even for someone who was not in love. There's a common social trick that says if you want to get closer to someone, you should ask them for a small favor. That person would think, "I must like this guy because I helped him" and you'd be closer. I think an evil vampire would know to use the same principle to ensnare a kid.) --Sorry, I'm filled with evil vampire theories because I haven't been trolling the IMDb Let Me In Boards. For anyone who doesn't know, I view Abby as Eli's evil twin and I used to make up elaborate explanations of how evil Abby was and how she brilliantly seduced Owen to troll the IMDB Let Me In boards. So I have a soft spot for conspiracy theories of Eli's intentions


I want to say that the whole "evil vampire" theory is an overcorrection due to the Twilight movies and that the people involved in this podcast equated being a "serious movie" with being dark.

a_contemplative_life wrote:It's okay with me if they want to reach that conclusion. I just think they could have taken the time to do a little research about the love story and keep an open mind on the question.

I'm not as tolerant of this conclusion as you are. In order to reach it, they had to completely discount all the evidence that points in the other direction (which is most apparent in all of the scenes when Eli is alone, particularly when she cries over Jocke's body OR reaches for Oskar's wall, OR that beautiful look she gives Oskar's back when they're in bed together OR...etc. ), which either means they, 1) are sloppy and careless in their thinking; 2) had such strong prejudices about vampires in general that they couldn't see what was really going on, or 3) watched LMI first.

Then to add insult to injury, they completely miss the point when they quote the words to the song, 'Let the Right One In' in search of meaning. What can they possibly think 'Let the RIGHT one in' means? I could tell they had absolutely no idea, when they stumbled all over themselves pooling their ignorance and concluding that...I have no idea what they finally concluded.

It's a sore point with me because I still remember being raked over the coals on IMDb for complaining about how LMI, by substituting 'Me' for 'Right One', was opening itself up to misinterpretation (at least 'misinterpretation' if defined as in complete disagreement with the actual author. )

Well, I posted my little reply. We'll see what they say...

a_contemplative_life wrote:Well, I posted my little reply. We'll see what they say...

Whether I click on it or drop in the URL, I still don't see your post. I plowed through all of them (boring! boring!) but nothing looked like it was from you. Is there maybe a delay before new stuff gets posted? Anyway, you can always copy and paste it here. You always have great posts, so...