The Big Picture

• Child vampire relationships in movies like Abigail and Let the Right One In are complex, with power imbalances and unique dynamics that challenge traditional concepts of guardianship.
• Let the Right One In delves into a twisted relationship between young vampire Eli and guardian Hakan, blurring lines of love and predation.
• The film challenges viewers to question power dynamics and vulnerability in relationships, showcasing the dark complexity of Eli's connection with Hakan.

If there is one thing we can learn from Abigail, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's recent movie starring Alisha Weir as Count Dracula's adorable little ballerina spawn, it's that a relationship between a child vampire and its guardians isn't an easy one to understand. There is a power imbalance, but, unlike human relationships, the child isn't always the more disenfranchised party. After all, the child isn't even properly a child, but a centuries-old entity that can have their captors killed in the blink of an eye, much like Abigail does. However, more than a decade before Weir was drinking blood from the necks of Dan Stevens and Melissa Barrera, rightfully pissed at being kidnapped, another movie took the relationship between a kid vampire and their adult caretaker to much more twisted and complicated heights. Despite being remembered mostly for its dark romance between two kids, one human and one fanged, the most interesting dynamic in Tomas Alfredson's Let the Right One In is that between vamp child Eli (Lina Leandersson) and his human guardian Hakan (Per Ragnar).

It's a relationship whose nature is never made clear in the movie. At first, Hakan and Eli seem to be father and daughter, but we soon learn that this is not the case. For starters, Eli makes it clear over and over to Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), the bullied boy she befriends and falls in love with, that he is not a girl. Therefore, he can't be anyone's daughter. Secondly, there's the fact that Eli is a vampire, which makes us question why and how he could still be living with his father. Despite all this, later adaptations of John Ajvide Lindqvist's novel Let the Right One In, such as Showtime's short-lived 2022 series, still opted to make Hakan/Mark (Demián Bichir), Eli's/Eleanor's (Madison Taylor Baez), actual dad.

Still, the original 2008 movie, which Lindqvist himself wrote, never makes that connection. For those who have only seen the film, it might even seem like Hakan is actually another boy much like Oskar, with whom Eli became infatuated years prior. A boy who then grew up and began killing to feed his former vampire sweetheart. However, if you go looking for answers in Lindqvist's novel, you will find something a lot more disturbing than that...

Eli and Oskar's Dark Romance Is at the Center of 'Let the Right One In'

Of course, everything about Let the Right One In is disturbing, even if the movie has a certain sweetness to it. The story follows Oskar, a severely bullied boy, who falls in love with his newly arrived neighbor, a vampire. As he becomes captivated by this creature that he can hardly begin to understand, death spreads across his small Swedish town, first by the hands of a serial killer that drains its victims of their blood and then through attacks by some strange beast. The movie ends with Eli killing Oskar's tormentors, and the two of them escaping together. What will become of their love now that they have left the confines of their nightly playground and entered the real world is anyone's guess.

Social outcasts that find solace in each other's embrace: this thematic description of Let the Right One In's plot is already enough to grant the movie a queer reading. However, when it comes to Let the Right One In, subtext becomes text. As previously stated, Eli is not a girl. And while this is not fully explained in the movie, Lindqvist's book gives him a backstory in which he is a medieval boy mutilated by a man for his blood. Thus, Let the Right One In, though frequently described as a love story between a boy and a girl, is actually a movie about two boys falling in love. With the whole thing of Eli being gendered incorrectly by characters and viewers alike, the film can also be looked at through a trans lens.

But the open ending to Oskar and Eli's romance invites questions. Having realized through the development of the plot that Hakan, the man with whom Eli lives, is not actually his father, the viewer is forced to wonder what exactly the nature of their relationship is. Hakan kills to keep Eli alive, and it is clear when Eli kills him after he is arrested that there are feelings going on there. They might not be feelings of love, exactly, but there is a certain fondness, or at least some sort of gratitude for what Hakan has done. With all that in mind, one possible interpretation is that Hakan was once a young boy who developed a relationship with Eli, much like Oskar did. This would make Eli into a predator not only in the sense that he feeds on the blood of others, but also in the sense that he hunts young boys to kill for him.

Lindqvist's Book Reveals the Truth About Hakan

However, the truth of the matter is a lot more twisted than that. In his novel, Lindqvist makes Hakan a pedophile, killing for Eli in the hopes of winning his affection. As Hakan is also a POV character, it is quite disturbing to peer into his mind as he wonders what Eli will offer him in exchange for his deeds. Eli is, therefore, turned into a victim himself, a child being exploited by a much older man. Like in Abigail, our protagonist is the victim of someone with less than noble intentions. But, again, similarly to Abigail, the relationship between Eli and his caretaker/captor isn't as simple as it initially looks. As Abigail holds considerable power over the gang of kidnappers, so too does Eli over Hakan. Eli is, in fact, older than his so-called father, a child only in his appearance. He has preternatural abilities and a nearly insatiable thirst for blood. It is only because Hakan is useful to him that Eli agrees to keep him around. Eli is victimized by Hakan, sure, but he also has his own knife pressed against his caretaker's throat. Eli is just as dangerous as Hakan.

Knowing About Hakan Changes the Interpretation of 'Let the Right One In'

In Lindqvist's original story, Eli, the child, and Eli, the predator, inhabit the same body. And, if we look at it carefully, the story becomes much more about a certain cycle of predation than it is about innocent love. Of course, Eli doesn't go after Oskar with the intent of preying on him, but his relationship with Hakan once more forces us to look at that ending with concern. After all, what will happen when Oskar grows up? Will Eli even allow him to grow up? Will Oskar become a pedophile infatuated with an eternal child like his predecessor? Questions abound; but, certainly, Oskar and Eli's relationship isn't one between equals.

And neither is Eli's relationship with Hakan — but it is much harder to distinguish who is more vulnerable. It is clear that Oskar is at a disadvantage when it comes to Eli. But even though Eli holds immense power over him, he chooses never to use it, which creates a clear distinction between him and Oskar's bullies. Nevertheless, their relationship is still not balanced. When it comes to Hakan and Eli, this ever-present imbalance becomes a lot more complicated: you have an abusive adult with power over a child, and you have a non-human being with power over a person. Every one of them has the capacity to hurt the other more than anyone can imagine.

There is no easy way to look at Eli's relationship with Hakan. When closely analyzing all the different dynamics, the story becomes even darker and with much more disturbing implications. Our very own interpretation of Eli’s young romance with Oskar changes, as the story becomes one about an abuse victim who escapes the horrors of his home life with the one he loves. However, to interpret Eli merely as a victim is to deny him his strength and agency as a character. Eli has the power to hold his own against Hakan. He even manipulates Hakan in his own way. In the end, Eli and Hakan are one and the same: two predators, each in their own way.

Let the Right One In is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.

Watch on Amazon