Quite the life that "Let the Right One In" has enjoyed. Birth produced a shiny unhappy baby of a song by the former lead singer of The Smiths. A Swedish novelist was tossing round an idea for a startlingly original vampire novel when he heard the melodious tones of Morrissey's song and borrowed it for a title. Then there were the Swedish filmmakers who co-opted Tomas Alfredson's novel (which vastly expands the roles of the older characters in the movie) to make the greatest vampire movie of all time which was then made into one of the better Hollywood remakes of a foreign classic.
Now "Let the Right One In" is going to get yet another life as a live action stage play. What makes this news all the stranger is that the stage version of "Let the Right One It" is going to get its world premiere in the village of Dundee.
That's in Scotland, folks, just in case you are doing your level best to keep score.
Man, what I would not give to listen to the lilting Scottish brogues of Swedish vampire characters. The only thing that could possibly make this better would be if the play were a musical. And the only thing that could make a musical version of "Let the Right One In" better is if the music and lyrics were written by a reformed version of The Smiths.
Okay, actually, I can live without that, but it would be cool. Talk about the circle of life. A song by Morrissey of The Smiths undergoes a transformation into literature and film and drama before its reinvention as a stage musical written by Morrissey of The Smiths.
Irony is a weird thing and bringing it off in print is one of the most difficult of all things. Just to let you know, none of this is intended as irony. I've let the right one in. And I will continue to do so as long as the quality is there. Which, so far, has remained spectacularly high.
Even those who have not read the novel and are only familiar with "Let the Right One In" can tell you that there are levels of depth to this story that make it absolutely worthwhile to consider extended media involvement. The novel itself would require a miniseries to tell its labyrinthine story that includes far more about Hakan (hardly the father figure many reviewers seem determined to paint him as!) than either film even suggests. Comparing the complexity of "Let the Right One In" to the entirely of the "Twilight" saga is like comparing "The Last House on the Left" to "The Virgin Spring." Similarities of different types exist between these two examples, but it is the differentiations that are most striking.
The really amazing thing about the novel "Let the Right One In" is that it is both claustrophobic and agoraphobic at the same time. Much happens in a tight constrict emotional space and much happens within a larger geographic space outside. This makes it ideal for both cinematic adaptation and stage adaptation. I don't know what the Scottish stage version is going to look like, but I sure wish I had the chance to catch it.
In the meantime, make sure you catch "Let the Right One In" in all available forms.
For more from Timothy Sexton, check out:
"Let the Right One In": The Best Vampire Movie Ever
