Let the Wrong One In
Another morning in Dublin, bacon sizzling in the pan, teenage Matt unaware his estranged older brother Deco is sizzling on the patio, the broken umbrella he found on the way offering scant protection from the sun. Already a disappointment to the family, about the only thing Deco could have done to make things worse was get drunk on a night out and get bitten by a vampire.
Pleading with Matt to be allowed in, the situation quickly becomes clear that the allergy to sunlight and garlic chips is not going to simply clear up of its own accord and a doctor is summoned; instead arriving with wooden stakes and a mallet as though already knowing what he would find is taxi driver Henry Montgomery, for it turns out that the whole city is under threat of the undead.
Written and directed by Conor McMahon and its name a cheeky spin on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s modern vampire classic Låt den rätte komma in, it goes without saying that Let the Wrong One In is a comedy filmed on the scary streets of Dublin after dark where much of the miniscule budget was spent on the gallons of fake blood.
As working boy Matt and wastrel layabout Deco, Karl Rice and Eoin Duffy are believable as brothers despite their differences, while after serving seven years as Watcher to vampire slayer Buffy Summers it should be expected that Anthony Head would know a thing or three about those who stagger the night, controlling scenes with exasperated patience even when tied to a chair in the garden shed.
From the blood-red Gothic script of the titles to the subterranean Dublin nightclub The Crypt, its opening night crashed by Sheila (Mary Murray) and her bridesmaids, changed women since a sloppy hen night in the shadow of a castle on the cobbled streets of Transylvania, Let the Wrong One In is a kinetic caper of facing up to unexpected responsibilities and the bond of family in a bad situation.
Gleefully disrespectful of the legacy of the hometown of Dracula author Bram Stoker despite some scenes being shot in a museum dedicated to his legacy, Let the Wrong One In is What We Do in the Shadows drained of pretension and kicking about the gutters of the estates, an authentic slice of Irish horror comedy in the same vein as those Boys from County Hell which never lets its limitations stand in the way of a good time.
Glasgow Film Festival continues until Sunday 13th March
