Critic Reviews

Hinderaker and his team thoughtfully elaborate on the human aspect of this story about families and vampires, letting its creepy elements round it off as a piece of meaty dramatic horror.

Both of the young actors are remarkable, memorable and carry much of the story. "Let the Right One In" has a uniformly top-notch cast, but the kids happen to be terrific. So is the structure of the series, as laid out by creator/showrunner Andrew Hinderaker ("Penny Dreadful"). It is involving but not overly involved or convoluted in its plotting.

Its familiar elements are ordered and executed with above-average intelligence and polish, enough that you can overlook a couple of gaping coincidences that keep the plot moving. Most important is its strong cast.

This show will not equal the artistic impact of the original film, but it retains its meditative qualities while upping the horror and the narrative intrigue, and it may be the case that it attracts more American viewers in the end.

The set up, while at times too neat, is confident and compelling. (For what it’s worth, I breezed through six episodes.) Showtime’s series isn’t going to convince anyone it’s the best adaptation to date, but there’s enough reason yet again to welcome Ellie into your home.

The show is most interesting when the kids are at the center; each has what the other needs. Foreman and Baez are genuine and touching, and it’s easy to invest in their story, with fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Some of the choices series creator Andrew Hinderaker makes to expand the story into a TV series land beautifully, particularly the emphasis on Mark's fatherly care for Eleanor and the toll that keeping her safe takes on him. ... It takes a while for the adrenaline to kick into these subplots, and the ordinary familiarity of Naomi's investigation of missing people and unsolved murders around the city adds to the sense of narrative ambling in the slacker portions of these episodes. But the restrained intensity and warmth in Rose's performance bridge well with the rumpled grief Bichir presses into his.

Like its source material, it's good at complex relationships between troubled characters, but nothing else really works. It might be possible to convert Let the Right One In, but every addition made here feels unnecessary. In the end, so does the series.

With so many balls in the air, Let the Right One In often feels scattered, lacking intentional focus when it strays from its ostensible main characters.

“Let the Right One In” features strong performances, particularly from Bichir and Rose, but it’s a slow burn and doesn’t have much new to say about the themes it embraces.