15. Let the Right One In
directed by Tomas Alfredson
No less a leading light than Stephen King identified terror “as the finest emotion”, a pinpoint that requires extremely delicate artistry to achieve. Let the Right One In is powerful vindication of his definition, an extremely delicate film that quietly and carefully works its viewer up to a pitch, allowing its dread to slowly accumulate until it is overwhelming and then holding it steady through to the end. In addition to this skillful work, Tomas Alfredson touches on childhood, loneliness, love, devotion, anger, sadism, violence and self-sacrifice. A delicate, lyrical masterpiece, Let the Right One In is an immensely satisfying, emotionally powerful, truly horrifying film, expressing the finest human emotions imaginable, including terror, through its visual and narrative poetry.