10 So-Called Happy Endings That Absolutely Aren't

Let the Right One In is a horror masterpiece that tells the strange, captivating tale of a romance between Oskar and Eli (Kare Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, respectively). He's a viciously bullied schoolboy, she's a vampire who looks like a 12-year-old girl. The counterparts in the surprisingly great American remake are played by Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Grace Moretz. 

Let the Right One In is one hell of a journey that goes to many weird places, and it consummately blends different moods. Its ending very much plays into that, as it looks like a happy ending at first, but it's more complicated than that. 

In the end, Eli kills Oskar's bullies when they try to drown him, and they leave together with Oskar set to act as Eli's new caretaker, as her previous caretaker (Per Ragnar) died earlier in the film. Well, it's nice that this pair can be together and Oskar's life was saved, but at the end of the day, he's going to age while Eli remains a child. Also, looking after her will likely mean he has to become a serial killer in order to get blood for her; this was what her previous caretaker was doing. 

Let Me In explores the tragic Caretaker character further and also cast the great Richard Jenkins as him, so this ending perhaps feels even more bittersweet in that version. Having said that, this is a complicated ending whichever version you see, and it's not the straightforward romantic finish you might initially think it is.