Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration is basically the second American remake of Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In (namechecked TWICE here).
Only this time, the main character is the social-outcast vampire, one obsessed with depictions of his own kind in popular culture (thus the namechecking).
In the same way that the OG juxtaposed Dracula’s life with that of a woman’s in the 21st century, O’Shea likens the vampire experience to black lives in America today. The ingenious parallels drawn still don’t prevent The Transfiguration from feeling like a 90-minute exercise in diminishing returns.
Its most memorable aspect is the externally subdued yet internally vast performance by Eric Ruffin, impressive for a member of the under-18 set.
