Movie Review: Let Me In

Let Me In

2010

Starring - Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins and Cara Buono

Written by - Matt Reeves, Based on Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Directed by - Matt Reeves

After I watched Let the Right One In, the Swedish film and novel Let Me In is based on, I told everyone who would listen to check it out.  I thought it was one of the best horror films I had seen in a long, long time and while I'm not exactly a fan of the genre, I thought the Swedish film was brilliant.  I'm happy to say that Matt Reeves, the director of Let Me In, faithfully stuck to the original film.  

Let Me In is about a young man named Owen whose parents are divorcing and is also the target of the bullies of the school.  Set in Los Alomas, New Mexico in the winter, Owen spends his nights sitting in the middle of the courtyard of the low-income housing his mother now lives in, post break-up.  Owen gets a new neighbor, an older man of about sixty played by Richard Jenkins and what appears to be his 12 year old daughter Abby, played by Chloe Moretz.  Abby comes and hangs out in the courtyard with Owen.  They bond over the Rubik's cube and soon are friends.  She gives him advice about the bullies and he writes down Morse Code so they can communicate by tapping on the wall their bedrooms share.  Her "dad" spends his nights trying to get nourishment for Abby.  He does this by killing people and then draining their blood into a bottle for her to drink. It's been decided long ago that this is the easier than having Abby go out and kill and then they still have to get rid of the body, it's a simple solution.  After the dad flubs a murder and is caught, Abby finds herself alone and her relationship with Owen starts to flower.  

The great thing about the story is that while it is a vampire story with horror overtones, at it's core it's more about the struggles of adolescence and a metaphor for the struggles of love.  It really is a story about the love between a immortal 12 year old vampire and Owen and that's where its beauty lies.  

In watching the special features on the DVD I am kind of taken aback by the focus of the people behind the film and how they discuss the book being the inspiration for doing the movie.  That may be so but the film was very similar, even to the shot, of the Swedish version.  As much as I liked the American version, I basically had the feeling that they were just redoing the Swedish version because Americans don't like subtitles.  Either the source material of the novel was so well drawn that two different directors in two different parts of the globe where inspired to pick the same shots.  Sure, there are differences, but not that many.  

The pacing and the atmosphere are exactly the same as the Swedish version and I probably shouldn't have watched the special features and their discussion about how this is their adaptation of the book.  Like they never saw the film.  I would have been nicer to Mr. Reeves in this review if I hadn't seen the special features and the original film.  If I was going in cold this film might have made my top ten for 2010.  I enjoyed Cloverfield, so Mr. Reeves has got that going for him, and it's nice.  

The performances are strong.  Kodi Smit-McPhee does a great job as Owen and Chloe Moretz does another great job.  I first saw her in The 500 Days of Summer and then Kick-Ass and she's always been the strongest in each of those films.  

I thought Let Me In was solid and I was going to give it a stronger grade until I saw the special features on the DVD.  I think it is a B.  Let the Right One In, on the other hand, is a solid A.  If you have the choice and can read, I would watch the Swedish version first.  I think you can still stream it on Netflix. 

Les 

Here is the trailer: