Let Me In: Review -- A Remake Worth Your Time

Starring Chloe Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee, Let Me In is a tale of two children and their love of the Rubix cube.

Let Me In holds up its end of the deal. In an age where remakes carry the stench and stigma of being guilty before proven innocent. Though there are some rules bent for director Matt Reeves to translate the Finnish tale to an easily digestible American tale of youthful love in the 80s -- the movie is incredibly engrossing. I highly recommend seeing Let Me In, based on you [the reader] being anti-foreign film. I mean really, who wants to read when there are mysterious killings occurring? I fully believe that seeing Let The Right One In is a requisite for future movie buffs, but if you are that opposed to viewing the foreign film -- Let Me In is an emotional Cliff’s Notes version of the original.

I’m unaware if the intention of making Let Me In under the same budget constraints as the Finnish original, but that little footnote seems to have added to the minimalistic vision. The movie consist of an apartment, a school and short extraneous shots of the neighborhood. You never see the parents faces, further emphasizing the mature tale’s perspective is through the vantage point of children. Where the foreign and American versions differ, in this regard, the children and bullying aspect of Let Me In are depicted in a much more vicious light.

Kodi playes Owen, a child of a broken home and suffers vicious torment from his classmates. Yeah, he's gonna need a vampire girlfriend to get his life straightened out.

Bullying in America is a serious issue in America -- consider this my aside on the topic. If you know of someone who is being bullied there are options out there for you. Don’t know why I was compelled to put that in a movie review [because people being bullied love reading movie reviews about characters being bullied right?].

My major issue of contention with Let Me In lies in the casting and how the movie dwells on the horror aspect of the film. Where the foreign film casts the young boy and girl as if they are the same age. We see a newly growth spurted Chloe Moretz opposite the diminutive Kodi Smit-Mcphee. The Owen and Abby relationship is obvious on the topic of dominance and fragility. Where in the foreign film, the relationship between the two [un]naturally evolved -- almost at the very last minute as to who is really in control. The original shows a sort of equality in the two youths’ relationship, where in this film Owen plays a sort of Renfield type of character.

Still one of the most underrated actors of our time, Richard Jenkins delivers a very subdued and elegant performance.

To further nitpick. I’m a huge fan of when and when not to use music. I’m especially sensitive to this in horror themed films. Where in the original, large portions of even the most terrifying scenes were left with just a piano playing harsh tones in the background. In Let Me In, every time something ‘horror’ related is about to occur, there is this huge musical build up of violins and booming drums. With as many subtle touches this movie executes, this is one I could go either way on.

Where Let The Right One In excelled in telling the story of a movie, that is, essentially a love story which ‘just happens’ to have vampires and graphic death sprinkled throughout, Let Me In emphasizes the dark morose tones first and the mood of child-like love second. Let Me In stands on its own, while mimicking the original almost to-the-frame nearing the latter portions of the film. It is unavoidable that this is an American feature, meaning shots that could stand to have a subtler touch, don’t. Scenes that could stand to have less of a resolution at the end, do. Its a fun and very intelligent movie and should be a part of the rare club of remakes that does a service to the original.

I Give Let Me In...

One of the highest awards I can grant. One of my favorite vampire tales captured on film


The “Innocent Blood” Award