Cinema Verdict Review: Let Me In

Let Me In

OPENING: 10/01/2010

STUDIO: Overture Films

RUN TIME: 116 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
Innocence dies. Abby doesn’t.

Opening Statement
Should we trash-talk Hollywood again for churning out yet another remake of an international horror hit? Considering how stubborn and lazy American audiences can be when it comes to reading subtitles, we almost can’t blame Hollywood. Still, it ultimately means enduring a series of pointless retreads which come off as laughable (The Ring), greedy (Quarantine) or just plain despicable (Black X-Mas). Should Let Me In be placed in any of these categories, or is there more to this remake than meets the eye?

The Facts Of The Case
Lonely, 12-year-old Owen (Kodi-Smith McPhee) is constantly bullied at school while his divorced mother must endure phone calls from Owen’s father on a nightly basis. One night, Owen spies a young girl walking in the snow (in her bare feet) outside his bedroom window; the girl is accompanied by a much-older man, presumably her father. When Owen eventually meets the girl, who calls herself Abby, she seems distant; yet, over time, she warms up to Owen’s kindness and recognizes he’s as lost as she is. While they form a genuine bond, Owen is unaware that Abby is a vampire and that she must drink blood every night to survive. When Abby’s caretaker ends up in the hospital, a policeman becomes obsessed with tracking down the man’s identity—threatening to compromise Abby’s situation.

The Evidence
For the uninitiated, Let Me In is a remake of the 2008 Swedish film Let The Right One In, adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist from his own novel, Lat Den Ratta Komma In. While I haven’t taken a bite into the novel yet, I did watch Let The Right One In and found it as intoxicating and rewarding as any film I’ve seen this year. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t dig vampire stories!

As we all know, the genre has exploded in the past two years; the Twilight movies and the cable series True Blood have given their respective fans a lot of blood to chug on. However, Let The Right One In is an unusual vampire flick in that it feels like it was written by the Brothers Grimm and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It wasn’t made for the popcorn crowd, nor was it specifically written for children; it exists in its own universe, supplying not only an original take on vampire lore but also never going into full-blooded horror mode.

Despite my aforementioned remake rant, there was one reason why I wanted to check out director Matt Reeves’ version: Chloe Grace Moretz, who became a star virtually overnight thanks to her eye-popping performance as Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass, plays the vampire. She does an exquisite job here as well, playing Abby to visceral perfection. Audiences must keep in mind she’s playing a character 100 times more subtle and nuanced than her previous role; her entrance intrigues us, she’s strikingly natural when she isn’t in vampire mode, and she scrapes up our sympathy even when she has blood all over face. Plus, her chemistry with Smith-McPhee (who played the son in 2009’s The Road) is tender, punctual and full of pathos. When they are both onscreen, they actually make you forget about the previous film—quite an accomplishment, considering how superb the kids were in the original.

The supporting cast is quite strong, too. There’s the unrecognizable Elias Koteas (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button) as the policeman who investigates the disappearances of Abby’s victims. Newcomer Dylan Minnette will get under your skin as Kenny, the main bully who makes life hell for Owen at school. And Academy Award-nominee Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) packs a massive emotional punch as Abby’s “father,” despite the fact he leaves half-way through. The lack of A-list stars actually helps the proceedings; all of the performers are ideally cast, and none of them strike a false note.

Granted, Let Me In follows the original narrative on a largely faithful scale; but it also supplies its own ingredients, many of which surprisingly work. For example, the film is set in 1983 and the period detail is incredible. Every single frame yields a distinctive, dated texture; the cars, gas stations, hospitals, apartments, schools—everything feels vintage early-80s, making the viewer feel like they’ve travelled back in time for a couple of hours. What doesn’t work is the insistence on “electrifying” Abby’s character by visually transforming her into a vampire when she must get replenished every night; not only does it contradict the original, it also feels too Hollywood, leaning more towards traditional horror elements. In Let The Right One In, the girl always looks like a girl and that’s what made the story so unique, as we didn’t need her to become a monster right before attacking someone.

Another critical flaw is the amped-up use of CGI. There were effects utilized in Let The Right One In for the simple—and sole—purpose of showing that Abby could climb buildings, but they were never flashy or obtrusive. Here, Reeves “increases” the tension by violently emphasizing Abby’s attacks, turning her character into some kind of computer-generated acrobat. This also drifts away from the original, whose shock moments were done in a matter-of-fact style, almost to the point where the viewer does double-takes. Fortunately, there isn’t too much CGI used in Let Me In, as it’s smart enough not to depend on the technology, although it would have worked better had it maintained patience. Moretz was able to do the majority of her stunts in Kick-Ass without CGI, so why not here?

Despite these quibbles, Let Me In is still one of the best remakes in recent years. It has an artistic and ambitious edge which so many remakes (horror ones, in particular) fail to reach, especially when their primary purpose is to make money. Director Matt Reeves, who made the far more commercial Cloverfield, shows complete respect and devotion to its source and yet, wisely, doesn’t resort to unimaginative imitation in his script adaptation.

Devotees of the book will no doubt have their own personal qualms, but Reeves deserves credit for not turning Let Me In into a by-the-numbers bloodbath punctuated by today’s usual horror movie requirements (i.e. female nudity, excessive gore, extreme torture). Even though Abby is a vampire, the characters and story feel so real you buy much of what’s happening on the screen. Its powerful portrait of teen angst and innocence matches the original’s themes without becoming familiar or repetitive and, indeed, the scenes with the bullies tend to be much more frightening than the blood-sucking scenes. If only Reeves and his crew had maintained subtlety with the attack scenes and effects, this remake would have entered the realm of the sublime. Alas, it only scratches the surface of total satisfaction.

Closing Statement
While Let Me In is a better remake than it has any right to be, it’s still worth watching even if you’ve seen the original Swedish version. Kudos to Reeves for maintaining the story’s mood and spirit; ditto to Moretz as vampire Abby.

The Verdict
8/10