Let Me In (2010)

Directed by: Matt Reeves
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Cara Buono


Plot: A lonely 12-year-old boy falls in love with a lonely 12-year-old girl. The girl turns out to be a vampire and she needs blood to live…

Review:
Vampires have always been a subgenre of horror I’ve adored ever since I was a kid. They are beautiful, but deep down they are monsters. They live a lonely life full of guilt and pain…and then Twilight happened. Oh how I LOATHE that series. It does not deserve the word saga. It butchered everything I love about vampires by making them more like beautiful superheroes. They were not monsters and showed how perfect their lives were. They were rich, they didn’t need to feed on people…and they sparkled. This film showed vampires the way they should be – as truly tortured monsters.
I should start off by saying that this is a remake of a truly superb Swedish flick known as Let the Right One In. That was a beautiful film that boasted a fantastic performance from its lead female. The film was flawed, but it is still a favorite of mine (10/10). When a remake was announced, I was not happy, but now I’ve finally gotten to see the remake…and goddamn this film was as good as the original!
This film did not gloss over the life of a vampire. Abby’s life is tough, lonely, and full of blood. When she feeds, you can see the monster inside of her force itself out to show its face. She seems like an innocent young girl, but she is a truly mature monster on the inside. I was afraid they would try to lighten the movie for the Twilight audience, but I am proud to say they did not. Even though this film is a love story at its heart, it is a horror film through and through.
The violence and the blood were plentiful and I was very much pleased on this end, but the love story…really got me. It got me in the original too, but I don’t know what it was I was MORE affected in this remake. I think it has to do with the fact they focused more on their relationship in this film. My sole qualm with the original was a subplot dealing with the older group of friends. Their role was boring and took me out of the film and I feel not much was done with them. In this remake their plight was taken out, and instead we got a policeman to follow around (VERY well played by Elias Koteas). This was a better idea, because I got more attached to him, then all the people in the original. Then we had the characters of Owen and Abby. Owen was more likable in this remake than Oskar was in the original. I liked Oskar, but Owen has this quality that made me want to hug him non stop. Abby was done in a more ambiguous way than Eli in the original. In the original, you know she was in love with Oskar. At first I did not know how to take the way they did Abby. But after much thinking about it, I adore the ambiguity of her character. We never truly know where she is coming from. Is she really in love with Owen, or is she just using him and nothing more? We never get a true answer to this question.
Another thing I love is the way they treated Owen’s parents. In the original he had a good mother who loved him and a father who was non-existent. In this remake, his mother was barely there and we didn’t even see her face for the bulk of the film. I liked this idea as it helped us feel just how lonely he is. It brought us into his world and how he felt. It is like we felt the loneliness more of him in this film.
It would be a sin if I didn’t mention the acting. Kodi Smit-McPhee gave a FANTASTIC performance as Owen. He was very affable and really made me feel for him. He had great chemistry with Chloe Moretz as Abby. I’ll get to her last though. The adults of the film all did a wonderful job, with Richard Jenkins standing out as the sad old man in love with the young girl. Onto Chloe Moretz! I cannot rave enough about her. Her performance was astounding. I’ve seen some good child performances in my life, but damn! I have never seen such a tour-de-force performance like this from a child before. Chloe blew my mind. She was likable, scary, and nefarious all in one. She was able to emote each facet of Abby’s personality and created a three-dimensional character like no other. I might have to say she was even better than Lina Leandersson in the original. Chloe reminded me of a young Natalie Portman circa Leon: The Professional.
The directing was fantastic. J.J. Abrams did a wonderful job, although he did copy a lot of shots from the original. I liked that he didn’t copy it exactly though. He got rid of some of my flaws and added a few of his own takes that really worked. I liked how he opened the film differently by bringing us right into the action and grabbing our attention. The musical score to this film was astounding as well and really helped deliver the emotion.
In the end, it is the love story that makes this film. The relationship between two lonely children grabbed at my heart and grinded it into dust. Their story broke my heart, but made me smile at the same time. What really works is that these are fully developed characters. They aren’t perfect human beings. These are children who live a tough life and are more mature beyond their years. Again, is Abby a monster? Yes and no. She really is just a scared young girl still, but something evil lies within her. Is Owen a good person? Who knows? Did Abby really love Owen? We never get the true answer, but since I’m a romantic I like to believe that yes she does love him.
I just cannot stop gushing over this film. Did I have any flaws? Not many. I do have to say that I wish the film wasn’t SO similar to the original. But it is no big deal, because the original really is an almost perfect film. This film kept all the best parts of the original and did add its own twist to some aspects. Some of the CGI was a bit hokey but I was never truly taken out of the film. Although I do have to say there was one subplot revealed towards the end of Let the Right One In about Eli, that I felt was really interesting and unique. It was unsurprisingly taken out of this remake. I thought it was a good twist, but I’m not surprised it was deleted because studios probably thought it was too risqué. One last mini flaw I have is, that I felt the scene where Abby/Eli comes in uninvited was done better in the original. Not the worst sin, but it had to be said.
All these flaws though can’t stop me from giving this film a perfect rating. The original is one of my all time favorites, and I have to say this remake is tied with that film. I love them both equally. Will you let this film in?

GRADE: 9/10