Film Review: 'Let Me In'

I’m no friend of remakes. This isn’t because they’re necessarily all bad, because they aren’t. Some are actually quite good. Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia is a remake; so is James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. I simply dislike the climate they create in Hollywood. Originality takes a backseat to marketability.

So, you can imagine my frustration when I learned Matt Reeves was remaking Tomas Alfredson’s Swedish vampire masterpiece Let The Right One In. The American version would surely be made into an actioner, or a straight-up horror film. It would be dumbed down considerably. Essentially, I figured it would suck compared to the original.

Guess what! I was wrong.

It turns out, Reeves has considerably improved on the original in a lot of ways, and while I won’t call it a superior film, I will say it’s a toss-up. Let Me In retains all the quiet emotion and power of the original while adding a better pace and upping the horror factor without cheapening the film itself.

The Road’s Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Owen, a troubled, bullied boy who meets Chloe Grace Moretz’s Abby, the new girl next door who walks barefoot in the snow, only comes out at night, and kills people to drink their blood. Richard Jenkins steps into the quiet role of Abby’s caretaker, and Elias Koteas plays the agent investigating a series of grisly murders in their small New Mexico town.

My favorite component of the story is the way author John Ajvide Lindqvist (no relation) weaves classical vampire myths into a modern story. For example, Abby requires blood to live, she can't go out in the sunlight, and she can't enter a home unless she's invited. In other words, there's no sparkling to be seen here.

Smit-McPhee and Moretz are at the center of Let Me In, and the film depends upon their on-screen chemistry to carry it. Both succeed wonderfully. Smit-McPhee proves his acting prowess once again, especially in one of the final scenes. His desperation is palpable, and you really feel for the kid.

Moretz proves her versatility here, playing a character far different from those of her breakout roles in (500) Days of Summer and Kick-Ass. She kills people, sure, but Abby is no Hit-Girl; she’s quiet, deadly, and above all, tragic. Let Me In makes you feel for the troubled (slightly deranged?) and seemingly vicious girl. That’s high praise.

Let Me In’s biggest flaw is the simple fact that it’s a remake. If you look past that, very few blemishes remain. The CGI bugs me, quite a bit actually. Interestingly, the original employed CGI as well, for the scene in which the cats attack a newly-turned vampire woman (this scene is not in Let Me In). The cat scene looked extremely fake, but at least it was just cats. Reeves employs special effects for many of Abby’s movements, and it’s very obvious. I wish he had just let Moretz do her thing; the original didn’t employ special effects for Eli’s movements, and that worked just fine.

As for the changes, most are for the better. Owen/Oskar’s father is almost nonexistent in the film, aside from a short phone call. The aforementioned vampire woman portion of the film is also markedly shorter. These changes serve to quicken the pace of the film, and I’ll applaud that. Elias Koteas’ federal agent is new, but appreciated. It just makes sense to have a law enforcement official in a story like this.

At the end of the day, Let Me In is a lot like Let The Right One In, right down to some specific camera shots that were lifted from the Swedish original. As a film by itself, Let Me In is a genre masterpiece, only hampered by the fact that it’s a remake, and therefore lacks the originality present within Let The Right One In.

As far as American vampire movies go, Let Me In is one of the best in a very long time. See the Swedish original, but give this one a chance too; it’s arguably just as good. I can't wait to see what Matt Reeves does next; apparently, Cloverfield was just the beginning.