Americanizing the Swedish vampire film “Let the Right One In” conjures up Hollywood’s worst impulses.
More blood! More violence! And who cares if the teen vamp is 12 – let’s tart her up, Britney style.
“Let Me In” falls for none of the subsequent traps. It liberally borrows the plot, tone and sobriety of the original and slaps a fresh coat of paint atop it all.
The results? “Let Me In” actually improves on its source material, especially in the all-important bully subplot. And if there’s a more accomplished teen actress working today than Chloe Moretz, this critic would love to see her on screen.
Moretz stars as Abby, a centuries old vampire trapped in the body of a 12 year old. She “lives” thanks to her tireless protector (Richard Jenkins), an older man who drains the blood of strangers to quench her appetites.
Enter Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Abby’s teen neighbor suffering from a different kind of alienation. His mother drinks too much and spends far too much time watching religious chat shows (cue the Evil Christian alert!). We don’t even see the mother’s face, a crude but effective way to illustrate the boy’s isolation. School offers little comfort for Owen, what with a trio of thugs harassing him at every turn.
So Owen reaches out to Abby, even though she warns him initially they cannot be friends. But friendship is hard to quantify and even harder to stop once it gains traction, even if one of the people involved can’t stand the daylight.
Director Matt Reeves of “Cloverfield” fame replicates the mood, tension and sneaky sense of danger the original produced in buckets. This isn’t your creepy cousin’s brand of horror film. It’s quiet and unassuming, which makes the spikes of violence even more unnerving. The score is a mite too present, but it’s a near perfect accompaniment for the narrative.
The Abby/Owen relationship is a thing of tortured beauty even though the girl’s existence causes pain for so many others. It’s a moral twist that the film can’t tease out to a satisfying conclusion, and references to evil punctuating the story don’t help. The film clumsily includes snippets of President Ronald Reagan defining evil in our age – the film is set in 1983 – to further the theme.
Moretz reveals Abbie’s reluctance to bond with others with a few well timed glances, and she’s equally adept at opening her heart just enough to let Owen in. Their bond – and innocence – makes the reality facing them all the more haunting.
“Let Me In” didn’t need to exist. The original film is less than two years old and doesn’t require a Euro-mindset to appreciate. Hollywood insisted all the same, and if the excellent “Let Me In” coaxes audiences to see both it and the original, all the better.
(Photo: Chloe Moretz stars as a teen vampire in the chilling horror film “Let Me In.” Overture Films)
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I liked the original Swedish version, but am eagerly awaiting this one, thanks for the review.
I also believe (correct me if I am wrong) that “Let Me In” marks the return to the silverscreen of Hammer Films who I heard bought the script.
If this is true then we can expect some great things from Hammer going forward.
Yes, the Hammer name appears in the opening credits … but I haven’t done much research on its comeback. Thanks for the info
Hammer is like Atari: it never completely disappeared, but all that really links the present-day company to the original is the rights to the name and the back-catalog.