Review - Let Me In

This past weekend I went to see Let Me In at the Edmonton International Film Festival. This film, directed by Matt Reeves, is a remake of Let the Right One In, a Swedish film that came out 2 years ago. It's kind of unusual for a film to be remade so quickly, so I was very curious to see it. Briefly, these movies are about two young kids, Owen (they have different names in the original), a shy, bullied boy, and Abby, the vampire who moves in next door. The original was fantastic, and I think the intention of making an American remake is to try to cash in on the American market that largely ignored the original. That's why I was so skeptical about this movie, and had pretty low expectations. Instead, I was very pleasantly surprised to see a really well-made movie, with superb acting and a haunting depth of story.

This movie is very unsettling. Most of this is because of the young ages of all the principal characters. We see a lot of violence carried out on and committed by kids and teenagers. The atmosphere of the movie is very dark and bleak. The music is haunting and Abby, being a vampire, is pale, with dark rings around her eyes when she is in need of blood. This remake did a fantastic job of recapturing the feel of the original, and if anything, I thought they turned it up a notch. I felt more scared in this one, and certain scenes were more tense.

I've struggled with deciding just how to rate this movie. Do I try to judge it completely on its own merits, or do I compare it to the original? Both films are based on a book, but it is clear that Let Me In is not so much an adaptation of the book as of the Swedish movie. There were far too many similarities for it not to be obvious that its a remake of the original film. So I've decided to do a bit of both, as it's impossible to completely separate it from the original.

I liked how this version spent more time developing the relationship between Owen and the bullies. The fear and hatred he felt around them was more understandable, I felt. That's the one thing that stood out as distinctly better. For the most part, though, it was not quite as good (the writing was not as clever) or equally as good (the art direction, cinematography, and particularly the acting are excellent in both films). One thing I did not like about this version was how it tied off the loose ends, especially concerning Abby's relationship with the man she lives with. Ambiguity and subtlety were some of the strengths of the original, and they were lost in this film (which, fittingly, was also more dramatic and more bloody, which were positives for the most part).

The question I am left with was "Why was this film made?" For all intents and purposes, this film already exists. Yes, this is a worthy remake, and it would be a very good film if it existed on its own. In fact, I'd be raving about it if it existed on its own. Alternatively, it might have been interesting to see a different take on the same book. But at the end of the day, this is merely a remake of the original movie, and I have to deduct marks for lack of originality. There's just no reason for a film to be made that's so close to something that already exists (and is only 2 years old). 8/10.