John
Ajvide Lindqvist's 2004 Swedish novel LET THE RIGHT ONE IN provided the basis
for the 2008 Swedish film of the same name. Set in 1982, the film focused
on the friendship between twelve year-old Oskar and his friend Eli, the latter
of who also happened to be a vampire. The film proved to be a hit with
critics and audiences alike, though its reception was lukewarm in the West as
films with subtitles still do not get the audiences they so richly
deserve. Now, director Matt Reeves, known Stateside for CLOVERFIELD, has
remade the foreign-language film into LET ME IN, a thoroughly successful and
moody interpretation of Lindqvist's novel.
Oskar
is now Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a meek and timid twelve year-old who lives in
an apartment complex in Los Alamos in the early months of 1983 when PacMan was
big; Culture Club, David Bowie and Michael Jackson ruled the airways; arcades
were the place to hang out; and Luke Skywalker was preparing to fight Darth
Vader. A series of murders in the area have baffled police (Atom Egoyan
regular Elias Koteas) who reaches out to the community for help. Targeted
with physical abuse by a group of school bullies (Dylan Minnette, Nicolai
Dorian, Brett DelBuono), Owen doesn't appear to have any friends and is babied
by his divorced mother (Cara Buono, whose appearance remains obscure at best)
and perplexed by Rubik's cube until Abby (Chloe Moretz of KICK-ASS)
appears. She's also twelve, his new next-door neighbor, but she
inexplicably goes about her business barefoot, even in the snow.
Owen's
attraction and interest in her is undeniable. As their friendship
deepens, they communicate via Morse code by tapping on the wall to each
other. He asks her a lot of questions and she tends to be evasive, but it
eventually comes out that she's a vampire and requires human blood for
sustenance. The guardian she lives with, who she says is not her father,
takes care of her and is responsible for the murders that have plagued
the town. He takes it upon himself to obtain the blood of human victims
to help feed her, but through a botched abduction with a prospective victim, he
meets his own premature demise.
Owen
suffers a violent run-in with his abusers; Abby encourages him to fight back,
and he does - with a metal pole that nearly turns the leader of the pack, his
foremost antagonist, into Van Gogh; he's nearly expelled. This refreshing
bit of power causes him to bring Abby to a place he used to hang out in, a
dingy cellar. Cutting his finger and asking her to form a pact, he sees what
she really is for the first time - a creature with a voracious appetite for
human blood, though she possess the willpower not to harm him.
Abby
goes to Owen's apartment, but as a vampire she must be invited in by him. The police officer meets a violent end when
his sense of duty takes him to the apartment.
Owen sees what Abby is capable of for the first time.
Although
the outcome of the penultimate scene wherein Owen is forced to hold his breath
underwater by the bullies is the same as it was in the original, it was more
shocking and worked better in the Swedish version. Although Abby can fly, we actually never see
it. There are moments where she attacks
her prey with decisive viciousness, and the CGI works well.
Michael
Giacchino has written a creepy and elegiac score, some of which sounds
reminiscent of Jerry Goldsmith's creepiest moments in ALIEN and POLTERGEIST.
Unfortunately,
the film's trailer makes it look run-of-the-mill, as it's edited in the
predictable cookie-cutter fashion that plagues just about all trailers in
Hollywood nowadays. If you have seen the original, watch the remake with
an open mind and enjoy it for what it is - a moving story about love and
acceptance with top-notch acting by two fine young performers.
