Review of Let Me In (2010) by Paul S — 25 Jan 2012

While I'm doing remakes... Here we have a case of a foreign film that was done only a couple of years before - so if you've seen the original Swedish version you wonder once again - why remake it? In this case - probably to introduce those in the American audience who refuse to read subtitles to a wonderful film concept.

Yes, this is a "horror" film - I'm not giving anything away by saying that this deals with a Vampire. But rest assured, this isn't your dumb, teen angst Twilight, or a B movie blood and gore fest - even though there's plenty of blood here. No, in the case of both versions, you have something much more artful - from lighting to camera angles to pacing - the film takes it's time and sets up its atmosphere of solitude very well, and while there is violence, the more gruesome aspects happen just off screen - a wise decision to not flaunt the gore by shoving it in your face.

If you haven't seen the Swedish version, and even if you have, the film is pretty darned solid (though I, having seen the Swede version, knew what was coming and could spend more time looking at details like lighting and scene set-up). I can't judge about becoming invested in the characters having seen the prior film fairly recently, but the acting of these two 12 year olds (or at least that's their character's age) is solid and believable.

The American version isn't quite as subtle as the foreign one, and makes obvious what was only hinted at in the earlier version (perhaps afraid that the target audience just wouldn't get it), but for the most part Matt Reeves stays away from Hollywoodism, and for that I'm grateful. My only real complaint here is that the speed camera comes off totally bogus and appears amateurish - if I was in the editing suite and looking at the dailies, I'd suggest shooting the ending of the scene in the tunnel over again - or abandoning the speed cam altogether - it was simply jarring and out of place with the attention to detail that the rest of the film possessed.

The net result is that this (and its predecessor) is more art film than horror film, but there's enough to satisfy lovers of both. Definitely a cut above most horror type films.