Very, very close to the original version. Acting was strong. Needed more Elias Koteas, but what movie doesn't?

Beautiful. It's been said, but those two kids did a fuckin' great job. Everyone did, really. Jenkins, Koteas, the bully.

I have almost nothing but nice things to say about the film, so here are the things that prevented it from reaching perfection:

-the score was a little much at times, especially in the beginning.
-the CGI was a bit sloppy.
-the prologue. Personally, I would have rather the movie started where the story began instead of the unnecessary attention grabber.

Aside from those things, I can't really think of anything I didn't like or love. Seeing both this and the Social Network yesterday was quite a wonderful time. I hope to see both again very soon.

Gorgeously shot, emotionally captivating and ultimately quite haunting, this is one of the best movies of the year and better than the original Let The Right One In. The performances are stellar across the board, especially from the two young leads. Director Matt Reeves sticks pretty close to the source material but does make a few smart decisions in his remake - gone is the 'cat' sequence from the original that was its only laughable moment, and the sequence that replaces it here is much more effective and chilling. He also makes the bullies much more cruel and menacing, which makes the scenes of abuse even harder to watch. I also loved the musical score and the film's accurate depiction of the 1980s - the soundtrack was great. And again, the cinematography was incredible, and I wouldn't be completely surprised by awards attention for it - the murder and car crash sequence was absolutely AMAZING. I do think that audiences aren't going to connect with this one though - it is similar to the original in the fact that it's decidedly un-mainstream. For those who want smart, mature horror however, this one is not to be missed. A-

LET ME IN

I had not seen the original yet but I do intend on doing so. I think it's on redbox. I had no idea exactly what she was going in. In fact, I didn't know much if anything. I did find the movie decent and at parts interesting but I also thought it seemed long to me. Maybe they could have trimmed something here or there. I don't know if that last scene with the bullies was necessary but maybe it was needed so the boy would end up with her.

I did enjoy the acting of all the characters. I thought the boy from the Road is a really good actor. He has this innocence about him. The violence and gore seemed mostly tame or limited. One part I really enjoyed was the woman who was turning and the fantasy reality of how quickly these vampires can be harmed by sunlight. It was awesome to see her just burst into a fireball.

Overall, I thought it was a decent flick but it wasn't that scary either.

Grade - B

Rave reviews from my uncle and a good friend.

Still probably won't see it... hmm

Let Me In, while not as magnificent as the original Let the Right One In, is the rare great remake thanks mostly to a close-to-heart script and fantastic young actors to fill in. The story is all the same with little tweaks here and there and the scares are definitely top notch. Matt Reeves does a fantastic job in the director's chair again after his great stint with Cloverfield and takes what made the first enjoyable and not ruin that enjoyment which is what sadly happens with many remakes. Some scenes are absolutely beautiful to look at while others are extra gruesome and shows wonderful fear. There is a strong supporting cast here including Elias Koteas who could of had more screentime. The true stars here though are Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Mortez as Owen and Abby. Both young actors work perfectly together while making their friendship and relationship realistic and a bit unlike how others are portrayed in films. Mortez especially seems to be finding her footing in film now especially after her already great role in this year's earlier outing Kick Ass. One of the film's only downfalls is that the film could of done without giving Abby a vampire look when she was hunting for blood as the original work was able to do away with this but still keep the chill. Also a scene or two could of been a little more violent and felt a bit lost of potential. No matter what though, Let Me In is one of the top films of the year so far and definitely one of the best thrilling films made. ***1/2

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Låt den rätte komma in for Dummies
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First question: Why? Wwwhhhhhyyy?

...when this photocopy wasn't cut for cut mimicking it's barely older sister film, it brought a tiresome yet cowardly obviousness to the original story.

The only great acting going on here was by the lead Kodi Smit-McPhee. The rest were treading water. Chloë (Grace?) Moretz was clearly in over her head. Richard Jenkins was just plain miscast, as was his doppelgänger Elias Koteas...

Verdict: A waste of my time.


1 out of 5.





(Hint: If you haven't seen the full-blooded original, don't spoil it by going to see this anemic remake first.)

I haven't seen it yet so I cannot comment, but I have a feeling that this will be my same reaction, as well as for the upcoming Dragon Tatoo remake.

LET ME IN

I was very skeptical about this movie. I mean, the Swedish original (titled "Let The Right One In") just came out a couple years ago and it was a very good film. It seemed the only reason it was being remade is because most people are too lazy to read subtitles, so they needed to make it in English to try and reach a bigger audience. But while the original was very good, to my total surprise, "Let Me In" is an absolute masterpiece. Throughout the entire film I was in complete awe over how well-made it was. It takes everything that was great about the original and perfects it. The cinematography is breathtaking, the score music is fantastic, the performances (especially by Kodi Smit-McPhee) are great, and I loved the change of setting it in the 80’s. It really added to it, not to mention the soundtrack was great. Director Matt Reeves did an amazing job with this film.

This is a really beautiful film. I couldn’t have expected anything better. This is easily one of the year’s best (currently it’s my #1 and the only perfect rating I’ve given). If it had been released by another studio (one that’s still in business) I could have seen some awards attention. This is certainly Oscar-worthy.

I kind of hate to say it, but I would recommend this over the original.

A+

The original film was set in the 80's just like this pale clone.

I didn't realize it was.

Europeans don't all wear funny clothes.

I liked it more than the Swedish version.

I admit my mistake.

Which trixster was mistaken?

The framing is pretty, the lighting is nice, and there's plenty of good style... But at the end of the day this still feels largely unnecessary. It isn't much of an accomplishment to marginally polish and amplify a recent masterpiece. While they did cut the silly cat scene and made the vampire attacks even stronger, I thought a lot of the attack scenes were not as effective as in the original. I prefer the super wide shots that went for a minute straight... And the pool scene here seemed much less necessary than in the original... And the underwater scene was unnessecarily complicated.

The cast is still great, and like Quarantine it's a slick update of a clever idea. But ripping off someone else so blatantly means you can't take that much credit, and even with ten times the budget this version is somewhat fussier and not as good as the original.

The real reason this is better than the "original" (i.e. the other adaptation of the novel) is, in my opinion, Kodi Smit-McPhee. He is BRILLIANT. A much more poignant, memorable, and complex performance than his Swedish counterpart gave.

The improved cinematography, score, and pacing, too, of course. And Richard Jenkins.

I give a huge amount of credit to Let the Right One In, though. It did cover a lot of the ground for Matt Reeves, and he wasn't shy in terms of openly recycling its best bits.

Yeah, this didn't feel like they were taking a wildly different approach from the Swedish film. And let's be honest, this was clearly more inspired by that film than the novel. Or else, it wouldn't have even further distanced the transsexual underpinnings.

Beyond our fundamental disagreement over better cinematography (I think there's some brilliant shots in both) I don't think Giacchino's score was necessarily better than the quiet, haunting simplicity of Let the Right One In.

And while Smit-McPhee was fine, I think the best performance in both films was Lina Leandersson as Eli from the original.

Dropping the crotch shot was a smart move. It wasn't necessary in the Swedish film, since it had no intention of delving any deeper into her history or the implications of the shot. It was a total "Everyone who has read the novel can smile and nod. Everyone else can be confused for a moment and get over it" inclusion.

I prefer Let the Right One In, but I very much think that could just be because I saw it first. We can spend hours talking about how much Matt Reeves really "accomplished" here, but it doesn't change the fact that Let Me In is, on its own, a really wonderful film. There are differences in adaptation that I prefer in each version of the film, but I'm damn happy to own them both.