“Just so you know, I can’t be your friend.”
When a twelve-year-old boy befriends his new young neighbor, the pair form a bond that is both loving and lethal in 2010’s Let Me In. A remake of 2008’s Let The Right One In which was itself based upon a 2004 book of the same name by Tomas Alfredson, Let Me In is a slow burning vampire flick full of brilliant acting performances, sounds, and visuals. The film was directed by Matt Reeves who most of my readers will probably know for his work on Cloverfield, two of the recent Planet of the Apes films, and the upcoming The Batman starring Robert Pattinson. It’s also the second film to be released by Hammer Productions after its rebirth.
In the film, Owen is a young boy who is living with his mother in an apartment complex in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He has to deal with the strain of his parents’ failed marriage and spends a lot of his school time avoiding a bully named Kenny. He often watches his neighbors through the telescope in his room. One night he notices a barefoot young girl and her father moving into the complex. The girl is barefoot despite walking through snow. The two eventually meet up one night and the girl gives Owen a slight cold shoulder. Owen eventually befriends the girl, Abby, and the two form a loving friendship.
Each evening they meet up and Owen tells Abby about his day. She tells him that he should stand up to his bully. She tells him to “hit them harder” in retaliation in order to stop the bullying. As the duo become closer, Owen discovers that Abby is actually a vampire and that her “dad” was once a young boy that she befriended who has become a caretaker and supplier of fresh blood via murdering locals. Abby and her “dad” have an uneasy but loving relationship that falls apart whenever he gets injured in a failed murder attempt and is hospitalized. Abby soon finds herself without a caretaker and chooses Owen to be her next one. While all of this is going on, a local police officer is on the trail of the murderer who seems to be on the prowl in the area. Do Owen and Abby become eternal companions? Is Abby discovered by the policeman? This and many other questions are answered in the oddly appealing Let Me In.
The film is extremely atmospheric. Reeves does an amazing job of setting an uneasy tone throughout the film. Abby can be extremely sweet to Owen at times, but also comes across as an abusive partner and this is both seen and felt in each sequence. Abby is also a lethal killer when she needs to go on the hunt. In some cases she lures in her prey and in one particular scene she simply ravages an innocent bystander. This imbalance of sweetness and savagery make the character of Abby extremely uncomfortable to watch. This is a good thing in my opinion. It’s also very tough, perhaps more so than watching Abby, to see Owen square off against his bully, Kenny. Kenny is an extremely unlikable character, but when Owen ultimately stands his ground, the bully becomes even more wicked.
I loved how Reeves utilized sounds to influence the viewer’s emotions and overall reactions to what happens on the screen. He also intentionally leaves adults out of focus in some scenes and shoots them from the chest down in others, forcing the viewer to focus on the innocent and not-so-innocent children in the film. It’s very disturbing but beautifully done. It isn’t until later in the film that our story really focuses on any adults and those adults, the police officer and Abby’s caretaker, are only presented to draw more emotions from the viewer.
Ultimately we are left wondering if Owen ended one abusive relationship with a bully only to be drawn into an even more abusive relationship with Abby.
The cast did an amazing job. Kodi Smit-McPhee does a brilliant job portraying Owen. You can feel his internal struggle. Chloe Grace Moretz is haunting and lethal in this film. You never really like her character but you never really hate her either. Dylan Minnette is absolutely terrible in this movie in all of the best ways. I really hated that kid in this movie but that was his job and he nailed it. Elias Koteas does a great job as the police officer who is attempting to solve the murders in the town and Richard Jenkins is heartbreaking as Abby’s caretaker. While he might be a murderer, he’s also a man trapped in a relationship that is sickly loving and abusive at the same time. He’s the perfect foreshadowing of Owen’s future.
I love this movie. I want to see the original as well. You should also watch this film. It’s an excellent story that works on a million different levels.
Thanks for reading my post. See you again real soon!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 