Let The Right One In

Okay, two in one today. Cause no rest for the wicked in October.

So today we will be primarily reviewing Let The Right One In, but seeing as how a remake Let Me In was made we will compare notes and judge each movie fairly. Now I have to say I do like both films but like the true cinema snob I am, the original clearly is the better film (It's more foreign-y and less known.), centering around a young boy named Oskar who meets a relatively young girl name Eli and the two blossom into a rather quite sweet relationship, despite the fact that Eli is a bloodsucking beast of the night but my God are they a cute couple. Needless to say the film doesn't shy away from the gore and horror, but it's a growing love story at heart and is at the front of the story which can lead to a true horror buff finding something more in this film than others. It's beautifully shot, with snow filling almost every frame of film creating a serene scenery which really makes the blood pop. I can't really explain it but it's surprisingly a nice and quiet little movie that touches your heart and I'm always happy to come back and watch it again every now and then. An excellent film that grows beyond what one would think it is, a definite recommendation this month or when you just need some undead romance in your life. Now let's compare notes. Let Me In pretty much 90% follows the original beat for beat, it doesn't change much and yet surprisingly retains it's own identity and can be seen as either a companion piece to see what they did, or to be watched on it's own if foreign movies are not quite your thing. It's such an interesting case, you're watching a movie that is so similar to another movie but it has different touches to it. Hell the only other I know that did that was surprisingly another vampire movie Dracula, that's right the Bela Lugosi Dracula from 1931 had a spanish cast and crew making the same movie after Lugosi and company wrapped up shooting. Same sets, same script, different actors and performances so it wasn't even just Dracula dubbed in spanish and it's endlessly interesting because you're seeing the same movie in a new way and it's quite fun. The american actors do fine jobs, and the kids in both versions really deserve the credit cause they do awesome jobs. That's Chloe Grace Moretz as Abby and though I don't think I've seen many of her films she did really good. I feel the american version needed to up that gore and cuss words to get it an R rating and make it more appealing to western audiences, whereas the swedish version didn't need that much though the blood was still there in good amounts. So whichever one you see, I think you will enjoy it and it can hit several people's preferences beyond just horror, the american version doesn't stray far from the source material (I'm talking the film not the book.) so I think it can work anyway. But my two big thumbs up goes straight to Let The Right One In, a fine beginning to October and a high bar to be beat in terms of quality this month. But for those of you who aren't looking for classy foreign films join me next time for some good old trashy zombie action in Return Of The Living Dead.