Directed & Written by Matt Reeves
Starring: Kodi Smi-McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Richard Jenkins
I don’t usually watch horror films. Why? The reason is that most of them are predictable, or not horrifying at all. Ever since the 80’s, the horror film genre has been going down the drain. Yes, we’ve had Hostel, but that’s merely shock value horror. The days of meaningful horror films with some sort of heart behind it have been few and far in between. Horror films nowadays have been simplified down to shallow plot lines, and extensive death scenes. Mind games have gone out the window, and character development never stayed around (exception: Silence of the Lambs).
Especially vampire horror flicks. It used to be John Carpenter’s Vampires and today its Edward Cullen, the vampire who glitters in the light. After being dragged to the last three Twilights, I gave up on vampire films. The genre was dead, and I bought a rose for it’s grave. Until Let Me In caught my eye. After seeing Kickass, Chloe Moretz became the new Dakota Fanning to me. Although I failed to catch it in theaters, I made the first step toward queuing it on my Netflix.
Based off a remake of a 2008 Swedish film, Let Me In delivered all that of its predecessor, and much more. It tells the story of a bullied 12 year old boy, Owen who befriends a Vampire child in a New Mexico town in the 1980’s. What gives it away? The Los Alamos Memorial Hospital, and the reflection of Reagan speaking on a television after a man falls several stories out of a hospital window (you pick up the setting within 8 minutes of the movie). Anyways, I must say that the dialogue, and the chemistry that Owen (Kodi Smi-McPhee) and Abby (Chloe Moretz) have is great. Let Me In removes all of the impersonal interactions of horror norms, and instead we get to see the depth of both main characters. In the movie, Owen suffers with life between his parents getting a divorce, and kids at school maliciously beating him up (to the point of sever harm).
Abby serves the story as a reinforcer, who helps Owen overcome his everyday realities. Chloe Moretz’s quiet but yet insightful character provides chilling reminders that at times you have to do whatever’s necessary to survive (whether it be seeking your meal, or defending yourself against the elements that try to destroy you). At the beginning of the movie, Owen plays with an Rubix Cube and he struggles to solve it. Abby on the other hand solves it within a night. This maybe symbolizes the problems (or puzzles) that Owen has yet to figure out a solution for (but solves by the films end).
Let Me In proposed itself as a childhood romance horror film, and it fit it’s label to a T. It was probably best horror film that I’ve seen in the last couple of years. I recommend you open your eyes, and door to Let Me In. You won’t be disappointed at what shows up.
7.5 out of 10
