Creating the Americanised version of the Swedish vampire story LET THE RIGHT ONE IN was never going to be a simple feat for CLOVERFIELD director Matt Reeves. His remake, LET ME IN is set for release across the UK November 5th. The film was produced as a hybrid juncture from Overture and Hammer films who, after a relentless battle for rights to make the film in the US, opted for joint funding. Hammer’s involvement in the project has thrilled horror fans across the globe. In a sense, the company were the original luminaries of the vampire story.It was Hammer’s 1958 production of DRACULA, staring Chrisopher Lee, which first explored the sensual nature of the Count, an exploration which changed the face of the horror genre. The 2008 Swedish subtitled adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s best selling novel, Lat den Ratte Komme In (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) was the most celebrated film of the year. The film’s atypical slant on the vampire story is one which explores innocence and rejects the lustrous fixation of previous vampire narratives. For world cinema to capture Hollywood’s short attention span is no easy task.Despite the film having a limited release in the US, Matt Reeves was discussing his plans for the American remake as early as November 2008.
Lindqvist’s novel explores the enigmatic period of pre-teen youth, following the path of a 12 year old boy named Oskar who has been pushed to the brink by sadistic bullies. His life changes when Eli, a secretive girl next door slowly enters his life, becoming his only friend. The novel explores the darker side of humanity as Oskar discovers that Eli is no ordinary girl, in fact, she is not a girl at all-she is an immortal who feeds on the blood of others for survival. In a frantic bid to allow her survival, Eli’s ‘father’, a near-mute character, acts as a malevolent dogs body, roving the peaceful Stockholm town to perform brutal exsanguinations on her behalf. In Lindqvist’s original story, this character is offered even stranger depths and is billed as a paedohphile, explaining his relentless dedication to Eli. However, in both the Swedish and American film adaptations, this part of the tale is omitted to focus on other areas of darkness.
Reeves version is utterly faithful to the original film in many respects but he adopts a few tactics which give the story a distinctly ‘American’ feel. LET ME IN’S opening scene presents us with a distorted focus of melodrama. A man known only as ‘The Father’, (Richard Jenkins) is being rushed to hospital having disfigured himself with acid after attempting to murder a teenager. This opening, and the a dizzying car chase which leads to ‘The Fathers’ injuries, are two of the few departures from the original film.
Frame by frame, LET ME IN is near- identical to its Swedish counterpart. Reeves version is housed an isolated New Mexico mountains. The sad thing is, those mountains are blanketed in fake studio snow which makes almost every outdoor scene appear contrived. When watching LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, you could almost feel your joints aching as the Eli and Oskar walked through the frozen Stockholm landscape. The effect made it all the more terrifying as a lone character crunched their last footsteps in the snow.
The main disappointment of LET ME IN is its use of unconvincing CGI for Abby’s gruesome action scenes. When we see first her first attack on a local, Abby becomes a computerised, manic figure that is reminiscent of Gollum from LORD OF THE RINGS. When Eli feeds from her victims in the original film, her face adopts a malicious hunger but still, her expression manages hold a sense of real pain and regret. When Abby bares her dark side, her look is demonic, like a zombie from 28 DAYS LATER-her eyes say nothing but gore. This approach makes it difficult to connect with Abby, to remember the innocence we have already seen and so it begins to feel affected.
Reeves adopts an interesting slant on the films chronology, making a point of the 1980’s setting, one which is housed in Reagan’s America when the Cold War was at its height. Reeves allows clever placement of Reagan’s ’Evil Empire’ speech, the focus on the Soviets as the evil outside, a creeping resonance to Abby’s presence in the town, the evil and unknown attacking the good. Reeves persists with this metaphor, and to an extent it enriches the film, what does not, is the constant injection of 80s kitsch. The Boy George look-alike behind the shop counter, the Bowie music the sweatbands-it all begins to feel forced.
This is by no means is a bad movie, the plot is near flawless and despite a few pitfalls, the two main characters develop an on screen relationship which holds real poignancy. As with LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, you are left asking the question, how far will one person go to be loved?
