Interestingly, the producers of Let Me In chose to remake the film version of Let The Right One In rather than base it on the book of the same name. The reason for this, and the reason for the existence of the film at all, is to reach the massive chunk of western cinema audience who are afraid or unable to watch a film with subtitles. This is a huge shame for two reasons - firstly, there was NO need whatsoever to make any other version of the original film. Let The Right One In was a masterpiece, and for me had no weaknesses whatsoever. Secondly, if we are to decide that those people who refuse to watch a subtitled film deserve to be told this tale, then I would have much rather seen a remake based on the book, which gives us a little more background on the characters and also follows some characters' stories a little further too. Of course, this would have meant a slightly longer film, and as we are talking about an audience with little to no attention span whatsoever, we lose there too. In my opinion, the best way to spoon feed this beautiful tale to such an audience is to just make the video game and be done with it. Still, here we are, so I shall continue.
The original film tells the story of the relationship between a young boy, Oskar, and the vampire girl, Eli. Oskar is isolated at home and at school, bullied and suffering the separation of his parents. Eli moves into his apartment complex with her supposed 'father' in the middle of the night, and takes the flat next door to Oskar. They are immediately interested in each other, and although at their first meeting Eli tells Oskar that they cannot be friends, a relationship grows as they meet night after night. Soon strange things start to happen in the small town, the body count rises, and Oskar follows the police investigation with interest. It is a beautifully told tale with great characters whom it does not neatly separate into good/bad/hero/villain. Eli's hunting and killing of the local populous, for example, is not glorified nor is it castigated. It is simply shown for what it is, a heinous requirement of the curse that has been put upon her, one that both condemns her to the community and at the same time repulses herself. We see this through the first killing, as she tricks and murders then feeds on her victim without mercy, only to sit and cry over the body immediately afterwards. In contrast to this we see Eli as the hero of Oskar, saving him from his tormentors first with advice and then eventually in a more direct and violent way. The dramatic irony is apparent, as Oskar's immature mind may not take a cynical view on Eli's motivation, but we can certainly see that he is being groomed as the next 'father' for her - her strength will be available to him when he is weak, but in return she will ask so much more. We are left to decide for ourselves whether she has any real emotion towards him, or has merely become good at faking it over many lifetimes. That she will ultimately be the dominant force in their relationship is clear, especially when we look at the scene where she chastises 'father' after his initial blundered attempt to bring her blood. His response to her angry screaming, when she finally demands an answer, is to bow his head and reply quietly, "Forgive me."
The American version of the film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen (Oskar in the original), the little boy who befriends the Vampire, Abbey (Eli in the original), who is played by Cloe Moretz. The 'father' role falls to Richard Jenkins. The likeness of the characters to their originals is excellent, especially Richard Jenkins' character, and credit must go out to the producers of Let Me In for this nice touch.
I did not expect much from the remake, even after reading the mostly positive reviews, but all I hoped for was that they would not dilute the story, and that they would not dumb it down for an American audience. Give them a version they can watch, by all means, but please do it with the integrity that the original film deserves. All in all I thought the film was probably better than I expected, but unfortunately I could not be anything other than disappointed, as Let Me In was indeed a dumbed down version, sprinkled here and there with Hollywood exaggeration and glorified action scenes.
The film opens, in contrast to the original, with action. No surprise there, but actually the look and feel of the film is very good, and I am hopeful. We witness the death of the extremely badly burned 'father' by (apparently) throwing himself out of his tenth floor hospital window, after one-way questioning by a local detective. The only clue the detective is left with is a hand written note, saying "I am sorry, Abbey". Then the film proper begins as we are transported back to two weeks earlier. That the director, Matt Reeves, is conscious of his audience is apparent here, and he immediately feeds them some fast paced stimulus to stop their minds wandering during the first part of the film. Hopefully nobody yet has got bored and started playing with their phone.
Unfortunately the introduction of a group of friends in the original - who are central to the story vehicle in a number of ways - is omitted from Let Me In in favour of more focus on the two leads, as well as getting back into the action more quickly. This is a shame and impacts on the depth of the film. Firstly, the first two of Abbey's victims are unconnected random bodies. These killings drive the story in the original and lead a friend of both victims, distraught and already suspicious, to search out the vampire's flat and attempt to kill her. In this version it is the local detective who is killed in her flat, and the build up to and tension of that whole scene is lost in the copy. We miss out on the terror of a small local community torn apart by an unknown killer, and the fear and hatred this brings out in the original impresses on our assessment of Eli's character.
The relationship between Abbey and the 'father' is one of the most disappointing aspects of this film. The Vampire's servant of Let The Right One In, understandably dominated by the monster, this time has become something of an equal, and this is a dissatisfying watering down of the original relationship. This time, when scolded, a timid "Forgive me" is replaced by complaints that he is tired of it all, and maybe he wants to get caught. This is an attempt to make obvious to the audience what the original trusts us to contemplate ourselves, as is the clearly cyclic nature of Eli's relationships with her servants. We can guess that Oskar/Owen is the replacement 'father', but Let Me In doesn't take any chances on it's audience getting confused, it gives us a scene where Owen discovers photographs of Abbey and the 'father' together, but they are obviously about the same age, and so we cannot fail to grasp the connection.
Abbey's character has also been sprinkled in Hollywood dust. The original Eli is more subtle, shows less emotion and certainly no joy. The only time we see her smile, in contrast to Abbey, is the climatic swimming pool scene at the end when she pulls Oskar from the pool, surrounded by the dead bodies of his bullies. Her 'vampire' face is altered only by matt black eyes, much more terrifying than the snarling, red and white eyed Abbey. The entire point of the film, the sadness of the little girl vampire, I think is lost in this rendition of her. It also makes a lot of the dialogue, which has been kept extremely true to the original, suddenly difficult to believe as it contrasts with what we are seeing. Perhaps the worst change to the character of Abbey is the addition of CGI in the killing scenes. It looks......well, like CGI. Eli in the original killed her victims by wrapping her arms and legs around them in a tight clinch and feeding on the neck until they dropped. It is eerie, and we can believe that a small attacker, even one with the strength that she possesses, might kill this way. Is there any real need to have her climbing all over them and throwing them against walls?? Especially when, in my opinion, CGI is not perfected enough to be used in such scenes without it being blindingly obvious that we are watching a cartoon vampire suddenly. It is not embarrassingly bad...just unnecessary.
So, was there anything worth praising about this film? Well, the acid burning scene in the school is replaced by a more active car crash version. It is well done, and does not take anything away from the story. The 'father's initial blunder scene is changed, again not badly done. But neither of these changes are actually done for any reason whatsoever, other than to say that the producers/director has put his own mark on it. The main changes to the story and characters are in my opinion detrimental to the story and to the whole feel of the film. If you look at it as a film designed to reach a particular audience (which it is), then you have to view it as a success. But as a remake of Let The Right One In (which it is!), it fails in the same way that "The Assassin", a scene for scene American remake of the French film "Nikita", failed in 1993. Although it will be a success, any fans of the original will be woefully disappointed.
