Let Me In vs. Let The Right One In

I originally intended to review these separately, as I was hoping that Let Me In would contain enough differences from the original Swedish film. However, while Matt Reeves' take on John Lindqvist's novel Let The Right One In is a well made horror/romance flick, it doesn't quite live up to Alfredson's version.

I'll start with the good things about Let Me In. The cinematography of this film is quite astounding. The cinematographer made use of blues and oranges to convey the theme of the film: innocence. Oranges are used when either a lack of innocence is shown or someone's innocence is taken advantage of. For example, Owen's bedroom telescoping sessions are all orange. The tunnel in which Abby attacks a random jogger has an orange tinge surrounded by darkness.

On the other side, blues are used when the character is innocently unaware of the true happenings or believes their actions to be innocent. The prime example for this is Thomas. We see him slit a man's neck to collect blood for Abbey, but as we come to find out, he does it out of love for her. It's her need, it keeps her alive, and so the act seems so innocent. While the colors are used interestingly to depict the theme, they also help create a horrific mood. Thomas' blood collections are cold; there are no feelings towards the victims. Abby's attacks are warm, which intensifies the heated moments.

That's about as much as I can say for Let Me In. What's really disappointing is that Reeves didn't take any initiative creating his own take on the source story. The script is literally almost the same as Let The Right One In, with the only major changes being names and locations. He does start in media res, which allows the film to have a tense opening. But the rest of the script follows the Swedish version almost exactly. And unfortunately for Reeves, Alfredson's version comes off as much more horrific.

My biggest complaint about Let Me In is the pacing compared to Let The Right One In. Alfredson deliberately created a slow pace, which reflected the isolated area in which the characters lived. But Reeves' pacing makes the dialogue seemed forced, even though the child actors are pretty darn good. Abby's kills in Let Me In also bother me; I understand the jerky nature was to convey a more supernatural threat (along with the effects on her face), but the great thing about Eli is that she seemed more human. That which is more familiar but is not in reality is more prone to invoke horror. And while I enjoyed the cinematography of Let Me In, Let The Right One In had astounding visuals with great thanks to the natural location. The film was largely unbiased in it's lighting; instead of blues and oranges there was nothing but white, which accurately represents the innocence of everyone in the film. That way, the viewer can make their own decisions on the motives and feelings of the characters. Finally (and this may be nit-picky), Let Me In was way too obvious about the reality of the situation (Thomas being a lover of Abby from childhood). Let The Right One In was much more subtle about the true horror of the story, while Let Me In kept dropping hints throughout in a forceful manner.

With all this being said, Let Me In is certainly not a bad film; it just happens that this is one of the many cases where the original is superior.