Having been to the opening night of Matt Reeves' vampire film Let Me In last night, I thought it wise to write a review. While the vampire genre seems to expanding, with more and more films and TV shows focusing on the blood-sucking ghouls of the night, it can often be hard to find the true gems amongst the trash. Let Me In is most certainly a gem. The film is stylish, authentic, and original, and has two of the best child actors in the business, Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass).
The film is set in a small town called Los Alamos in New Mexico during the 1980s, and follows the story of a bullied young boy Owen (Smit-McPhee) who befriends new neighbour, and vampire, Abby (Moretz). While Owen struggles with his violent peers, as well as his divorcing parents, Abby must fight to stay alive by finding the blood of humans, which she does with the aid of her guardian (Richard Jenkins).
Reeves, who directed Cloverfield, manages to capture a truly engaging vampire film, with a coming-of-age subplot. There are some amazing set pieces during the film (be on the lookout for a great car crash), and the whole aesthetic of the movie is so distant from these modern, glossy vampire flicks which seem to be more about sex than horror. As a remake of the 2008 Swedish version, and being based on the book Let The Right One In by a Swedish author, Reeves has taken this Scandinavian element and placed it into small town USA, which works excellently.
This is a great movie for its look, style, and edge, as well as its refusal to be like so many of the other types of vampire films around at the moment.
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