Director: Matt Reeves, Main Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins;
This film is an American remake of a Swedish movie (Let The Right One In, which, in turn, is based on a Swedish novel) and it is an edulcorated version, although still belonging to the horror genre. The director/screenwriter used the core, one might say, classical horror elements of the story but left out the true creepy ones that makes it far more macabre. The premise is very simple: Owen (Smit-McPhee), a lonely, neglected 12-year-old, befriends Abby (Moretz), a girl who lives next door, and his life gets better. Oh, yes… nothing is more uplifting than young love, except…well, the girl shows up only at night, doesn’t feel cold (walking bare foot in the snow it’s naught to her) and has a predilection for human blood, possibly fresh from the vein. As usual the audience finds out sooner than Owen about Abby’s true nature, through gruesome serial-killer type attacks carried on by her “father” (Jenkins) and by witnessing Abby’s smooth hunting technique (but rather messy eating manners). Matters will spin out of control, carnage will ensue and the body count will increase (no kidding!). What will survive is the sweet bond between the children… aww, so sweet. Chloe Grace Moretz can channel innocence and vulnerability well enough but I agree with Craig (Craig’s Movie Report ) about her being miscast, she is neither eerie nor scary enough for a horror. I found Kodi Smit-McPhee far more creepier (as children in horror movies should be, remember The Shining? that’s the idea), and he was supposed to be the “good guy”. Anyway the dark, cold atmosphere and the slow but ominous pace of the story still make this film sinister enough that you’ll want to avert your eyes or hug a pillow, which, in my book, qualifies as a job well done for a horror flick. Spooky —6.5/10
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Ramblings of a cinephile 