Let Me In: A Preview by Rob

Spoilers ahead: proceed with caution.

I still refuse to accept that a horror movie was nominated for Best Picture this year and it wasn't Let Me In. It was hands-down the best movie I saw in an honest-to-god theater this year. I would easily have bumped Inception to have it included. As soon as I got my grubby mitts on a copy, I knew it would be my next choice for Films my Spouse made me watch.

If it isn't already abundantly clear, I chose this movie because it is awesome beyond description, and I wanted to share the pleasure with my darling wife. I chose it because I knew she would like it. And I chose it because I personally like it better than the original Let the Right One In.

Sacrilege you say? I concede that Matt Reeves' translation owes Tomas Alfredson's original Norwegian film a priceless debt of gratitude, but Reeves was able to take everything that was right about the original, recreate it with a fresh vision, and add a few brilliant touches of his own. Who could argue that the car crash scene isn't bound for iconic status?

What I really like about this version is the casting. Every role was perfectly filled, and the two young leads prove they're equal to such challenging roles. I was dead set against the remake until they cast Chloe Moretz, whose turn as Hit Girl in Kick-Ass blew my shit away. She plays the role as very child-like, which at first rubbed me wrong until I thought about it. She has been sequestered away from society for who knows how long, relying on the boys she chooses as companions to discreetly keep her fed. She has never had the opportunity to grow up, both physically and socially.  She would be childlike, despite her age. And Kodi Smit-McPhee is adorable, which makes it all the more disturbing when we see him as someone so capable of violence. Despite his cherubic cuteness, the intensity of his performance sells his dark side. And their sexless romance is both touching and heart-breaking.

The ending is wonderfully troubling, as we're happy that the two leads found a way to be together, yet we've seen where this road leads, and it's not pretty.  I also love the recurring appearances of the Now and Laters jingle, which at first I took for nothing more than a period detail thrown in to emphasize the place and time in which the story is set. But by the end, it becomes a sort of twisted punchline foreshadowing Owen's eventual fate. "Eat some now, save some for later" indeed.

But honestly, the movie had me at the Hammer Films logo. Let's just hope that their Woman in Black with Daniel Radcliffe continues to do justice to the studio's legacy.