Let Me In
Let Me In is a remake of the captivating 2008 Swedish take on the vampire mystique called Let the Right One In. Here Oskar is now Owen and Eli is now Abby and replacing the frigid Stockholm suburb is a seedy neighbourhood in New Mexico (surprising to some also no stranger to sub zero temperatures) but otherwise only the names have been changed. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a friendless pre-teen bully target who lives in a dumpy apartment with his faceless mother (Cara Buono) who is going through a messy divorce with Owen’s deadbeat dad. At twelve life is already bleak for the pathetic Owen until a new tenant (Richard Jenkins) who looks like a retiree moves into the complex with his apparent daughter Abby (Chloe Moretz) who like Owen is also twelve (more or less). Owen can not spy on them like he does on the other neighbours since their windows are light proofed and Abby who is predisposed to walking barefoot in the snow and often materializes with startlingly speed tells him that they can not be friends. Never the less they end up becoming more than just friends but their puppy love is jeopardized when Abby’s true relationship with her “father” become apparent and Abby proves to be a dangerous creature of the night whose secret is being unravelled by a snoopy policeman (Montreal’s Elias Koteas). This remake matches the original verbatim right down to the startling low budget special effects. Maybe this time around it will capture the imagination of an audience it should have had the first time around.