Let Me In

Released: 2010
Horror (but not really)
Starring: Chloe Crace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Kodi-Smit McPhee
Director: Matt Reeves
Running Time: 116 minutes
Rated: R


The breakdown:  It's really more like a character study of a vampire stuck in a little girl's body who makes reluctant friends with a lonely little boy.

The movie's set in the early 1980's.  A little apartment complex in New Mexico has a little boy living with his religious mother who's in the process of getting a divorce from the boy's father.  The boy is tortured at school by bullies who are ruthless to him and he doesn't seem to have any friends.  One night while he's sitting out in the courtyard alone he sees a girl his age and her father move in.  What he notices is that the little girl has no shoes on and she's walking in the snow with no reaction to the cold.
He's interested in her story and eventually he gets a chance to talk to her one night.  She lives in the apartment next to his and he can hear her yelling at her father.  The first thing she tells the little boy is that she cannot be friends with him, but he doesn't understand.  He slowly realizes she's not a normal little girl and instead a vampire who is much much older than himself. 
If the little girl was indeed a little human girl I would definitely call this movie a character study, but it has some horror elements to it so it's a bit of a twist.  I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised. 

This movie is based on a Swedish novel called Let the Right One In written by John Ajvide Lindqvist.  There was also another movie made before this one based on the book with the same title; but this movie is certainly a deviation from the original book and film, and one that the author approves of.  I'm now interested in reading the novel and seeing the other film to make comparisons as I understand that a few things are completely different in this American film version.

If you're in the mood for not the typical horror movie or the typical character study this one might be for you.  The only thing that might (and I'm stressing a very small might) bother some is the fact that the director has worked in some sexual tension between the two 12 year old characters.  I personally remember being 12 and being attracted to 12 year old boys so this isn't a sick or disgusting issue for me in the movie.  Of course a boy is going to reach out to a girl to try and date her or find out a little about something that all of us are curious about at that age!  They never have sex, they never even kiss so it's all very tame sexual tension, but it is there to be felt.  The vampire is a LOT older than 12 (though they never say how old she is) but she's stuck at that age so it's not like she can date a 21 year old you know. 

I give it 3 1/2 out of 5 for an interesting plot and good characters.

PS Happy Birthday Mom!