Ironically, the same year the first Twilight movie was released, a foreign movie entitled Let the Right One In brought the vampire movie back to its roots. Instead of being sparkly and brooding, the main vampire is hungry for blood. Stoker would be proud.
I personally like foreign movies every now and again. (Reading subtitles is a strain sometimes.) Old foreign movies are loaded with religious imagery; new foreign movies focus on depression and sex. Let the Right One In doesn't rely on any of those. It relies on a common aspect of horror movies: suspicion.
Let the Right One In is one of the best movies in recent years. When you think it can't get any scarier, it does. Again, if Stoker was alive to see this, he would be proud. Suck on that, Twilight. (Pun intended.)
My Rating: *****
I'm not sure Stoker would be proud. It's still not the same as Dracula. And nobody can judge what Stoker would think about anything, really. Just my two cents here.
ReplyDeleteThe balance between the drama and horror is what really kept me going and who can't ever forget that pitch-perfect ending? I know I damn well can't. Nice review.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people might hate me for this but the American remake 'Let Me In' was actually just as good if not slightly better!
ReplyDeleteI liked Let the Right One In, but didn't love it. Like Sling Blade you could see the ending coming a mile away. The kid actors did a good job.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen it, the American remake stayed pretty faithful to the original, but did remove the ambiguity of the relationship of the vampire and the older man. It weakened the movie a little bit, in my opinion, because it subtly changed the perception of the vampire's motivation in befriending the young boy.
I love Let the Right One in as most people end up seeming to, but one thing did, well, not bother me about your review, but I think it is a little bit of a generalisation:
ReplyDelete"I personally like foreign movies every now and again. (Reading subtitles is a strain sometimes.) Old foreign movies are loaded with religious imagery; new foreign movies focus on depression and sex."
Technically, for non-English speaking native countries, English speaking films are foreign films, too, so what you say, to me, doesn't really work.
On the subtitle note, if you watch enough subtitled-films, you'll forget them easily enough! You're missing out on some of the best films ever made!
Still, I am glad that you dug Let the Right One in! Good work on the horror reviews, by the way.
How bout that final pool scene? Seeing that bully's legs glide across the top of the pool was one of the most bitchin' things I've seen in a vampire flick.
ReplyDeletePTurner's right, the American remake, while not quite as good as the original, did better than most American remakes do.