Let Me In (2010)

Renn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjavOLdPk1c

So, it seems they've decided to go along the thriller route rather than the horror one...

Yeah, there's no way this is going to have the same impact as the first one. The tone of it is totally off imo.

johnny_ultimate

Not much to go on in the trailer, the editing is indeed all wrong for the story (music is awful) but I guess we can't tell the tone until the actual film is released. Trailer shows a lot of the scenes from both the book and the film in any case, so it might be relatively loyal.

The tone of Let the Right One in is drastically different to the book in any case, it is possible that they're remaining more loyal to that. There were a lot of subplots and more graphic moments cut from the film, and entire characters were excised. Plus, much more

gender ambiguity

. I think I remember the director of the remake mentioning they were going for the book's tone more - which means more ideas, but less focus.

Renn

But that was where Let the Right One In got it right imo, so many layers to it and given the additional information from the book, it makes the movie even more ambiguous. I just have a feeling from that trailer that it's not going to have the same impact. Not even close. I know it's only two minutes but when you couple that with the director of Cloverfield, it's hardly appealing. Anyways, I'm sure we'll all remember Lina Leandersson's performance (what a find btw).

johnny_ultimate

Renn wrote: »

But that was where Let the Right One In got it right imo, so many layers to it and given the additional information from the book, it makes the movie even more ambiguous. I just have a feeling from that trailer that it's not going to have the same impact. Not even close. I know it's only two minutes but when you couple that with the director of Cloverfield, it's hardly appealing. Anyways, I'm sure we'll all remember Lina Leandersson's performance (what a find btw).

I agree, I much preferred the film to the book. It had much more focus than the book, and in cutting out all the extraneous stuff to zone in on the relationship between the two characters, was ultimately much more powerful.

I don't hold out much hope for this adaptation, but I'd be curious to see an adaptation of the other stuff in the book. However, I'd imagine it will fall flat, and lose all the subtlety that made the film such a joy. Still, as you say, "from the director of Cloverfield" is hardly a ringing endorsement.

Renn

Ha yeah, I'm always skeptical when a movie starts listing the 'good' stuff a director has done. I read it as "this movie is a bit pants but look, he's done other stuff". Movie should be able to sell itself.

JohnK

Certainly doesn't have the same feel as the original movie but it looks better than what I was expecting it'd be like which to be fair wasn't much. The two child leads in it have done well in other movies so theres still hope for this I feel. I'll be giving it a look anyway.

Zero-Cool

I never read the book but thought Let The Right One In was class. Just noticed the lead girl in this is Hit Girl from Kickass, what a great little actress! Film actually looks okay, as far as American remakes go.

Josey Wales

It looks very, very similar to the original film. I expected it to be quite different. I just don't see the point of it. I would like to see a take closer to the book than the original film was. At least that way there would be a point to the remake.

Hank_Jones

The point of American remakes is that the vast majority of American audiences don't go to see films with subtitles, for whatever reason...

To be honest, I'll be happy if it doesn't completely ruin the original film for me.
Can't remember the last time a remake was better than the original, or really any good for that matter.

It does look quite faithful to the original film though, which wouldn't be too terrible.

Renn

Have put close to zero thought into this but how about 3:10 to Yuma?

Hank_Jones

I suppose an argument could be made for that, it certainly wasn't a bad film.

These seems to be yet another in the recent long line of films whose trailer just about does enough to raise a shrug of the shoulders from me. It looks and sounds like a dozen other horror/thrillers from recent years and while it could be entertaining I think I'll be waiting for a home release.

Handsome Bob

Chloe Moretz seems to be going places. This, Kick Ass and working with Scorcese as well. Trailer looks decent, I'm impressed, but that wouldn't be hard since I had a low expectancy in terms of quality.

fontanalis

Hank_Jones wrote: »

The point of American remakes is that the vast majority of American audiences don't go to see films with subtitles, for whatever reason...

To be honest, I'll be happy if it doesn't completely ruin the original film for me.
Can't remember the last time a remake was better than the original, or really any good for that matter.

It does look quite faithful to the original film though, which wouldn't be too terrible.

Somehow I think more Irish people will see this version than the original.

Jako8

I loved the first so I'm pretty skeptical of this re-make. It seems too soon for a re-make only 2 years after the first version was released.

Chloe Moretz, though, I'm sure will be fantastic. She's a really good up coming actress. I'm looking forward to seeing it but I don't have my hopes that high for anything near as good as the original.

Renn

It seems too soon for a re-make only 2 years after the first version was released.

[Rec] was remade pretty much straight away and was seemingly decent enough.

Renn

Renn wrote: »

[Rec] was remade pretty much straight away and was seemingly decent enough.

quarantine played American cinemas before [Rec] did. It's actually not a bad film and from what I recall it expanded on a number of ideas only touched upon by the original.

Renn

Yeah I know, but I was just talking it terms of when the actual first one was made.

I heart Manuela Velasco too much for me to bother with the remake.

indough

apart from a couple of cool added bits, rec was far better than quarantine

Renn

It's the Velasco factor!

The Black Oil

I cringed when the voice over with the journalist and sirens came on...sigh. Some of it looks quite similar to the original, mirroring the scenes, but I'm not sure about the overly golden glow looking part of some (could just be my imagination). Think the original looked colder at night.

Wiki:

Reeves was also asked to change the ages of the main characters, but he refused, saying that "would ruin the essence of the story and change everything completely...we need that childlike innocence." He also told his actors to not watch the original film beforehand so "we could make our own version but stay very true to the essence of the story." The filmmakers have noted that "they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context", while at the same time paying respect to the original.

Hahahahahahaha!

Paying respect to the original would be easily achieved by leaving it the feck alone.

jaykhunter

The trailer wasn't great at all but it looks to have the same feel as the original movie. I don't know if i'll see it, I got angry (lol) watching Quarantine. The child actors look to be perfect. I've no idea how they'd make this American-looking without ruining it. Hey, at least Sean-William Scott isn't in it!

Linguo

Couldn't see any threads on this movie, what did people think?

We went to see it last weekend and were really impressed, very interesting and dark and totally engrossing because it was children involved and not adults. I've heard the original is better but haven't watched it yet, has anyone seen the two?

blodvyn

Seen the two, its not as bad as some people who've seen the original 1st make it out to be, I've seen the original 1st and so did my other house mate we went to see this just out of boredom turned out to be fine!

Still original is a far superior movie overall, but if you went to see this 1st you wouldn't be disjointed leaving the theater!

Linguo

Saw the original one in the two for 12 euro in HMV so must get it for us to watch! Really enjoyed the re-make so have high hopes!

Johnny Derpp

Saw this.
It was awful, simply for the reason that it was a shot by shot remake of the original.

Utterly pointless.

somuj

Anybody seen this yet? Just after watching it and really liked it. Very interesting take on the whole vampire angle.

The Mad Hatter

Haven't seen it, but I've heard it stands surprisingly well on its own, despite the quality of the original.

liah

Thought it was quite good, except for when

they actually showed her as her 'vampire' form.. really tacky CGI/makeup in comparison to the quality of the rest of the film imo. Was pretty disappointed with how they handled her action/vampire scenes.

A few things were changed around. They

made Eli (forget the American names) more distinctly feminine, and to me, took a slightly different take on their relationship, but I suppose that's down to your own perspective.

It borrowed bits

(okay, maybe more than just 'bits')

and pieces and in a lot of ways was visually similar. I'm glad they didn't decide to include the

cat scene

. Think they intended it to be a bit scarier than it was, though.

Liah - Have you read the book?

In the book they went into a lot of detail about how Eli used to be a boy, until he was castrated, though this was only somewhat hinted at in the Let the Right One In. How did they handle it in Let Me In?

I haven't seen it yet.

Turtyturd

Is this out on DVD or other sources yet???...wanted to go see it in the cinema more to make comparrisons than anything else but never got around to it.

liah

Deleted User wrote: »

Liah - Have you read the book?

In the book they went into a lot of detail about how Eli used to be a boy, until he was castrated, though this was only somewhat hinted at in the Let the Right One In. How did they handle it in Let Me In?

I haven't seen it yet.

They alluded to it less, but the comments like "I'm not a girl.." do surface. It's not really as obvious as in Let the Right One In, but I still can't help but refer to her as a 'she,' if you get me..

Sad Professor

I've merged a few different threads about this film that were floating around.

JohnK

liah wrote: »

They alluded to it less, but the comments like "I'm not a girl.." do surface. It's not really as obvious as in Let the Right One In, but I still can't help but refer to her as a 'she,' if you get me..

Maybe I'm wrong but

I got the feeling they abandoned that bit of the story for this version so that Abby actually was a girl and not a castrated boy. So that her "I'm not a girl" bit was simply alluding to her being a vampire. Its been a while since I saw it though so I could have it arse ways.

Basq

Watched it last weekend.. and although I'm a huge fan of the original, this was very very good!

As a remake of 'Let The Right One', you're not gonna expect much changes. But there's enough small changes to make this worthwhile, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz are absolutely fantastic. I'd actually rate them higher than Hedebrant and Leandersson in 'Let The Right One In'. Superb chemistry together!

Plus there's an absolutely superbly shot

car crash scene mid-way through

.

Recommend it!

liah

JohnK wrote: »

Maybe I'm wrong but

I got the feeling they abandoned that bit of the story for this version so that Abby actually was a girl and not a castrated boy. So that her "I'm not a girl" bit was simply alluding to her being a vampire. Its been a while since I saw it though so I could have it arse ways.

Yeah tbh, that was my initial impression of it;

if I'd never heard of the previous film or book I'd probably just think she was referring to the fact that she's a vampire. But there's still bits of ambiguity here and there, like in the shot where he 'sees' her (in the original, they show the genital shot, in the American one they don't, but imply he's seen something, if I remember correctly).

I'll actually have to watch it again though. I think it's the kind of film you could read into a few different ways if you've the mind to.

Wow, that was actually one of the major points of the original book!

Where he/she is castrated so the King, I think he was, can drink that blood. I'm presuming they've also left out a lot of the pedophilia aspects too?

On a related topic - I was in Dubray books in Galway and noticed they were selling Let the Right One In, with an adapted cover that had "Let Me In" printed above it in larger text. This miffed me greatly.

johnny_ultimate

Deleted User wrote: »

Wow, that was actually one of the major points of the original book!

Where he/she is castrated so the King, I think he was, can drink that blood. I'm presuming they've also left out a lot of the pedophilia aspects too?

On a related topic - I was in Dubray books in Galway and noticed they were selling Let the Right One In, with an adapted cover that had "Let Me In" printed above it in larger text. This miffed me greatly.

Saw that book too - "the book that inspired the film that inspired the film" or something like that :pac: Not the biggest fan of the novel though, pretty unwieldy for the most part, I think the films simplified the basic story to great effect. While some of the more 'distressing' themes of the book have been excised, a lot of the characters and subplots would just seem unnecessary in a film.

As for the films, Let Me In is OK, but a bit redundant. Barring one or two moments - like the shot Basq mentioned above, which was fantastic - it just didn't differentiate itself enough from the book to stand out, and the effects were far, far worse despite what I assume was a lower budget. But the story is intact, hardly a disaster of a remake. But for someone who had read the book and seen the original film, it just all seemed a wee bit pointless to me!

Ann22

I haven't seen the remake yet, I'm looking forward to it. I read the book then watched the film. I didn't think the film was as good as I thought it was going to be.. I thought the book was better and scarier.

Sad Professor

Well, it was with a lot of trepidation that I finally sat down to watch this last night. I loved the original and wanted to hate this just for being a remake of a film that didn't need remaking. But then there was this pretty cool Rear Window reference at the start of the film and I knew I was going to enjoy it.

I never thought I'd say this, but I actually preferred it to the original in some parts. And even when it was basically just copying it shot-for-shot, it did so really well. Reeves is obviously a Hitchcock fan because there was a very Hitchcockian approach to many of the scenes that wasn't in the original. This was neither a good nor bad thing IMO, just different.

And I suspect the shot that Basq referred to was inspired by a similar shot (under different circumstances) in Close Encounters of Third Kind.

Mickeroo

I thought it was great, it followed the original very closely which rendered it a little redundant in some ways but if I hadn't seen the original I probably would have ranked this as one of the best horror movies in ears.

Da Shins Kelly

I remember when it was announced that a remake was being made and reading somewhere that the director of Let The Right One In was upset about it. I would be too. Let Me In is almost completely a shot-by-shot copy of the original. I didn't understand the point of making it other than just to make quick money on someone else's vision. It's just lazy film making, nothing original about it.

The original is a masterpiece though.

Sad Professor

I think the point of remaking it was that Americans don't like subtitles. Not that the Irish are any better. I tried to get a friend to watch the original last year and they completely refused once they heard it was subtitled. It's very frustrating.

I'd be interested to know if Alfredson has seen the remake and what he thought of it. But I suspect he'd probably be okay with it since it's clearly a tribute to his own work. Directors don't mind people ripping them off, it's a form of flattery. They are more threatened by the prospect of someone remaking their film and doing it better. The director of the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo should be worried.

Also, as much as I love Michael Giacchino, the score for the original was so much better. It's not really Giacchino's fault though as Reeves obviously asked him to give him a suspense score.

Da Shins Kelly

Sad Professor wrote: »

I'd be interested to know if Alfredson has seen the remake and what he thought of it. But I suspect he'd probably be okay with it since it's clearly a tribute to his own work. Directors don't mind people ripping them off, it's a form of flattery. They are more threatened by the prospect of someone remaking their film and doing it better.

I think it's a shame though that the better version is not going to be as widely seen, and Alfredson will probably never get the real widespread recognition for it that he deserves.

Sad Professor

The original is still much higher rated on IMDb than the remake. It's even on the IMDb Top 250. So I suspect it will be very well regarded in years to come.

HerbSimpson

I loved the remake but then I have never seen the original nor read the book.

Some people just don't like films with subtitles. Personally I find reading the text distracts me from the visuals. Also as someone with an astigmatism it can be a strain on the eyes reading text from a distance.

Sad Professor

Very enjoyable Kermode rant about the remake. He sums it up quite well by saying the original is a film about children than happens to feature vampires, where as the remake is a film about vampires that happens to feature children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l1c2WHTSCQ

Basq

I love Kermode but he can be an incredibly patronising f*cker sometimes..

.. I adore the original but there was more than enough in the remake to make it worthwhile.

And it is a sad reflection of our time / culture that some people can't sit down and watch a film with subtitles (no offence to yourself HerbSimpson with your condition.. that's a perfectly legitimate reason), but sometimes it's a case that foreign films do not always get promotion / exposure over here.

I can tell 5 - 10 friends (unlike myself, they're casual movie goers) about a fantastic film called 'Let The Right One In'.. never heard of it - and it's no wonder really. We're films fans.. we scour the Internet for little gems like that. But to the casual movie goer, the first they hear of a film is with a wide release / mass promotion for a film like 'Let Me In'.

Basq

Basq wrote: »

I love Kermode but he can be an incredibly patronising f*cker sometimes..

.. I adore the original but there was more than enough in the remake to make it worthwhile.

And it is a sad reflection of our time / culture that some people can't sit down and watch a film with subtitles (no offence to yourself HerbSimpson with your condition.. that's a perfectly legitimate reason), but sometimes it's a case that foreign films do not always get promotion / exposure over here.

I can tell 5 - 10 friends (unlike myself, they're casual movie goers) about a fantastic film called 'Let The Right One In'.. never heard of it - and it's no wonder really. We're films fans.. we scour the Internet for little gems like that. But to the casual movie goer, the first they hear of a film is with a wide release / mass promotion for a film like 'Let Me In'.

Kermode is one of those people who is entertaining to listen to but whose opinion I rarely agree with.

As for the while remake business, well considering the debacle that was the original American release of Let The Right One In, is it any wonder it was quickly remade. The sub titles provided were woeful and managed to make the film unwatchable. Granted they company behind it did reissue the film with fixed subs but by then the damage was done and large numbers of people were avoiding purchasing the home release for fear of getting one of the first pressings.

norrie rugger

Is it honestly worth rewatching the same movie for?

Re: Subtitles
I will generally only watch them on DVD; as I can rewind if something draws my attention, from the screen. I hate that lapse, in a cinema, where you can miss a vital bit of information. Still think that subtitles can miss a lot of the subtext too but can get over it

Basq

Deleted User wrote: »

As for the while remake business, well considering the debacle that was the original American release of Let The Right One In, is it any wonder it was quickly remade. The sub titles provided were woeful and managed to make the film unwatchable

God, I completely forgot about that.. they were shocking!

For anyone who didn't know about this..



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