Looks like Spoony messed up :S

Looks like Spoony messed up :S

damn and i was all excited

If you cant see it, click on the video in the playlist that pops up and it will play.

I think you need a haircut soon Spoony lol

That’s weird, seeing as how a lot of people were boycotting this movie because of one of the characters. I might just check i out when I have the time.

Also Elias Koteas…wasn’t he Casey Jones in the first TMNT movie?

I still haven’t seen this yet, but the score to it is the best in years. Giacchino is brilliant and delivers yet again.

And yes, I might like the american version more than the Swedish version, just like you. The “quality” (can’t find the right words) of Swedish movies can barely be compared to American movies, of course one reason is because American movies have alot more money put into them.

not like I ever make it to the movies much but I think I’ll have to give this a look once it’s out on DVD, probably a bad thing to wait for a horror flick but yeah, too broke to pay attention

*is smacked for the old joke*

At least Spoony got a sanity break before impact

What is it with everyone shitting on Spoony because he has an opinion? For fans, some of you guys are total ass holes.

Your mic is getting some static in this video

I liked “Let the Right One In” when I first read it a year ago, but when I heard you mention the cycle that was happening, that just made me appreciate the story even more. I have to go re-read that book now!

I really wanted to see this movie not only based on what Spoony says but hopefully for the same reason on any horror fans’ minds, the return of Hammer Horror! The English version was co-produced by Hammer Films and this is their first big screen motion picture release since 1976′s To the Devil…a Daughter with Christopher Lee. I’m saddened by the film’s box office failure here in the US, but I hope the good reviews will help change people’s minds.

I’m pretty sure this film is a return to what made Hammer Horror unique throughout the late 50s through the early 70s. For one thing, it’s a period piece. We’re used to the Victorian setting in many of the classic Hammer Horror films though now a Hammer Horror film taking place in the 1980s might be a nice change of pace. Another thing, it’s probably so bloody that it makes the classic films seem tame in comparison. Still, the Hammer horror classics will remain in the memory of horror fans forever, but the new Hammer Horror for the new millenium is just what we’ve been waiting for.

I’m sure the next one The Resident with Lee, Hilary Swank, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan will be as good as this one. Plus, the upcoming The Woman in Black with Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe will be a return to the classic Hammer Horror setting of Victorian London since the end of the Dracula and Frankenstein series.

Haven’t seen the movie but I’ve read the book. It was a long time ago, but as I recall about the romance stuff

*SPOILERS*

She really does care. In one part they have some kind of discussion and he asks her something along the lines of whether she really does have to kill to feed. Later she actually pays a guy to basically donate blood to her. And as I recall, in the end, Oskar, or whatever the kid’s name was, actually gets turned into a vampire, making it a kind of “happily ever after” ending.

*END SPOILERS*

The way you describe it, it’s almost like Abby is manipulating the audience as well as Owen! That’s brilliant, man. The original Swedish film is gonna be shown on my campus for Halloween, and now I’m definitely going to see it.

Oh, and I looked up The Breakup Song after seeing the review. It was swell. I do enjoy 80′s music from time to time, even though I tend to listen to contemporary, underground music (the kind of alternative music that isn’t mainstream in disguise). My favorite old-school artist is Tom Petty, though I’m not sure if he’s technically 80′s.

Although I disagree with you on nearly every point (right down the the remake being a good movie and it being better than the original) I still think it was a well put together and well structured review. Keep it up Spoony!

Although I disagree with you on nearly every point (right down the the remake being a good movie and it being better than the original) I still think it was a well put together and well structured review. Keep it up Spoony!

In a way i think the the usa remake is much like the swedich version is sad becase they had an opertunety to remake the book not the movie, becase it seem like so much of the point of it have gotten missed

And Spoony no offence im glad you like this but BOY they have kastrated the story and perhaps part of it is that culturaly sweden and usa is quite difrent (im swedich).

*Spoliers*

First off Owen her “killer” was NOT whit her a kid she picked him up when he was older and did so for a reason, you see if you feel sorry for the guy harvesting for her, remember she picked him becase he is a fucking pedofile, she use the face that she is a little girl to manipulate him becase he wantes to sleep whit her he is atracted to her sexualy as much as any love for her.

She picked the guy becase he had, no friends, no family, he hated himself and was probobly oging to suaside. The part about her being a monster, that is the whole point of the story she is very inteligent and calculating but she is still ALITLLE GIRL she is still scared frightend and dont want to die, in the book this is made vary clear about the horror of how she was trund and that is pretty sick in of it self if you want that stuff go read the book.

The story is one of redemtion, she go from being someone who kill peopel and in the end figures out a way to live whit out having to kill and the reason is OSKAR he helps her rediscover her humanity.

It is NEVER about her using him to replace Owen, she realy start to care about him as time go by even if she dont want to becase she know she cant be friends, at the point where she gets desperatly hungry and is about to feed on him he think she is huggin him and toutch her hair and she freaks out is the turning point.

Alot of this is left out of the swedich movie as well, but from what i can hear the usa REALY butcherd the, the seeing the picture of Owen as a kid i wanted to scream it’s so compleatly out of place the whole point of OWen is the fact that he is a damn pedofile, somethign that kinda sneaks across alittle in the swedich movie not alot but alittle.

Sorry from what i can hear this movie might be a good vampire horror movie but it’s not this vampire story,

I don’t know about Eli being purely manipulative. I kind of feel that she wants some of her innocence back and her memory of that innocence is reflected through Oskar. She seems quite curious about the outside world she has been disconnected from for so long. She also seems reluctant to attack people until she has too. For example the scene where she tells Oskar to run from her she honestly seems to be fighting the urge to attack him. She seems alarmed for his well being much more then her own, since she could simply seduce another boy into this blood driving slave. After all what 12 year old boy could resist a flying girlfriend?
I need to check this remake out some time.

That’s one good thing about being swedish, you can watch Let the right one in (or Låt den rätte komma in, as it’s known over here) without subs! =)

This is the second time I have heard good things about this movie, IGN posted a review that hailed this movie as being really good as well. I am in Japan right now, so when I get back to the states, this will be a must see.
Also, Thank Science that there are no shining vampires in this. :)

Your snobbery has led me to realize that “Let the right one in”, the Sweedish version, was a little more complex than I originally gave it credit for. Nice observations.

*shock* The video in The Ring better than in Ringu? You do realise that it was meant to look grainy and weird right? it was a degraded VHS tape. In The Ring it looked pretentious and worst of all, it didn’t look like a VHS.

I think it’s more a coming of age movie, where a boy that gets teased a lot for being different and is becoming violent because of it, meets this predator creature that likes him just for who he is and is becoming. Thus knowing what she is, he still really likes her. Because she is the only one that doesn’t turn away from him. So basically society made it easier for the monster to make him a monster.
And when Twilight first hit I was promoting this movie to everyone I knew telling them to watch this one if they wanted to see a real vampire movie.

Will have to look out for the Let Me In movie before I state which one is better :) Although I must say the first movie gave the message well enough that this was a cycle that would keep repeating itself without having to hammer it home.

My roomie loved the original novel. As a result, he hated this film. Go figure. -:/

When I was in the Army we practiced surviving roll overs in a humvee by putting us in a humvee attached to a machine that would spin the whole vehicle over. No reason someone couldn’t do something with a car.

Get back to reviewing again, dude.

Thanks for the review Spoony One! I saw the original and just assumed the remake was just gonna be a dumbed down, CGI, 3D shit fest.

I’m also happy to see I’m not the only one who caught on with the whole “cycle” thing. Can’t help but laugh at (and be frighted of) the people who thought this was a romantic movie. It’s like as plain as day! The monster is basically seducing this kid to be her Cabana Boy to go and murder people so she can eat. Using feminine wiles to get what she wants. I can’t believe people don’t catch on to this!

Thanks for the review, Spoony. I normally avoid these American remakes like the plague, even if I haven’t seen the original, but I decided to take your advice. I went out and saw it with my girlfriend last night (Good thing we did, it’s already down to 2 showings a day where I live), and we both loved it. Great performances, excellent direction, music cinematography. All around, one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen.

I do have to disagree with your assessment of Abby’s character, though. I think she genuinely does care for Owen and her previous “companion,” and she does seem to feel some guilty about what she makes them do, and what happens, but taking these boys is the only way she knows how to survive, and her feelings of guilt are outweighed by her survival instinct. She tries to embrace her humanity, and the affection that people offer her, but her bestial nature always wins out. Likewise, I think it’s clear that Owen understands what she does (his reaction to seeing the photos of her and her caregiver is pretty clear, and if he doesn’t understand it fully then, he certainly grasps the situation later on), but he has the opposite reaction to the situation from Abby; his emotions (love, loyalty, a need for acceptance) overrule his understanding of the kind of life she’s bringing him into. It’s horrible, but it’s also tragic; somewhere, they understand that this relationship will destroy them both, but they can’t help themselves. For once, a movie that references Romeo and Juliet actually gets it right!

Gotta say, though, I’ll never be able to look at a Now and Later quite the same way again…

It’s kinda funny to see you americans trying to say things about the novel and the original movie that you obviously don’t know squat about, I’ll just have to start off saying that. Now enough of that spiteful attitude from me!

Alright, first off, I am a Swede. I’ve lived in Sweden since birth. I read the novel before I went to see the swedish movie, but the american remake hasn’t been released over here (don’t really know if it’s going to be released at all even). So now you know what kind of perspective I have on this whole thing.

Right off the bat, the novel (and other novels by the same author, John Ajvide Lindqvist) was and still are revolutionary regarding swedish horror novels. Nothing has ever been written like this in our country before, and that is something more special. He is indeed an amazing author and he really knows how to pull you in and make your mind unconsciously show you the gruesome images he creates. I really hope his work spreads out as much as possible. I can’t speak for the quality of the translation in the books but they are nevertheless great stories. I highly recommend you all to get a copy by the way!

I really didn’t like the swedish movie. I know John wrote the screenplay, but it’s just not right. And I mean, But I mean, how can I complain about it when I’m still a huge fan of his? It’s kind of a dilemma for me. But here’s what I didn’t like.

The cinematography. Now I know the style this movie is shot in is really something that non-swedish people easily agree with, but over here the “post card scenery” style of shooting (camera on tripod filming the exact same location where little is happening for a very long time) is reeeeaaaally played out. It’s nothing short of pretentious nowadays, and I didn’t want the movie to try and be so artsy because it really doesn’t fit with the mood the book creates.

Make no mistake Spoony and others, this movie had a huge budget set for it. Especially since the national success of the book. And I have no idea where all that money went because it DOESN’T SHOW. It’s not eerie and quiet all the time because they couldn’t afford music, they just didn’t want it there. Sometimes it helps in creating a much more intense feeling, even a musician must learn that silence is a powerful tool in any composition, but it drags on for way too long. Also, the movie doesn’t really have a star cast either so where the money went is really a mystery for me!

The word I’m searching for in this regard is underwhelming. That’s what the movie was. Even the murder scenes. Obviously, the movie isn’t bad and that’s not what I’m saying. And one huge reason to this is that they cut huge parts of the book out, for example Oscar’s non biological “big brother” character. I think his name was Tomas but I can’t say for sure. Anyway, he made several crucial appearances in the book, not to mention the final scene (NO SPOILERS DON’T WORRY) in which events occurred that I, when I read it, really wanted to see on screen.

It’s this part, what’s been left out and changed from the book, that bugs me the most. I can talk all day and all night about it. Of course some things gets cut out and changed when going from book to movie, but the flow of the story should NOT differ this much from the original novel, especially not when the author seemingly composed the screenplay. I would so really love to spoil it all for everyone to support this claim, but it wouldn’t be very nice of me. Instead, I still insist, get the book! It’s much better than the swedish movie at least. And since the remake has is based the swedish movie I really don’t think the missing parts have been added in. I can safely say that when reading the novel, every single character you’ve seen (and not seen *grrr*) will be put in a totally different light. It’s THAT much that has been left out.

To summarize, I could have loved this movie. Hell I could’ve even gotten over the fact that it’s pretentious as all hell, had it just followed the book. Right now it feels like someone just told the director the whole story, with a good sense for details, but still missed out on several huge key points. And of course this doesn’t make sense, since the original author wrote the screenplay, so I’m extremely torn on that matter.

To summarize even harder:
Book: OMG LOVE BURY ME WITH THIS
Swedish movie: siiigh, disappointment.
American remake: ???

I thought maybe i could tell you about what the story is “about” in the book:

The title “let the right one in” is very appropriate, changing the name changes the whole story.
Most of the book is about everyone else other than oskar, and it’s all of these stories based around this extraordinary event.
And essentially what the book is “about” is summed up in the line “Let the wrong one in and they will scar you for life”.

It is about people accepting people into their lives and what happens when they push people out. And Eli in the book is very openly demonstrated to be A)not in love with the old man, and B) very very lonely.

It makes me sad to hear that she is portrayed very manipulative this way.

Okay the first thing I want to say is, READ THE NOVEL!!!
Thats really inportant if you want to understand the TRUE meaning behind the movie.

I am swedish and I live in Sweden and I really got to say that Let the Right One In is the best book I’ve ever read. I don’t know how many times I have read it and I never get tired of the story.

But some of you, who haven’t read the novel don’t actulley know that these things, these murders in the book actulley have happend. Well, this thing about the vampires are obviosly not true but the murders are.
Everything that have happend in the book are based from the author, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s childhood. In the swedish verison everything is in a place in sweden called Blackeberg, and when he grew up there, alot of murders actulley happend.

But the most inportant is that John Ajvide Lindqvist actulley said that this was a VAMPIRE ROMANCE, and that it was about Eli(Abby) finally getting a friend and that Oskar(Owen) didn’t have anyone to be with and that Eli actulley liked and wanted to protect Oskar.
(SPOILER)And another inportant thing that they didn’t say in the movie(s), Eli is actulley a boy. His full name is Elias.
But it’s also just not about blood and gore, sure it is there but that isn’t really inportant for John, the most inportant is about pepole. Humans that are forced to face the Other. Things that aren’t supposed to exist, like Eli. Vampires.

“Our reality are fragile, isn it? We walk around outside in the beautiful weather, do our homeworks, and plan on what kind of wood we should use for the new terrace. And concurrently… Concurrently… It’s just a thin layer that separate from the fall, the monsters, the darkness that blinds us in the light. The Other. What happens when we let it come in? What do we do?”

- John Ajvide Lindquist, the author for Let Me In.

Okay the first thing I want to say is, READ THE NOVEL!!!
Thats really inportant if you want to understand the TRUE meaning behind the movie.

I am swedish and I live in Sweden and I really got to say that Let the Right One In is the best book I’ve ever read. I don’t know how many times I have read it and I never get tired of the story.

But some of you, who haven’t read the novel don’t actulley know that these things, these murders in the book actulley have happend. Well, this thing about the vampires are obviosly not true but the murders are.
Everything that have happend in the book are based from the author, John Ajvide Lindqvist’s childhood. In the swedish verison everything is in a place in sweden called Blackeberg, and when he grew up there, alot of murders actulley happend.

But the most inportant is that John Ajvide Lindqvist actulley said that this was a VAMPIRE ROMANCE, and that it was about Eli(Abby) finally getting a friend and that Oskar(Owen) didn’t have anyone to be with and that Eli actulley liked and wanted to protect Oskar.
(SPOILER)And another inportant thing that they didn’t say in the movie(s), Eli is actulley a boy. His full name is Elias.
But it’s also just not about blood and gore, sure it is there but that isn’t really inportant for John, the most inportant is about pepole. Humans that are forced to face the Other. Things that aren’t supposed to exist, like Eli. Vampires.

“Our reality are fragile, isn it? We walk around outside in the beautiful weather, do our homeworks, and plan on what kind of wood we should use for the new terrace. And concurrently… Concurrently… It’s just a thin layer that separate from the fall, the monsters, the darkness that blinds us in the light. The Other. What happens when we let it come in? What do we do?”

- John Ajvide Lindquist, the author for Let Me In.

Im going to see this movie @ the Scandinavian Film Festival here in Argentina on 10/25.Sounds like a good movie.

In Let the right one in, and the book I believe, it is ambiguous as to whether or not Eli is grooming Oskar to be Hakins replacement.

Spoony, if you liked the psychological layers and twisted horror elements of this story, I would definitely recommend that you pick up the book. I took an honors philosophy class in university that used this as a primary text. 

The book goes into much more detail on the back stories and motivations of these characters, as well as the nature of vampirism in this universe. We spend a lot more time with the woman who gets turned into a vampire before she sets herself on fire, we learn what lead her to commit suicide, and why Eli doesn’t commit suicide but kills her victims before they can become creatures like her.

We spend more time with both Oskar and the old man, and I won’t spoil anything I’ll just say that while Eli is still manipulating them both we can see that she mostly used their own darkness to her advantage; creating a dark but symbiotic relationship rather than totally corrupting and dominating them. You could argue that their descent is as much about them as their chance encounter with Eli, and that the human characters are just as trapped by their natures as the vampire.

I don’t think you got the point of this film.  The real horror of this film was that Owen’s life was so miserable beforehand that Abby -a vampire- is the first person who shows Owen any sort of kindness or pays attention to him.  Abby never manipulated Owen or was breeding him as a replacement.  A master plan?  She was planning on the bullies almost drowning Owen and her getting there just in time?  If she’d wanted Owen to come along as her next caretaker, she would’ve taken her with him when she left after killing the policeman.  By that time, Owen was already devoted to her and all it would’ve taken was a word from her and Owen would’ve been hers to command.

Instead she left.  And Owen DID realize the implications when he saw the old photos.  As I said, I don’t think you’ve gotten the point of the film.  BTW, I suggest you listen to the audio commentary on the DVD.  Matt Reeves, the director, clearly says that Abby is not some ancient mastermind in a child’s body.  She is -and always will be- around 12 or 13 in her mindset.

Instead, she MASSACRES four kids to save him.  Think about it.  She could’ve killed them all quickly and easily in about five seconds.  Instead, she literally RIPS them apart.  That was an act of passion.  As well, you could see from her face in earlier scenes that she clearly likes Owen.  (There’s a scene in the arcade, when Owen is playing Ms. Pac-Man, Abby looks at him when Owen doesn’t see her and she smiles.  She’s clearly enjoying herself and likes being with him.)

Have you ever read the Epilogue done by John Alvide Lindqvist -the author of the original book?  He shows there what REALLY happens afterward.  Put simply, Abby turns Owen into a vampire so they can always be together.

Of course, that can be considered a dark ending as well, since Owen will now be forced to feed on blood through time the way Abby does.  However, Abby was never manipulating him.  Even if she wanted him as a caretaker, he would clearly now be FAR too hot -after the pool massacre- for him be that.