Let Me In (2010) Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins & Cara Buono Written by Matt Reeves & John Ajvide Lindqvist Directed by Matt Reeves

Second, I'd like to say that I've watched the original Swedish film "Let the Right One In". I actually watched it around a month and a half ago after seeing the preview for this film. At first, I was excited for this film as it was a new more interesting Vampire flick, but after seeing the Swedish film, I was scared. Why? Because after I watched "Let the Right One In", I had declared it one of the best Foreign films I've seen, one of the best Vampire films I've seen, and it has one of the most unique and fascinating love stories ever.

So now you know where I come from when I say I was nervous about seeing this. Well, I was at first, but after about 10 minutes that nervous feeling melted away in the theatre. After seeing it and looking back, I will say that "Let Me In" came close, I mean freaking close to matching the greatness of the original. It is one of the most loyal films I've seen, yet at the same time, it has changes, both minor and somewhat major, which in turn gives it its own identity from the original and it works.

His life changes however for better or worse when new neighbors move in next door, an old man and what appears to be his daughter Eli/Abby, who strangely is seen walking in the snow barefoot and having no affect to the cold. The two meet in the courtyard at the jungle gym and at first there interaction is awkward, but slowly they begin to warm up to each other.

However, the truth of what she is is slowly revealed as the man who lives with her ventures out to kill people and collect there blood. When he fails, she herself goes out, tricks a man and kills him, drinking him and feeding her hunger.

As the movie progresses, the two friends get closer and closer, and start using Morse Code to talk through the wall to each other. Oskar/Owen gets Eli/Abby to go out with him try new things. Like wise, she encourages him to stand up to the bullies at school and promises that if it gets too much for him, she'll protect him. When his class goes to the lake to ice skate, he finds a stick and finally defends himself, swinging the stick and hitting the gang leader in the ear, causing him to bleed heavily.

Things start to go down hill however as Eli/Abby's servant fails to make another kill and at the risk of being caught, pours acid on him to protect his identity. She goes to the Hospital and he offers her his last gift, his blood which she accepts. He then falls out the window and dies.

Oskar/Owen slowly begins to see what Eli/Abby is, and really struggles to accept it. When someone who has been trying to find Eli/Abby in an attempt to figure out the murders (I'll get to that later), Oskar/Owen witnesses first hand her true form when she kills him. She then tells him she's leaving and gives him a farewell kiss.

The next night however, the bullies with the leader's older brother gets Oskar/Owen trapped alone at the swimming pool at school and hold his head underwater for a little test as payback for hurting his brother. However, a commotion is heard and body parts start to fall into the water. Oskar/Owen rises to the surface to find Eli/Abby there to great him. The final shot of both films is of Oskar/Owen on a train with a large trunk in hand, and using Morse Code on it, Eli/Abby being inside.

As I said, this was extremely faithful to the original, and from the way I described it, it almost sounds like a carbon copy, and it almost is. How is it not? I'll explain.

First off, what made "Let the Right One In" so great was easily the two lead child actors. Kare Hedebrant as Oskar and Lina Leandersson as Eli both did phenomenal in there respected rolls, way better then you'd think a child actor should. You gotta give the American film makers credit as well as they found the best two child actors to rival the Swedish Counterparts.

Both Koti McPhee and Chloe Moretz proved themselves recently with show stealing performances from The Road and Kick Ass, and they further showed that they have potential for great things ahead of them in this film. Both Koti and Kare show a young boy, just about to hit his teens, socially awkward and filled with rage at the world around him. In the film, your rooting for him to finally step up and defend himself, and yet when finally does at the lake, your both happy and yet disturbed by the fact that he got vindication.

But in both films, it's the two females who steal the show. Lina and Chloe both portray a wolf in sheep's clothing per say, as both look like a child innocent but are in fact something darker and deeper inside. While they both did amazing jobs with the character, both are unique in there portrayal. Eli is a bit calmer then her American counterpart, even when she's feeding, she seems to have more control of herself. Likewise, Abby shows a bit of a more animal side to her when she feeds, having demon eyes and sharper teeth.

Some have complained about the changes for Abby, but I say it works with how they did it. Abby is a bit darker then Eli with her appearance changing, however this doesn't come out all that often in the film. Abby only lets the demon out when she's in desperate hunger, pretty much her failing to feed brings for the demon. To be honest, it makes sense.

Other changes also help separate the two films and make them unique in there own way. For instance, Eli's man servant would simply greet people alone and then try to gas them to knock them out. Abby's however would sneak into there cars with a plastic bag on his head attack from behind. Both would hang them up and drain them, but the differences work in there own ways.

Another change is who's hunting the vampire. In it Swedish version, the husband one of Eli's victims has been suspecting her of something all along as he saw her around the time of one of the murders. After his wife is bitten, she changes into a vampire and is killed when sunlight is put on her and combusts. He investigates himself and eventually finds Eli and Oskar in her apartment where he's about to expose Eli to sunlight, but Oskar's distraction gets him killed.

This was changed in the American version. In it, the husband is downgraded even after his wife's attack. In his place is a Detective who investigates after the first murder. In it, he fallows each event and finds his way to Abby's apartment. There, he nearly kills her with sunlight until Owen stops him and she kills him.

This is another change that works, because lets be honest, after someone is found killed upside down with his blood drained out, that doesn't qualify as a little weirder then usual and that warrants a deeper investigation.

Another thing that was changed was Oskar/Owens parents. In the Swedish version, they play into his father having a drinking problem and it being the source of his anger. In the American version, his father doesn't appear at all besides a phone call and his mother is seen as a major religious zealot, with her beliefs playing into Owens struggles with how Abby is. Honestly, the change doesn't affect anything since in both films; they play a part into the characters, although it's not nearly focused upon in both films either.

One major change between the two is a certain element about Eli/Abby. In both films, both girls proclaim there not girls. At first, this seems to be hinting at them being Vampires. However, in the Swedish film (and the book that inspired it), Eli is in fact not a girl, she's a boy who's been castrated many years ago and in doing so made him grow female like features. While not said outright in the Swedish film, it's supported when Oskar glances in at Eli changing and glances down at her crotch area.

In the Swedish film, they took a bold move and showed her crotch area with nothing there except a stitched scar. This is not present in the American film at all (granted, he does peep in on her but there's no sign of her being any different), and I can see why. The standard American Audience can take seeing some things on screen, but not all; foreign films a lot of time have a lot more extreme visuals in there films then ours. I don't think the American audiences would accept a film that showed what is to be a shot at a young girl's crotch, castrated or not. This isn't good or bad, but it's understandable.

So, is there anything I didn't like about this film? Honestly, yes, and if not for it, I would have been bold enough to say this film would match the original in its greatness. Once again, US film makers decided that the best way to do something was with CGI. This didn't need to be in the film simply because the CGI in the film was used for shots that where just like the ones in the Swedish film, and they didn't use any at all.

In the Swedish film, they show Eli attacking three people, and in the US version, they show the same attacks, only using CGI for two of the attacks. The attacks they used it on you could tell were computer generated and it looked like it didn't belong. I don't know why they did it, the Swedish versions worked find in there own right.

The other three scenes using CGI where of Abby Climbing, and I will say that on 1 of them it actually kind of works, I mean it's her climbing up a building, so they get a pass there, and they used it when the wife is exposed to sunlight, and it actually kind of works there too. The other though is of Abby climbing a tree and again, it doesn't fit. If they had cut out the CGI and tried something different, this would have been better.

But that's my only real major complaint. There maybe 1 or more other things that didn't sit with me, but they where very small and didn't take away from the film that much.

So, did this film match the level of greatness its Swedish predecessor made? If they had cut out the CGI, I might have said yes. However, still coming as close as it did is not something to rag on it about. This film is proof that Remakes can do justice and live up, something we've kind of forgotten since all we've had in the last several years from Asian Horror and reboots of our favorite icons that where half assed.

I would say check out "Let the Right One In" first and then see "Let Me In". Both are amazing films in there own right, and in a day when vampire romance involves sparkling in the sun, trust me, this has a far more interesting love story. To put it simply, Let Me In was great and I highly recommend it.