Can the remake of ‘Let the Right One In’ possibly live up to the original?

The remake of ‘Let the Right One In’ will open in cinemas in October. But will Matt ‘Cloverfield’ Reeves ever be able to please the devoted fans of the original film? We asked one such fan – Bethany Rutter – for her opinion . . .

The remake of last year’s Swedish vampire film ‘Let the Right One In’ is looming, and the jury is out on what to expect from ‘Cloverfield’ director Matt Reeves’s version of Tomas Alfredson’s masterpiece when it opens in October. After comments from Reeves that the original was ‘a very Scandinavian film’ and prevented viewers from identifying with the characters, should we worry that he will have sucked the life out of the original?

‘Let the Right One In’ was a near-perfect ode to the horror of loneliness and in no way specific to pre-teens or inhabitants of frozen Nordic landscapes in the 1980s. What we know about ‘Let Me In’ is that Oskar, the blonde-haired 12 year old, becomes a character called Owen played by Kodi Smit-McPhee (‘The Road’), while his vampiric friend Eli becomes Abby, played by Chloe Moretz (‘Kick-Ass’). Thankfully, the trailer for ‘Let Me In’ has allayed some fears about it being a complete turkey, but there are still some niggling questions that need answering…



Can Kodi Smit-McPhee possibly match Kåre Hedebrandt’s weirdness?
In ‘Let The Right One In’, the main character, nervous teen Oskar, has bad teeth, an awful haircut and a reed-thin voice, which wavers as he struggles to conceal his unhappiness and anger. In ‘Let Me In’, Oskar is repackaged as Owen: full-lipped with glowing skin, and looking as if he could join ‘Twilight’s Cullen clan if Eli ever bit him. Owen’s only concession to minor-league weirdness is the plaster on his cheek, last spotted on rapper Nelly, circa 2002. The importance of a suitably creepy child to a film like this cannot be overstated, and while Hedebrandt looks a little like a Swedish, 12-year-old version of a Broadway Market hipster, Smit-McPhee may be too wholesome and pretty to compare to his sad sense of ‘otherness’.

Will a shift from private to public fear weaken the story?
The original was a narrow, introspective story about how Eli’s arrival in the next-door flat acts as a kind of salvation for lonely, bullied Oskar. But the trailer for ‘Let Me In’ stresses the public-fear strand in John Ajvide Lindqvist’s source novel. While this worked in the book as a contrast between the chaos Eli and her protector/father figure Håkan bring to the town of Blackeberg and the tight control Eli exercises over her and Oskar’s existence, ‘Let the Right One In’ instead focuses on the relationships that lead Oskar to seek comfort in Eli. Widening the scope suggests a move towards an out-and-out horror film, instead of a rework of that genre in the way of the original.

Will Håkan suit being a real villain?
Rather than Håkan providing for Eli because he is a father figure, ‘Let the Right One In’ makes clear he does this because she is, in fact, the boss. His failure to provide blood, and consequent punishment, offer another facet of the impotence that all the characters share. The original’s botched attack scene is the blackest of comedy, even featuring a poodle lapping up blood meant for Håkan and Eli, but ‘Let Me In’s trailer shows what could be a scene from ‘Silence of the Lambs’.

Will ‘Let Me In’ suck some of the mystery out of the original?
The subtle name change is itself troubling. Referencing, but not quoting, a Morrissey song, the words ‘Let the Right One In’ conjure up the best kind of questions with which to approach the film. Who or what is the ‘right one’? What happens if you let the wrong one in? What happens if you let the right one in? Why can they not come in themselves? ‘Let Me In’ sounds both weak and aggressive, and it comes with none of the unsaid longing of the original. I’m also worried about the rebranding of Håkan as ‘The Father’. The trailer contains snippets of dialogue in which he forbids Abby from seeing Owen, suggesting a movement away from a strange power-struggle towards a more familiar relationship.

Is it possible to equal the near-perfect swimming pool scene?
The pure, unadulterated horror of watching Oskar only seconds away from death by drowning at the hands of bullies, knowing there is no way he can hold his breath for the three minutes demanded of him makes this one of the most nerve-wracking scenes in years. While ‘Let Me In’ may include a similar scene, could it possibly beat the unexpected power of what Alfredson created in the original?

Why not take a look at the trailer and decide for yourself?



Let Me In’ opens on October 22.

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