Let the Right One in and Let Me in Movies - Movie Review Example

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (original) and LET ME IN (adaptation) Comparison Introduction "Let the right one in" is a romantic horror film of Swedish decent created in 2008. The film Director is Tomas Alfredson and has based on the novel with the same title that was written in 2004. The novel’s author, John Ajvide Lindqvist, is also the same person that wrote the screenplay for the film. "Let me in" is a remake of the film "Let the right one in". It is a romantic horror film produced in 2010 and directed by Matt Reeves. The film is a story of a twelve-year-old kid that got bullied while growing up and decided to make friendship with a vampire child in the early 1980s. The production and direction of the film are different in many ways. The thesis focuses on the differences between the two films. Body Part I Images The film “Let me in” begins with striking images of sirens from ambulances that are making way through a snowy desert. The film begins from the half-way point of the original story. The images of the ambulance siren through the snowy desert landscape give a powerful effect on the opening scene and attract the viewer to concentrate on the movie. The story starts with the Father; a character that is nameless, unlike the original film is already in hospital. In the original film, this scene is half-way through the movie (Reeves, 2010). The local cop investigator, who does not exist in the original film finds out about the existence of her daughter. Opening of the movie in the middle of the storyline makes us have a violent feeling about the whole film. Things are already falling into pieces on the opening of “Let me in”. We see Reagan describing America on television while still at the hospital. The viewers already know that Reagan is wrong in describing America as a good country and not an evil country. Meanwhile, in “Let the right one in” (Alfredson, 2008), the viewer pieces together the story line as slowly as the lead role Oskar. Oskar does not see Eli’s face until the time the two meet up at the jungle gym. Scale The Swedish film and the way it was directed has a lot of intimacy compared to that one directed and produced in America. “Let the right one in” is systematic in its storyline as we see Oskar taking it slowly with Eli and staying a long time before finally meeting her at the gym (Alfredson, 2008). The best part about Reeves is that he can immediately give the viewers the broader themes of the film at the beginning (Reeves, 2010). The desert and hospital scene where the detective finds out about his daughter shows how broad the film will be and how it has many themes. Cinematography There is a flaw in “Let the right one in” in general production as we see a group of adult socializing in bars and each other’s houses. One of the adult’s gets attacked by Eli when she is in desperate need of blood and the other one becomes a vampire (Alfredson, 2008). The director of “Let me in” Reeves, on the other hand carefully trims his characters until they are archetypes who get watched by Owen from his bedroom window. It serves as a real life example that the adult Owen does not see coming. There is a similarity in cinematography as we see Owen’s mother being absent, as well as Oskars mom, was absent in the original film. Reeves never shows us Owen’s mother and this makes the neighbors look more important in his film. SFX – Use of Blood “Let me in” uses many graphics and violence to make the movie Hollywood worthy. The budget was higher than that of “Let the right one in” that did not have as much graphic and use of blood as the remake. Abby transforming into a vampire and feeding on humans is convincing without having to go over the top (Reeves, 2010). The Father, in “Let me in” messes up a kill while in the car. The scene is messy with much blood and graphics. The original “Let the right one in” was devoid of the car scene where the father messes up his kill and has to disfigure himself before he is taken to the hospital. “Let the right one in” had minimum graphic scenes and the only bloody scenes were when the vampires were feeding. Casting Kodi Smit-McPhee as Owen and Chloë Grace Moretz as Abby have great chemistry as well as Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar Lina Leandersson as Eli. The directors had an excellent choice in the cast as each one of them brought the right feeling from the film. The scene at the jungle gym from “Let the right one in” shows much intimacy between Oskar and Eli when they meet up for the very first time. Abby portrays the role of a vampire perfectly in the scene where she attacks one of the neighbors after Thomas spills the blood he collects from the man he murdered. Part II A Hospital Scene The director cannot conjure doubleness as seen in the hospital scene in “Let me in” where there is a patient with half of her face spontaneously combusting. When the patient erupts into spontaneous flames, Reeves puts the viewer right at the bedside, moving around to catch the burning from different various angles. In the film “Let the right one in”, the viewer had to look on, the combustion moved but unmoving, which was from the end of the room (Alfredson, 2008). The scene was as if the viewers were witnessing a rite. The director of “Let me in” introduces a new character, the policemen in the hospital scene (Reeves, 2010). The effect of introducing the new character in the film was not clear as what the policeman could show was how ineffective the police force was in 1983 in Los Alamos. The Scene at the Eli/Abby Apartment Oskar/Owen goes on to confront Eli/Abby in her apartment after discovering that she is a vampire. Neither Eli nor Abby understands when Oskar/Owen asks her if she is a vampire; all she can say is that she needs blood to live (Alfredson, 2008). Oskar/Owen tries to find out how old Eli/Abby but realizes that she has been twelve years for a long time. This scene makes the viewer realize that vampires do not age, and once one is turned into a vampire, they remain the same age forever. The writer wanted the viewers to understand all that involves vampires. The beats are different from each film and “Let me in” have more convincing beats compared to “Let the right one in” in drawing the audience into the scene. Part II B Subplot of a detective’s investigation in “Let me in.” The director Reeves bring in the subplot of detectives investigating the murders that happen around the area’s complex. The detective subplot is not very interesting as it is standard and contains a lot of cliché stuff (Reeves, 2010). The detective subplot helps to move the story in the right and satisfying way. The subplot has little effect on the emotional part of the story. Conclusion “Let the right one in” and its remake “Let me in” are similar in the storyline and the main plots. There are, however, distinctive differences between the two movies as we can see additional characters and subplots in the film “Let me in”. The film “Let me in” has more graphics and better production compared to the film “Let the right one in”. References Alfredson, T. (2008). Let the right one in. Sweden: Sandrew Metronome. Reeves, M. (2010). Let me in. Los Angeles: Exclusive Media Group. Read More