In 2008 a Swedish film called Let the Right One In stormed through the film festival circuit and became one of the most critically-acclaimed film of that year. The film was an adaptation the a novel by the same name by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist. It took the vampire genre which has started to gain a sort of resurgence in the past 5 years due to the teen-pop vampire-romance franchise Twilight.
Tomas Alfredson’s film was definitely the anti-Twilight of this resurgence. It was a beautifully-shot and framed film with a dark, poignant story to match the visuals. While arthouse film fans and horror fans with discerning taste praised the film the rest of the general public either ignored it or never even heard about it. This is always the case when it comes to foreign films which tries to make a bridgehead onto the U.S. film market.
The film has since been discovered by the general public through home video sales and through Netflix, but not before an American film studio has bought the rights to produce an American remake for the American market. It fell onto the shoulders of Cloverfield director Matt Reeves to film this remake and try to dampen any advance outrage by the original film’s fans. While there will remain a very vocal group denouncing this “Americanized” remake of Let the Right One In (renamed Let Me In for the remake) I think casting decisions and certain stylistic choices by Reeves has me hoping that this remake will not fail but actually stand on it’s own while still letting the original keep it’s status as one of the best horror films of the past decade.
Above is the newly released Red Band Trailer for the film and below are two posters for the remake which were unveiled over at San Diego Comic-Con 2010. Both posters definitely take on a very stylized look. The second one looks too similar to Park Chan-wook’s poster for Thirst. The first one I like better as it combines the film’s innocence with the darker underlying story really well.
Through the Shattered Lens 
I had hoped this day would not come, but here it is, nonetheless. Needless to say, I am one of the (heretofore non-) vocal denouncers. I really liked “Let The Right One In”, to the extent that, as with the aforementioned group, I feel a desire to protct it from the Hollywoodization it is likely to undergo. It is one of the best films, of any genre, I have seen, and one of my favorites,
Maybe the producers felt a sufficiently intense level of self-consciousness as a result of the outspoken devotees of the original to motivate them to at least approach the original’s quality.
It frustrates me to think of all of the viewers who will see thiis new version, without having seen or even being aware of that which inspired it. I wish Reeves, et al had left it alone. I don;t know whether to hope for a worthwhile result, or adopt a Limbaughian “hope it fails” attitude. I soppose the scenario you posited would be satisfactory.
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I think true fans of film should never wish a film to fail, especially if the people involved are genuinely trying to make the best film they can make.
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Well. of course, you are right. I was making a joking reference – I would never seriously invoke Rush Limbaugh as an example to follow. (!) I guess my concern is whether the people involved are trying to make the best movie they can, or trying to package it in the way that they think will make them the most money. Hopefully, the art will come first.
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