Movie Review #1: Let Me In

In recent years my tastes in film have changed dramatically. For instance when I was younger I would go to the local movie theater to watch the latest and greatest action movie and leave the theater saying "wow that movie was awesome!", and it seemed that every movie I saw got this reaction out of me. Now it's much much harder to please me. Most of the time now I leave the theater saying "it was okay", or "it was garbage!". I really miss being able to go to see any movie and loving it but sadly as I've gotten older I've just realized that what I want in movies is greater than what the industry is giving me. Especially in a world where every big movie is either a summer blockbuster that's as thin as a wet paper towel or a horror movie remake (or ANY remake for that matter) that fails to deliver in the same areas that the originals did. In some cases the remakes are just plain awful (I'm looking at you Friday the 13th). Well a little while ago I heard about this movie called Let the Right One in based on the book of the same name. I was told it was a Swedish film based on a Swedish book about vampires. Well vampires, needless to say, have been done to death (pun INTENDED!) in most mediums and I can count the good ones on one hand so my enthusiasm for this movie was limited. But the movie came out to stellar reviews and it got me thinking. So then I hear about another movie called Let Me In that is essentially a Hollywood remake of Let the Right One In. "Well that's odd," I thought but miraculously this movie also came out to stellar reviews. So I thought okay, the book is doing great, and now both films are getting critical praise maybe I should check it out. Then the driving force behind me wanting to see the film came crashing at me when I saw the studio responsible for Let Me In was none other than Hammer.

A little background on Hammer as I know them.

Hammer was a British film company founded in 1934 that found major success in the horror genre when, in the 50's, they decided to remake some of the Golden Age Horror films such as Dracula and Frankenstein. These movies were so good they became known for reestablishing the Gothic Horror genre and really breathing new life into the medium. The movies were in color, there was more sexual undertones, and there was full on bloody violence. I myself own the first Dracula and Frankenstein films Hammer made and they are simply amazing. Well around the late 70's to early 80's they kind of disappeared leaving behind their many masterpieces and moving on to something better. However this meant that they pretty much disappeared entirely and nothing much was heard of them. Until now.

So seeing that Hammer Horror was making a comeback with this movie that was "reinventing the vampire genre" I couldn't help but get excited. The movie came in the mail through Netflix, I waited till night fell, and my girlfriend and I sat down with our dogs and watched it. To my great satisfaction this was not a typical "it was okay" movie. No this movie absolutely rocked me. I thought it was amazing, so much in fact that after we watched it I started it over again to watch it a second time. It's that good.

So here's a quick rundown. The movie is about a twelve year old boy living with his mother who's parents are going through a divorce. He befriends a twelve year old girl who moves in next door to him who just so happens to be a vampire. The movie is about their relationship growing from friendship to more and then to so, so much more. My likes for this movie are staggering. The camera work is incredible and some of the scenes actually had me scratching my head as to how they did it. There is a particular car crash scene that had my jaw dropped. The direction was top notch. The acting, especially from the young kids, was just awe inspiring. Where this movie really takes me in is with the story. The relationship between these two characters is done so well and so beautifully that in my opinion it's one of the best love stories I've seen in quite some time. The movie also uses the folklore of vampires to an amazing degree and answers some questions that most movies overlook. I wont give anything away but the last thing I will say is that the ending is just divine. Once again I wont give anything away but it's another scene that had my jaw dropped.

So in conclusion every now and then a movie comes along that is so good, and hits me so hard in such a profound way that it makes me want to make movies myself. This was one of them. By the far the best vampire movie I've ever seen and a love story worth feeling good about. Well in an almost morbid sort of way. So with that being said that is my first ever movie review and if you haven't seen this movie I HIGHLY recommend you see it as soon as you can. I still can't get it out of my head.

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and I'll talk to everyone later.