Let Me In (film)
Encyclopedia
Let Me In is a 2010 American romantic
horror film
directed by Matt Reeves
and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee
and Chloë Grace Moretz
. It is based on the 2008 Swedish film
Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), directed by Tomas Alfredson
, and the novel of the same name
by John Ajvide Lindqvist
. It tells the story of a bullied
12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire
child in a New Mexico
town in the early 1980s.
Interest in producing an English version of Let the Right One In began in 2007 shortly before it was released to audiences. In 2008, Hammer Films acquired the rights for the English adaptation and initially offered Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish film, the opportunity to direct, which he declined. Matt Reeves was then signed to direct and write the screenplay. Reeves made several changes for the English version such as altering the setting from Stockholm
to New Mexico and renaming the lead characters. The film's producers stated that their intent was to keep the plot similar to the original, yet make it more accessible to a wider audience. Principal photography began in early November 2009, and concluded in January 2010. The film's budget was estimated to be $20 million.
Let Me In premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2010 and was opened wide in North America on October 1, 2010. The film received highly positive reviews from critics, becoming one of the best critically reviewed films of 2010 and was placed on several critics' top-ten list. Many critics noted it as a rare Hollywood remake
which stayed true to the original film from which it was based, while some criticized it for being too similar to the Swedish film in light of Reeves promoting the film as being a new take on the original novel. The film earned in box office revenue worldwide, of which was earned in the United States and Canada. Chloë Moretz won several awards for her performance with critics praising the on-screen chemistry with her co-star, Kodi Smit-McPhee. Let Me In was released on DVD
and Blu-ray in North America on February 1, 2011 and in the UK on March 14, 2011. An official comic book miniseries prequel titled Let Me In: Crossroads was released after the film which establishes the back-story of Abby and ends where the theatrical film begins.
, a police detective (Elias Koteas
) enters the hospital room of a disfigured man and tries to question him about a recent murder for which he is a suspect. The detective concludes by telling the suspect that he will catch whoever else he is in league with; the detective is then called to take a phone call outside the room by the desk nurse and is told that the man's daughter is downstairs. While he is on the phone, a scream is heard, and the detective finds the suspect has fallen out of the window to his death.
Flashback
two weeks earlier, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee
) is an unhappy and lonely 12-year-old boy, who is neglected by his divorcing
parents, and continually harassed at school by bullies. One evening, when Owen is alone in the courtyard of his apartment complex he is approached by a girl named Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz
) who has moved into the apartment next door. Abby tells Owen that they cannot be friends, but regardless Abby and Owen grow closer, seeing each other at night in the courtyard, and start communicating by Morse code
through the walls of their apartments. At school the main bully, Kenny (Dylan Minnette
), scars Owen with an antenna rod; when Abby finds out about this she tells him to defend himself and she will help him if needed.
Meanwhile, Abby's "father", Thomas (Richard Jenkins
), occasionally goes out to kill local residents in order to acquire blood for the vampiric Abby. During his first murder, he accidentally spills the blood and returns home empty handed; a furious Abby leaves the apartment and then kills and feeds on a jogger who lives in their neighborhood. Abby continues developing her relationship with Owen. One night, Thomas hides in the back of a high school student’s car in order to later subdue him, but the student picks up a passenger, completely altering Thomas's plans. While the driver stops at a gas station, Thomas subdues the passenger, and tries to flee. He crashes the car in a nearby ditch and becomes trapped inside. Thomas douses his face with acid so that his connection to Abby will not be discovered. He is taken to the hospital; when Abby learns of this from a radio broadcast, she climbs up outside his window to see him. Thomas leans forward to offer his throat to Abby, who drinks his blood. Thomas passes out and falls to his death. The detective later gradually learns of Thomas's connection to Abby.
The next day on a school outing to a local frozen pond in a park Kenny threatens to push Owen into an ice hole. Owen defends himself with a metal pole splitting Kenny's ear. Also while at the park, a body is discovered under the ice. Later, Owen takes Abby to an abandoned area of their apartment complex where he cuts his finger to make a blood pact with her. Abby is drawn to the blood falling to the ground; she licks it up and Owen sees her vampiric form for the first time, but instead of attacking Owen, Abby runs away and attacks Virginia (Sasha Barrese
), a woman in the complex park. Owen then confronts Abby at her apartment where Abby admits that she is a vampire. Owen also discovers that Thomas was not her father, but a man she has known since he was a boy. Meanwhile at the hospital, Virginia transforms into a vampire, but when a nurse draws the curtains, the daylight causes her to burst into flames, killing them both.
Abby visits one night while Owen's mother (Cara Buono
) is away. Owen opens the door for her and she tells him he needs to invite her in. He asks her why, so she enters without an invitation, which causes her to bleed heavily until he verbally acquiesces. The next morning, the detective finds Abby asleep in the bathtub, but Owen startles him, allowing Abby to grab him from behind. Abby kills the detective and starts to feed off him. Later, she is seen leaving in a taxi.
During an evening gym class, Kenny, his older brother Jimmy (Brett DelBuono), and their friends start a fire outside to distract authorities and clear out the swimming pool. Jimmy tells Owen that if he can hold his breath underwater for three minutes, then he will cut Owen's cheek; if Owen cannot, Jimmy will poke out one of Owen's eyes. As Owen is held underwater, chaos ensues as Abby slaughters the four bullies. Abby and Owen then make their escape.
Later, Owen travels on a train with Abby in a trunk beside him. They tap out brief messages to each other in Morse code as the film ends.
The rights for the English-language film were later acquired by Hammer Films at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
, where Let the Right One In won the "Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature," and Matt Reeves
was quickly introduced as the director. John Nordling and Carl Molinder, the Swedish producers of the original film, were both involved as producers for the adaptation. Tomas Alfredson
, the director of the Swedish film, was initially asked to direct the remake, but he turned it down stating that "I am too old to make the same film twice and I have other stories that I want to tell." Hammer Films producer Simon Oakes initially referred to the film with "If you call it a faithful remake, I think that's true to say that's what it is. It's not a reimagining; the same beats [are there], maybe the scares are a little bit more scary." He later said, "I call it his [Reeves'] version. I don't call it his remake or his re-imagining of it." The decision to make a new film adaptation has been criticized by Tomas Alfredson. He has stated on numerous occasions that he is not in favor of remaking his film. "If one should remake a film, it's because the original is bad. And I don't think mine is", he said. Producer Donna Gigliotti
said, "We're incredibly admiring of the original, but to be honest with you, that picture grossed $2 million. It's not like we're remaking Lawrence of Arabia
." Producer Simon Oakes made it clear that the plot of Let Me In would closely resemble that of the original film, except that it will be made "very accessible to a wider audience"
Writer Lindqvist, on the other hand, says that Reeves told him that he "will make a new film based on the book, and not remake the Swedish film" and so "it'll be something completely different, but it's going to be really interesting to see." Reeves has expressed his intent to retain the book's early 1980s setting and his admiration for the book and Alfredson's adaptation. "It's a terrific movie and a fantastic book. I think it could be a really touching, haunting and terrifying film. I'm really excited about what it could be", he said. In response to the criticism he said, "I can understand because of people's love of the [original] film that there's this cynicism that I'll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I'm so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons ... I hope people give us a chance." When Reeves was initially approached, he at first was against the idea but after reading the novel gained a better appreciation for the story,
, a few adjustments were made, such as changing the names of the protagonist
s to Owen and Abby, and moving the setting from the Stockholm
suburb of Blackeberg
to "a small New Mexico
town." Reeves was also asked to change the ages of the main characters, but he refused, saying that "would ruin the essence of the story and change everything completely...we need that childlike innocence." He also told his actors to not watch the original film beforehand so "we could make our own version but stay very true to the essence of the story." The filmmakers have noted that "they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context", while at the same time paying respect to the original. In comparing his adaptation to the Swedish one, Reeves admitted to not adding many different details from the book that weren't in the original film, stating that " the story was so big that you couldn't really add a lot of stuff in without taking away the focus of the coming of age story so I tried to have allusions and references to stuff in the book." Reeves also admitted to borrowing elements from the Swedish film, stating "There are things that [Lindqvist] adapted brilliantly in the movie and I borrowed from that because I thought he did a great adaptation. But there are some things that hopefully don't detract and fit into the context of the story. It's a mixture of details from the book, the original film and things that grew out of adapting it." In adapting the story for American audiences, Reeves stated that keeping the 1980s time period within the film was critical in exploring the theme of good and evil. He used Ronald Reagan
's "evil empire speech
" as an example of American thought during that time period. Reeves stated, "The idea of Reagan's 'evil empire' speech and that whole sort of school of thought was that evil was something that was outside of us. Evil was 'Other,' it was over there, it was the Soviets". Reeves felt that this idea was central to the main character Owen, as he "would be grappling with these very, very dark feelings but being in a kind of American town where there was that sort of [Reagan era] mindset and religiousness. How would you fit in? How would you feel about yourself being confused and being 12 or 13 years old and not knowing what it means that you wish you could kill those kids who were terrorizing you every day? The humanity of that."
, Mary Mouser
, and Ariel Winter
auditioning for the role of the vampire, Abby. Smit-McPhee, in an interview with The Herald Sun
, hinted that he may have landed the role as Owen. The casting of Moretz and Smit-McPhee in the leading roles was confirmed on October 1, 2009, along with the addition of Richard Jenkins
as Abby's adult companion. In a press release, director Matt Reeves described Smit-McPhee, Moretz and Jenkins as his "absolute dream cast", and added that he "couldn't be more excited to be working with them." Both Smit-McPhee and Moretz were cast before the release of The Road or Kick-Ass
, and the films' directors John Hillcoat
and Matthew Vaughn
respectively each praised the young actors and recommended them to Reeves.
began in Albuquerque, New Mexico
on November 2, 2009. Filming took place in several different New Mexico locations, before concluding in Albuquerque in January 2010. A large section of the film was filmed at Los Alamos High School
in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Los Alamos County
granted a special request from the film's director and producer to name the town in the movie "Los Alamos, New Mexico." The local police department loaned the film crew 1980s style uniforms and patrol cars to use for the film and over 100 local teenagers were cast as extras. Reeves felt that Lindqvist's story was very naturalistic and wanted the film to be shot the same way. After viewing Bright Star
, he hired Greig Fraser as his cinematographer because he admired Fraser's work with natural light on the film. Shortly before filming, Reeves sought advice from Steven Spielberg
for directing child actor
s. Spielberg instructed Reeves to have the two leads each keep a diary in character with the intention of sharing with Reeves what they wrote in it. Reeves stated, "It was all a process of trying to, not only guide them, but in places, trying to let them guide me toward their perspective. That was important."
was contracted to handle the film's visual effects work. The studio's supervisor Sean Faden, worked alongside the film's visual effects supervisor, Brad Parker throughout the production. Several of the film's scenes proved to be a challenge for the team. Director Reeves wanted the "car-crash" sequence to appear as if it were filmed uncut in first-person. Several plates were shot with the first involving actor Jenkins backing the car out of the gas station and swerving, the second plate shot had a model of the car capable of being spun mechanically on a "rotisserie" in front of a blue screen
which could simulate the car's roll down the hill. Jenkin's stunt double and a dummy were placed in the car as the rotisserie spun with additional effects work used to animate the dummy as the car rolled. The two shots were then combined to deceive the viewer into believing that it was one complete shot. Houdini
software was used for much of the film's shots which involved Abby in her vampiric form. Faden noted the techniques used in another challenging shot important to Abby's character in which she begins bleeding when she enters Owen's apartment without invitation. Faden stated, "Normally in such a scene, the character would be shot on set, dressed in blood. But in this case, the timing of the bleeding was so dependent on the emotional beats of the scene that this technique wouldn’t have allowed us enough control." Actress Chloë Moretz was first shot with minimal prosthetic blood applied to her face for reference. Then using techniques utilized in a prior Method Studios film, A Nightmare on Elm Street
, Faden had the Houdini software track Moretz's shaking movements and render the gradual release of blood from her face.
. It was released by Varèse Sarabande
on October 12, 2010. The soundtrack was composed by Michael Giacchino
. Giacchino stated that scoring the film was a difficult "balancing act" for some scenes. He mentioned, "I was always trying to say, 'let's take music out!' and Matt [Reeves] was like, 'no, put it in!'" In composing the score, he stated that he also applied certain musical themes to each character for which the audience could respond to as the story progressed. Composing the score to convey the correct emotion was also a challenge for Giacchino who said, "...it was tricky finding the right balance of, well, should this be scary? Or should this be sentimental? Or should it be emotional? Or should it be this? It was a weird balance because you're dealing with a dynamic that is quite questionable as far as what everyone's intentions are in the film.
on September 13, 2010, and its U.S. premiere on the opening night of Fantastic Fest
on September 23, 2010. Overture Films
released promotional items placed in small plastic evidence bags. With a budget estimated to be $20 million, the film was released on October 1, 2010, in North America opening at #8 on its debut weekend with an estimated $5.1 million in 2,020 theaters. The film's international release began on October 6 in European markets with other markets following thereafter. During the film's 10-week theatrical run, Let Me In grossed over $24 million worldwide, $12.1 million of which was from the United States and Canada.
The film was #5 among the ten lowest-grossing releases of 2010 from major studios (movies released in over 1500 theaters).
and Blu-ray
in North America on February 1, 2011 and in the UK on March 14, 2011. The disc includes an audio commentary with director Matt Reeves, a 17-minute featurette on the making of the film, a short that focuses on the art of the special effects, an in-depth video about the process of making the film's unique car crash scene, three deleted scenes, trailer and poster galleries and a digital copy of the film. The Blu-ray disc contains an exclusive featurette titled "Dissecting Let Me In". Both DVD and Blu-ray come with a copy of the Limited Edition "Let Me In: Crossroads" comic book. As of , DVD sales (not including Blu-ray) totaled over 457,000 units sold with over in revenue.
and Dark Horse Comics
are producing a four-issue comic book
limited series
based on the film. Marc Andreyko
will write the comic. The series, titled Let Me In: Crossroads, is a prequel
to the film. The first issue has Abby and her "guardian" facing a ruthless real-estate tycoon who wants to steal their home and was released in December 2010. Original author John Ajvide Lindqvist
said "Nobody has asked me about [doing a comic] and I think that the project stinks. I am looking into this matter and hope that they have no right to do this." Later, he informed fans that he had in fact unwittingly sold the rights for the comic to be made, stating that the producers had misinformed him as to the nature of the contract he had signed.
gives the film a score of 90% based on reviews from 202 critics, with an average score of 7.6/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes selected "top critics" the film received score of 81% based on 32 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. The consensus is that "similar to the original in all the right ways — but with enough changes to stand on its own — Let Me In is the rare Hollywood remake that doesn't add insult to inspiration." Let Me In was included on Rotten Tomatoes list of the ten best reviewed wide release films of 2010 in addition to being the best reviewed horror film of 2010.
Metacritic
gave the film an average score of 79% based on 35 reviews, judged to be "generally favorable reviews". According to Metacritic, Let Me In was one of the ten best-reviewed wide release films of 2010 and the best reviewed film of the year in the horror category.
Particular praise was given to the film's two leads, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz, for their chemistry and maturity on-screen.
Acclaimed horror author Stephen King
wrote "Let Me In is a genre-busting triumph. Not just a horror film, but the best American horror film in the last 20 years."
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
wrote that the film "is more than a respectful remake; 'Let Me In' is quietly stylish and thoroughly chilling in its own right."
Lou Lumenick of The New York Post called Let Me In "the scariest, creepiest and most elegantly filmed horror movie I’ve seen in years — it positively drives a stake through the competition."
A. O. Scott
of The New York Times
wrote "what makes 'Let Me In' so eerily fascinating is the mood it creates. It is at once artful and unpretentious, more interested in intimacy and implication than in easy scares or slick effects."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
praised the film while comparing it to the original. He stated, "Reeves understands what made the first film so eerie and effective, and here the same things work again." Rolling Stone
film critic Peter Travers
, who was initially skeptical, gave the film a positive review while writing, "I thought for sure that any Hollywood remake of Tomas Alfredson's artful Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, would be a crass desecration. Well, color me blushing" and "Prepare to be wowed. It's a spellbinder." Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel
gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating, "Reeves has Americanized a very good foreign film without defanging it."
Let Me In was not well-received by all critics. Some disputed Reeves' claims that he was not remaking the film but re-adapting the book, criticizing it for being too similar to the Swedish film. Josh Tyler wrote "The movie he’s made is absolutely a direct remake of the 2008 film, the two are so similar that it’s almost impossible to differentiate between them." In a similar vein, Jamie S. Rich noted that while there was plenty of content in the original novel that the Swedish film omitted, "Reeves hasn't really ferreted out anything new; on the contrary, there is actually less plot in Let Me In than in the Alfredson version."
Beth Accomando wrote, "How Reeves can take the credit 'written and directed by Matt Reeves' seems almost laughable when you note how similar the script and the direction are to the original." In comparing the two films, she opined that the remake "makes obvious all that the original film made subtle and does so with less complexity."
Mark Kermode
called it "the most utterly redundant remake of the year".
According to Sukhdev Sandhu of The Telegraph, "Let Me In doesn't need to exist unless, that is, the very notion of Swedish cinema is strange and unpalatable to you....What’s missing is the alluring otherness of Let the Right One In. That film's brittle textures and haunted ambiance seemed in some strange way to have sprung organically from the nation in which it was set. This remake, by contrast, smells of boardrooms and calculating machines."
Let Me In was a critics' pick as one of the Top 10 Best Films of 2010 at CNN
and at MSN Entertainment
for the 2010 Year in Review Special Features.
, author of Let the Right One In, who also wrote the screenplay for the original Swedish film, was pleased with Let Me In. He said:
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by Matt Reeves
Matt Reeves
Matthew George "Matt" Reeves is an American film writer, director and producer.-Early life:Reeves was born in Rockville Centre, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, California. He began making movies at eight years old, directing friends with a wind-up camera. Reeves met and became friends with J.J...
and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kodi Smit-McPhee is an award-winning Australian actor, most known for his roles as The Boy in the The Road and Owen in Let Me In. He has also appeared in Australian films, Romulus, My Father and Matching Jack....
and Chloë Grace Moretz
Chloe Moretz
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...
. It is based on the 2008 Swedish film
Cinema of Sweden
Swedish cinema is known as producing many critically acclaimed movies, and during the 20th century was the most prominent of Scandinavia. This is largely due to the popularity and prominence of the directors Ingmar Bergman, Victor Sjöström, and more recently Lasse Hallström and Lukas...
Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in), directed by Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson is a Swedish film director, best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film Let the Right One In...
, and the novel of the same name
Let the Right One In
Let the Right One In , or Let Me In, is a 2004 vampire fiction novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. The story centers on the relationship between a 12-year-old boy, Oskar, and a centuries-old vampire child, Eli. It takes place in Blackeberg, a working class suburb of Stockholm, in the...
by John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish writer, mostly of horror novels and short stories. Ajvide Lindqvist grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. His debut novel Let the Right One In a romantic, social realistic vampire horror story published in 2004, enjoyed great success in Sweden and abroad...
. It tells the story of a bullied
School bullying
School bullying is a type of bullying that occurs in connection with education, either inside or outside of school. Bullying can be physical, verbal, or emotional and is usually repeated over a period of time.In schools, bullying occurs in all areas...
12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
child in a New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
town in the early 1980s.
Interest in producing an English version of Let the Right One In began in 2007 shortly before it was released to audiences. In 2008, Hammer Films acquired the rights for the English adaptation and initially offered Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish film, the opportunity to direct, which he declined. Matt Reeves was then signed to direct and write the screenplay. Reeves made several changes for the English version such as altering the setting from Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
to New Mexico and renaming the lead characters. The film's producers stated that their intent was to keep the plot similar to the original, yet make it more accessible to a wider audience. Principal photography began in early November 2009, and concluded in January 2010. The film's budget was estimated to be $20 million.
Let Me In premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 13, 2010 and was opened wide in North America on October 1, 2010. The film received highly positive reviews from critics, becoming one of the best critically reviewed films of 2010 and was placed on several critics' top-ten list. Many critics noted it as a rare Hollywood remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
which stayed true to the original film from which it was based, while some criticized it for being too similar to the Swedish film in light of Reeves promoting the film as being a new take on the original novel. The film earned in box office revenue worldwide, of which was earned in the United States and Canada. Chloë Moretz won several awards for her performance with critics praising the on-screen chemistry with her co-star, Kodi Smit-McPhee. Let Me In was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray in North America on February 1, 2011 and in the UK on March 14, 2011. An official comic book miniseries prequel titled Let Me In: Crossroads was released after the film which establishes the back-story of Abby and ends where the theatrical film begins.
Plot
In 1983 Los Alamos, New MexicoLos Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos is a townsite and census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, built upon four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau and the adjoining White Rock Canyon. The population of the CDP was 12,019 at the 2010 Census. The townsite or "the hill" is one part of town while...
, a police detective (Elias Koteas
Elias Koteas
Elias Koteas is a Canadian actor of film and television, best known for his roles in The Prophecy, Fallen and the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.-Early life:...
) enters the hospital room of a disfigured man and tries to question him about a recent murder for which he is a suspect. The detective concludes by telling the suspect that he will catch whoever else he is in league with; the detective is then called to take a phone call outside the room by the desk nurse and is told that the man's daughter is downstairs. While he is on the phone, a scream is heard, and the detective finds the suspect has fallen out of the window to his death.
Flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
two weeks earlier, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Kodi Smit-McPhee is an award-winning Australian actor, most known for his roles as The Boy in the The Road and Owen in Let Me In. He has also appeared in Australian films, Romulus, My Father and Matching Jack....
) is an unhappy and lonely 12-year-old boy, who is neglected by his divorcing
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
parents, and continually harassed at school by bullies. One evening, when Owen is alone in the courtyard of his apartment complex he is approached by a girl named Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz
Chloe Moretz
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...
) who has moved into the apartment next door. Abby tells Owen that they cannot be friends, but regardless Abby and Owen grow closer, seeing each other at night in the courtyard, and start communicating by Morse code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
through the walls of their apartments. At school the main bully, Kenny (Dylan Minnette
Dylan Minnette
Dylan Christopher Minnette is an American teen actor and musician.-Life and career:Minnette was born in Evansville, Indiana to Robyn Maker-Minnette, moved briefly to Champaign, Illinois for 5 years, and later moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.His first role was a single episode of...
), scars Owen with an antenna rod; when Abby finds out about this she tells him to defend himself and she will help him if needed.
Meanwhile, Abby's "father", Thomas (Richard Jenkins
Richard Jenkins
Richard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
), occasionally goes out to kill local residents in order to acquire blood for the vampiric Abby. During his first murder, he accidentally spills the blood and returns home empty handed; a furious Abby leaves the apartment and then kills and feeds on a jogger who lives in their neighborhood. Abby continues developing her relationship with Owen. One night, Thomas hides in the back of a high school student’s car in order to later subdue him, but the student picks up a passenger, completely altering Thomas's plans. While the driver stops at a gas station, Thomas subdues the passenger, and tries to flee. He crashes the car in a nearby ditch and becomes trapped inside. Thomas douses his face with acid so that his connection to Abby will not be discovered. He is taken to the hospital; when Abby learns of this from a radio broadcast, she climbs up outside his window to see him. Thomas leans forward to offer his throat to Abby, who drinks his blood. Thomas passes out and falls to his death. The detective later gradually learns of Thomas's connection to Abby.
The next day on a school outing to a local frozen pond in a park Kenny threatens to push Owen into an ice hole. Owen defends himself with a metal pole splitting Kenny's ear. Also while at the park, a body is discovered under the ice. Later, Owen takes Abby to an abandoned area of their apartment complex where he cuts his finger to make a blood pact with her. Abby is drawn to the blood falling to the ground; she licks it up and Owen sees her vampiric form for the first time, but instead of attacking Owen, Abby runs away and attacks Virginia (Sasha Barrese
Sasha Barrese
Alexandra "Sasha" Barrese is an American actress known for her roles in The Hangover and The Hangover Part II.-Early life:...
), a woman in the complex park. Owen then confronts Abby at her apartment where Abby admits that she is a vampire. Owen also discovers that Thomas was not her father, but a man she has known since he was a boy. Meanwhile at the hospital, Virginia transforms into a vampire, but when a nurse draws the curtains, the daylight causes her to burst into flames, killing them both.
Abby visits one night while Owen's mother (Cara Buono
Cara Buono
Cara Buono is an American actress, screenwriter and director, probably best known for her role as Dr. Faye Miller in the fourth season of the AMC drama series Mad Men.-Early life:...
) is away. Owen opens the door for her and she tells him he needs to invite her in. He asks her why, so she enters without an invitation, which causes her to bleed heavily until he verbally acquiesces. The next morning, the detective finds Abby asleep in the bathtub, but Owen startles him, allowing Abby to grab him from behind. Abby kills the detective and starts to feed off him. Later, she is seen leaving in a taxi.
During an evening gym class, Kenny, his older brother Jimmy (Brett DelBuono), and their friends start a fire outside to distract authorities and clear out the swimming pool. Jimmy tells Owen that if he can hold his breath underwater for three minutes, then he will cut Owen's cheek; if Owen cannot, Jimmy will poke out one of Owen's eyes. As Owen is held underwater, chaos ensues as Abby slaughters the four bullies. Abby and Owen then make their escape.
Later, Owen travels on a train with Abby in a trunk beside him. They tap out brief messages to each other in Morse code as the film ends.
Cast
- Kodi Smit-McPheeKodi Smit-McPheeKodi Smit-McPhee is an award-winning Australian actor, most known for his roles as The Boy in the The Road and Owen in Let Me In. He has also appeared in Australian films, Romulus, My Father and Matching Jack....
as Owen - Chloë Grace Moretz as Abby
- Richard JenkinsRichard JenkinsRichard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
as The Father - Cara BuonoCara BuonoCara Buono is an American actress, screenwriter and director, probably best known for her role as Dr. Faye Miller in the fourth season of the AMC drama series Mad Men.-Early life:...
as Owen's mother - Elias KoteasElias KoteasElias Koteas is a Canadian actor of film and television, best known for his roles in The Prophecy, Fallen and the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films.-Early life:...
as Policeman - Sasha BarreseSasha BarreseAlexandra "Sasha" Barrese is an American actress known for her roles in The Hangover and The Hangover Part II.-Early life:...
as Virginia - Dylan MinnetteDylan MinnetteDylan Christopher Minnette is an American teen actor and musician.-Life and career:Minnette was born in Evansville, Indiana to Robyn Maker-Minnette, moved briefly to Champaign, Illinois for 5 years, and later moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.His first role was a single episode of...
as Kenny - Ritchie CosterRitchie CosterRitchie Coster is an English film, television and theatre actor. Coster was born in London, England and attended The Latymer School, Edmonton...
as Mr. Zoric - Jimmy Pinchak as Mark
- Colin Moretz as Cashier
Development
According to producer Nigel Sinclair, interest in the project initially began in the middle of 2007, before the original Let the Right One In had screened for audiences.The rights for the English-language film were later acquired by Hammer Films at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
, where Let the Right One In won the "Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature," and Matt Reeves
Matt Reeves
Matthew George "Matt" Reeves is an American film writer, director and producer.-Early life:Reeves was born in Rockville Centre, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, California. He began making movies at eight years old, directing friends with a wind-up camera. Reeves met and became friends with J.J...
was quickly introduced as the director. John Nordling and Carl Molinder, the Swedish producers of the original film, were both involved as producers for the adaptation. Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson
Tomas Alfredson is a Swedish film director, best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film Let the Right One In...
, the director of the Swedish film, was initially asked to direct the remake, but he turned it down stating that "I am too old to make the same film twice and I have other stories that I want to tell." Hammer Films producer Simon Oakes initially referred to the film with "If you call it a faithful remake, I think that's true to say that's what it is. It's not a reimagining; the same beats [are there], maybe the scares are a little bit more scary." He later said, "I call it his [Reeves'] version. I don't call it his remake or his re-imagining of it." The decision to make a new film adaptation has been criticized by Tomas Alfredson. He has stated on numerous occasions that he is not in favor of remaking his film. "If one should remake a film, it's because the original is bad. And I don't think mine is", he said. Producer Donna Gigliotti
Donna Gigliotti
Donna Gigliotti is an American film producer. She is best known for producing the academy award winning film Shakespeare in Love with David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Edward Zwick and Marc Norman . Gigliotti started her professional career as an assistant to Martin Scorsese on the film Raging Bull...
said, "We're incredibly admiring of the original, but to be honest with you, that picture grossed $2 million. It's not like we're remaking Lawrence of Arabia
Lawrence of Arabia (film)
Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 British film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence. It was directed by David Lean and produced by Sam Spiegel through his British company, Horizon Pictures, with the screenplay by Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson. The film stars Peter O'Toole in the title role. It is widely...
." Producer Simon Oakes made it clear that the plot of Let Me In would closely resemble that of the original film, except that it will be made "very accessible to a wider audience"
Writer Lindqvist, on the other hand, says that Reeves told him that he "will make a new film based on the book, and not remake the Swedish film" and so "it'll be something completely different, but it's going to be really interesting to see." Reeves has expressed his intent to retain the book's early 1980s setting and his admiration for the book and Alfredson's adaptation. "It's a terrific movie and a fantastic book. I think it could be a really touching, haunting and terrifying film. I'm really excited about what it could be", he said. In response to the criticism he said, "I can understand because of people's love of the [original] film that there's this cynicism that I'll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I'm so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons ... I hope people give us a chance." When Reeves was initially approached, he at first was against the idea but after reading the novel gained a better appreciation for the story,
Adapting and writing
In adapting the filmFilm adaptation
Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
, a few adjustments were made, such as changing the names of the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
s to Owen and Abby, and moving the setting from the Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
suburb of Blackeberg
Blackeberg
Blackeberg is a suburb of Stockholm built in the 1950s, and is part of the Bromma borough. Blackeberg was originally a croft first mentioned in 1599. The croft was demolished in 1861 by Knut Ljunglöf, who built a house, a stable, a mill and a saw instead. The saw and mill are now both cultural...
to "a small New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
town." Reeves was also asked to change the ages of the main characters, but he refused, saying that "would ruin the essence of the story and change everything completely...we need that childlike innocence." He also told his actors to not watch the original film beforehand so "we could make our own version but stay very true to the essence of the story." The filmmakers have noted that "they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context", while at the same time paying respect to the original. In comparing his adaptation to the Swedish one, Reeves admitted to not adding many different details from the book that weren't in the original film, stating that " the story was so big that you couldn't really add a lot of stuff in without taking away the focus of the coming of age story so I tried to have allusions and references to stuff in the book." Reeves also admitted to borrowing elements from the Swedish film, stating "There are things that [Lindqvist] adapted brilliantly in the movie and I borrowed from that because I thought he did a great adaptation. But there are some things that hopefully don't detract and fit into the context of the story. It's a mixture of details from the book, the original film and things that grew out of adapting it." In adapting the story for American audiences, Reeves stated that keeping the 1980s time period within the film was critical in exploring the theme of good and evil. He used Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's "evil empire speech
Evil empire
The phrase evil empire was applied to the Soviet Union especially by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who took an aggressive, hard-line stance that favored matching and exceeding the Soviet Union's strategic and global military capabilities, in calling for a rollback strategy that would, in his words,...
" as an example of American thought during that time period. Reeves stated, "The idea of Reagan's 'evil empire' speech and that whole sort of school of thought was that evil was something that was outside of us. Evil was 'Other,' it was over there, it was the Soviets". Reeves felt that this idea was central to the main character Owen, as he "would be grappling with these very, very dark feelings but being in a kind of American town where there was that sort of [Reagan era] mindset and religiousness. How would you fit in? How would you feel about yourself being confused and being 12 or 13 years old and not knowing what it means that you wish you could kill those kids who were terrorizing you every day? The humanity of that."
Casting
In July 2009, audition tapes were leaked to the Internet, showing Chloë MoretzChloe Moretz
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...
, Mary Mouser
Mary Matilyn Mouser
Mary Matilyn Mouser is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lacey Fleming on the ABC series Body of Proof.-Life and career:...
, and Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter
Ariel Winter Workman , known in television shows and films as Ariel Winter, is an American teen actress and singer. Winter is best known for her current role as Alex Dunphy in the TV series Modern Family, for which she has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series, along...
auditioning for the role of the vampire, Abby. Smit-McPhee, in an interview with The Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
, hinted that he may have landed the role as Owen. The casting of Moretz and Smit-McPhee in the leading roles was confirmed on October 1, 2009, along with the addition of Richard Jenkins
Richard Jenkins
Richard Dale Jenkins is an American stage, film, and television actor. After beginning his career in theatre, Jenkins made his film debut in 1974, and appeared in supporting roles in numerous film productions in the 1980s and the 1990s. His breakthrough came in the 2000s for playing the deceased...
as Abby's adult companion. In a press release, director Matt Reeves described Smit-McPhee, Moretz and Jenkins as his "absolute dream cast", and added that he "couldn't be more excited to be working with them." Both Smit-McPhee and Moretz were cast before the release of The Road or Kick-Ass
Kick-Ass (film)
Kick-Ass is a 2010 superhero comedy film based on the comic book of the same name by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr. The film was directed by Matthew Vaughn, who co-produced the film with actor Brad Pitt, and co-wrote the screenplay with Jane Goldman...
, and the films' directors John Hillcoat
John Hillcoat
John Hillcoat is an Australian screenwriter and film director.Hillcoat was born in Queensland, Australia, and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As a child, his paintings were featured in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. He has repeatedly worked with Nick Cave and also the band Depeche Mode...
and Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn
Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch and directing the films Layer Cake , Stardust and Kick-Ass...
respectively each praised the young actors and recommended them to Reeves.
Filming
Principal photographyPrincipal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
began in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque is the largest city in the state of New Mexico, United States. It is the county seat of Bernalillo County and is situated in the central part of the state, straddling the Rio Grande. The city population was 545,852 as of the 2010 Census and ranks as the 32nd-largest city in the U.S. As...
on November 2, 2009. Filming took place in several different New Mexico locations, before concluding in Albuquerque in January 2010. A large section of the film was filmed at Los Alamos High School
Los Alamos High School
Los Alamos High School, often called LAHS, is the public high school in Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. The school opened in 1946, and was originally supported by the Atomic Energy Commission. It has been academically recognized by Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, and the New Mexico Public...
in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Los Alamos County
Los Alamos County, New Mexico
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*87.8% White*0.6% Black*0.8% Native American*6.0% Asian*0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*2.6% Two or more races*2.2% Other races*14.7% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
granted a special request from the film's director and producer to name the town in the movie "Los Alamos, New Mexico." The local police department loaned the film crew 1980s style uniforms and patrol cars to use for the film and over 100 local teenagers were cast as extras. Reeves felt that Lindqvist's story was very naturalistic and wanted the film to be shot the same way. After viewing Bright Star
Bright Star (film)
Bright Star is a 2009 film based on the last three years of the life of poet John Keats and his romantic relationship with Fanny Brawne. It stars Ben Whishaw as Keats and Abbie Cornish as Fanny...
, he hired Greig Fraser as his cinematographer because he admired Fraser's work with natural light on the film. Shortly before filming, Reeves sought advice from Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
for directing child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
s. Spielberg instructed Reeves to have the two leads each keep a diary in character with the intention of sharing with Reeves what they wrote in it. Reeves stated, "It was all a process of trying to, not only guide them, but in places, trying to let them guide me toward their perspective. That was important."
Visual effects
Method StudiosMethod Studios
Method Studios is a post production company founded in 1998 and located in Los Angeles, California with offices in Vancouver, New York, London, Sydney and Melbourne. The company provides a full range of services including conceptual design, look development, on-set supervision, 3D animation/CGI,...
was contracted to handle the film's visual effects work. The studio's supervisor Sean Faden, worked alongside the film's visual effects supervisor, Brad Parker throughout the production. Several of the film's scenes proved to be a challenge for the team. Director Reeves wanted the "car-crash" sequence to appear as if it were filmed uncut in first-person. Several plates were shot with the first involving actor Jenkins backing the car out of the gas station and swerving, the second plate shot had a model of the car capable of being spun mechanically on a "rotisserie" in front of a blue screen
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
which could simulate the car's roll down the hill. Jenkin's stunt double and a dummy were placed in the car as the rotisserie spun with additional effects work used to animate the dummy as the car rolled. The two shots were then combined to deceive the viewer into believing that it was one complete shot. Houdini
Houdini (software)
Houdini is a high-end 3D animation package developed by Side Effects Software which is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It is a rewrite of the PRISMS ecosystem of standalone tools. Its chief distinction from other packages is that it has been designed as a purely procedural environment...
software was used for much of the film's shots which involved Abby in her vampiric form. Faden noted the techniques used in another challenging shot important to Abby's character in which she begins bleeding when she enters Owen's apartment without invitation. Faden stated, "Normally in such a scene, the character would be shot on set, dressed in blood. But in this case, the timing of the bleeding was so dependent on the emotional beats of the scene that this technique wouldn’t have allowed us enough control." Actress Chloë Moretz was first shot with minimal prosthetic blood applied to her face for reference. Then using techniques utilized in a prior Method Studios film, A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 film)
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 2010 American slasher film directed by Samuel Bayer, and written by Wesley Strick and Eric Heisserer. The film stars Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker and Kellan Lutz...
, Faden had the Houdini software track Moretz's shaking movements and render the gradual release of blood from her face.
Music and soundtrack
Let Me In: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the film's soundtrack albumSoundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
. It was released by Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande
Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
on October 12, 2010. The soundtrack was composed by Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino
Michael Giacchino is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as...
. Giacchino stated that scoring the film was a difficult "balancing act" for some scenes. He mentioned, "I was always trying to say, 'let's take music out!' and Matt [Reeves] was like, 'no, put it in!'" In composing the score, he stated that he also applied certain musical themes to each character for which the audience could respond to as the story progressed. Composing the score to convey the correct emotion was also a challenge for Giacchino who said, "...it was tricky finding the right balance of, well, should this be scary? Or should this be sentimental? Or should it be emotional? Or should it be this? It was a weird balance because you're dealing with a dynamic that is quite questionable as far as what everyone's intentions are in the film.
Release
Box office
It was announced on August 17, 2010, that Let Me In would have its world premiere at Toronto International Film FestivalToronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...
on September 13, 2010, and its U.S. premiere on the opening night of Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions. The festival focuses on genre films such as horror,...
on September 23, 2010. Overture Films
Overture Films
Overture Films, LLC is an American film production and distribution company. It is a subsidiary of Liberty Media ....
released promotional items placed in small plastic evidence bags. With a budget estimated to be $20 million, the film was released on October 1, 2010, in North America opening at #8 on its debut weekend with an estimated $5.1 million in 2,020 theaters. The film's international release began on October 6 in European markets with other markets following thereafter. During the film's 10-week theatrical run, Let Me In grossed over $24 million worldwide, $12.1 million of which was from the United States and Canada.
The film was #5 among the ten lowest-grossing releases of 2010 from major studios (movies released in over 1500 theaters).
Home media
Let Me In was released on DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
in North America on February 1, 2011 and in the UK on March 14, 2011. The disc includes an audio commentary with director Matt Reeves, a 17-minute featurette on the making of the film, a short that focuses on the art of the special effects, an in-depth video about the process of making the film's unique car crash scene, three deleted scenes, trailer and poster galleries and a digital copy of the film. The Blu-ray disc contains an exclusive featurette titled "Dissecting Let Me In". Both DVD and Blu-ray come with a copy of the Limited Edition "Let Me In: Crossroads" comic book. As of , DVD sales (not including Blu-ray) totaled over 457,000 units sold with over in revenue.
Comic book prequel
In April 2010, it was announced that Hammer Film ProductionsHammer Film Productions
Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies and in later...
and Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
are producing a four-issue comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
based on the film. Marc Andreyko
Marc Andreyko
Marc Andreyko is a comic book and screenplay writer, known for writing the 2000s ongoing series Manhunter for DC Comics...
will write the comic. The series, titled Let Me In: Crossroads, is a prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
to the film. The first issue has Abby and her "guardian" facing a ruthless real-estate tycoon who wants to steal their home and was released in December 2010. Original author John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish writer, mostly of horror novels and short stories. Ajvide Lindqvist grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. His debut novel Let the Right One In a romantic, social realistic vampire horror story published in 2004, enjoyed great success in Sweden and abroad...
said "Nobody has asked me about [doing a comic] and I think that the project stinks. I am looking into this matter and hope that they have no right to do this." Later, he informed fans that he had in fact unwittingly sold the rights for the comic to be made, stating that the producers had misinformed him as to the nature of the contract he had signed.
Critical response
Let Me In has received highly positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 90% based on reviews from 202 critics, with an average score of 7.6/10. Among Rotten Tomatoes selected "top critics" the film received score of 81% based on 32 reviews, with an average score of 7.8/10. The consensus is that "similar to the original in all the right ways — but with enough changes to stand on its own — Let Me In is the rare Hollywood remake that doesn't add insult to inspiration." Let Me In was included on Rotten Tomatoes list of the ten best reviewed wide release films of 2010 in addition to being the best reviewed horror film of 2010.
Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the film an average score of 79% based on 35 reviews, judged to be "generally favorable reviews". According to Metacritic, Let Me In was one of the ten best-reviewed wide release films of 2010 and the best reviewed film of the year in the horror category.
Particular praise was given to the film's two leads, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloe Moretz, for their chemistry and maturity on-screen.
Acclaimed horror author Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
wrote "Let Me In is a genre-busting triumph. Not just a horror film, but the best American horror film in the last 20 years."
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
wrote that the film "is more than a respectful remake; 'Let Me In' is quietly stylish and thoroughly chilling in its own right."
Lou Lumenick of The New York Post called Let Me In "the scariest, creepiest and most elegantly filmed horror movie I’ve seen in years — it positively drives a stake through the competition."
A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote "what makes 'Let Me In' so eerily fascinating is the mood it creates. It is at once artful and unpretentious, more interested in intimacy and implication than in easy scares or slick effects."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
praised the film while comparing it to the original. He stated, "Reeves understands what made the first film so eerie and effective, and here the same things work again." Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
film critic Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
, who was initially skeptical, gave the film a positive review while writing, "I thought for sure that any Hollywood remake of Tomas Alfredson's artful Swedish vampire film, Let the Right One In, would be a crass desecration. Well, color me blushing" and "Prepare to be wowed. It's a spellbinder." Roger Moore of Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, stating, "Reeves has Americanized a very good foreign film without defanging it."
Let Me In was not well-received by all critics. Some disputed Reeves' claims that he was not remaking the film but re-adapting the book, criticizing it for being too similar to the Swedish film. Josh Tyler wrote "The movie he’s made is absolutely a direct remake of the 2008 film, the two are so similar that it’s almost impossible to differentiate between them." In a similar vein, Jamie S. Rich noted that while there was plenty of content in the original novel that the Swedish film omitted, "Reeves hasn't really ferreted out anything new; on the contrary, there is actually less plot in Let Me In than in the Alfredson version."
Beth Accomando wrote, "How Reeves can take the credit 'written and directed by Matt Reeves' seems almost laughable when you note how similar the script and the direction are to the original." In comparing the two films, she opined that the remake "makes obvious all that the original film made subtle and does so with less complexity."
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode is an English film critic, musician and a member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He contributes to Sight and Sound magazine, The Observer newspaper and BBC Radio 5 Live, where he presents Kermode and Mayo's Film Reviews with Simon Mayo on Friday afternoons...
called it "the most utterly redundant remake of the year".
According to Sukhdev Sandhu of The Telegraph, "Let Me In doesn't need to exist unless, that is, the very notion of Swedish cinema is strange and unpalatable to you....What’s missing is the alluring otherness of Let the Right One In. That film's brittle textures and haunted ambiance seemed in some strange way to have sprung organically from the nation in which it was set. This remake, by contrast, smells of boardrooms and calculating machines."
Let Me In was a critics' pick as one of the Top 10 Best Films of 2010 at CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
and at MSN Entertainment
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
for the 2010 Year in Review Special Features.
Author's response
John Ajvide LindqvistJohn Ajvide Lindqvist
John Ajvide Lindqvist is a Swedish writer, mostly of horror novels and short stories. Ajvide Lindqvist grew up in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg. His debut novel Let the Right One In a romantic, social realistic vampire horror story published in 2004, enjoyed great success in Sweden and abroad...
, author of Let the Right One In, who also wrote the screenplay for the original Swedish film, was pleased with Let Me In. He said:
Awards and nominations
| Award | Category | Winner/Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Film Critics Association Awards | Breakthrough Artist | Chloe Moretz Chloe Moretz Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,... |
|
| Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards | Actor of the Year | Chloe Moretz | |
| Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards | Breakthrough Film Artist | Chloe Moretz | |
| Central Ohio Film Critics Association Awards | Best Overlooked Film | Let Me In | |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards Critics' Choice Movie Awards The Critics' Choice Movie Awards are presented annually since 1995 by the Broadcast Film Critics Association for outstanding achievements in the cinema industry.-List of awards:*Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Action Movie... |
Best Young Actor/Actress | Chloe Moretz | |
| Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Young Actor/Actress | Kodi Smit-McPhee Kodi Smit-McPhee Kodi Smit-McPhee is an award-winning Australian actor, most known for his roles as The Boy in the The Road and Owen in Let Me In. He has also appeared in Australian films, Romulus, My Father and Matching Jack.... |
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| Detroit Film Critics Society Detroit Film Critics Society The Detroit Film Critics Society is a film critic organization in Detroit, Michigan, United States.-2007 Awards:The nominees for the Detroit Film Critics Society Awards 2007 were announced on 15 December and the winners were announced on 21 December 2007.-Best Actor:**George Clooney - Michael... Awards |
Breakthrough Performance | Chloe Moretz | |
| Empire Awards Empire Awards An Empire Award is an accolade bestowed by Empire, Britain's biggest selling film magazine, to recognize excellence of professionals in the locale and global film industry. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine and in an annual ceremony, the Empire Awards, the winners are presented... |
Best Newcomer | Chloe Moretz | |
| Empire Awards | Best Horror | Let Me In | |
| Golden Reel Awards | Best Sound Editing: Feature Film Music | Let Me In | |
| Golden Tomato Awards | Best Horror | Let Me In | |
| Golden Tomato Awards | Best Wide Release | Let Me In | |
| Gotham Awards Gotham Awards The Gotham Awards is an annual ceremony of awards presented to the makers of independent films which takes place in New York City... |
Best Feature | Let Me In | |
| National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Awards National Board of Review of Motion Pictures The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr.'s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses on Christmas Eve 1908. The mayor believed that the new medium... |
Top Independent Films | Let Me In | |
| People's Choice Awards People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show recognizing the people and the work of popular culture. The show has been held annually since 1975 and is voted on by the general public. The People's Choice Awards air on CBS and are produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor magnate Mark Burnett... |
Favorite Horror Movie | Let Me In | |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Overlooked Film | Let Me In | |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Young Actor | Kodi Smit-McPhee | |
| Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards | Best Young Actress | Chloe Moretz | |
| Richard Attenborough Film Awards | Rising Star | Chloe Moretz | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Horror/Thriller Film | Let Me In | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Kodi Smit-McPhee | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Chloe Moretz | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Director | Matt Reeves Matt Reeves Matthew George "Matt" Reeves is an American film writer, director and producer.-Early life:Reeves was born in Rockville Centre, New York, and raised in Los Angeles, California. He began making movies at eight years old, directing friends with a wind-up camera. Reeves met and became friends with J.J... |
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| Saturn Awards | Best Writing | Matt Reeves | |
| Saturn Awards | Best Music | Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino Michael Giacchino is an American composer who has composed scores for movies, television series and video games. Some of his most notable works include the scores to television series such as Lost, Alias and Fringe, games such as the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series, and films such as... |
|
| Saturn Awards | Best Make-Up | Let Me In | |
| Scream Awards Scream Awards The Scream Awards is an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films. Originally only having Scream Queen and Heroic Performance awards for actors, the personnel awards have expanded to include actors and actresses of all three recognized genres. In addition,... |
Best Horror Movie | Let Me In | |
| Scream Awards | Best Horror Actress | Chloe Moretz | |
| Teen Choice Awards Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards, are an annual awards show that air on the Fox cable channel, that honor the year's biggest biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, voted by teen viewers aged 14 through 17. Winners receive an authentic full size surfboard designed with... |
Best Horror Movie | Let Me In | |
| Young Artist Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Dylan Minnette Dylan Minnette Dylan Christopher Minnette is an American teen actor and musician.-Life and career:Minnette was born in Evansville, Indiana to Robyn Maker-Minnette, moved briefly to Champaign, Illinois for 5 years, and later moved to Los Angeles to continue his acting career.His first role was a single episode of... |
|
| Young Artist Awards | Best Ensemble Cast | Let Me In |
External links
- Official shooting script
- Let Me In at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...