Ever since it was announced that “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves would be directing “Let Me In,” a remake of the cult Swedish vampire hit “Let The Right One In,” fans of the original have been up in arms saying the new film would be pointless, an Americanized travesty of the original. With vampire blockbuster “Twilight: Eclipse” hitting theaters this week, it seems as good a time as any to debut the international trailer for the film, courtesy of Icon and Deadline, if only to look good in comparison.
And you know what? It doesn’t look terrible. The shouty electro/metal scoring doesn’t help, but Reeves seems to have a sure sense for tone and period, the leads seem well cast and the cinematography, by hot up-and-coming Australian DP Greig Fraser (“Bright Star”), looks terrific. The original stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of vampire movies, but it’s not impossible to improve on it — this writer found that some of the Raimi-esque gore sequences in the Swedish version clashed with the mostly lyrical tone of the film.
Having said all that, it almost looks too faithful; despite moving the setting to New Mexico, it does seem very similar, with some moments seemingly shot-for-shot from the original. Having said all that, both Ain’t It Cool and Cinema Blend ran mostly positive test screening reviews this week . Could it be time for the fanboys to open their minds to the possibility to the idea that this might actually do justice to the original?