I really don’t want to see this remake so soon after last year’s Let The Right One In, but it’s not like I have a choice. If you’re not familiar, the story concerns an alienated 12-year-old boy who befriends a 12 year-old vampire in his small New Mexico town and discovers an unconventional path to adulthood. (New Mexico? WTF?!)
Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), the cast includes Elias Koteas (Shutter Island), Cara Buono (of HBO’s “The Sopranos”) and Sasha Barrese (The Hangover) with Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer) taking the three leads. While the casting is superb and all that, why do this? Why not just give the original the release it deserves? Because mainstream audiences don’t want to read subtitles, and because studios want all the profit not just distribution. BLAH!
To wit: the filmmakers note that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context. President and CEO of Hammer Films Simon Oakes notes, “The brilliance of [Let the Right One In] deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale and we are excited that the pieces are in place to make that a reality.” I like Matt Reeves, but eh. Why does Hollywood have to remake EVERYTHING? I understand a lot of things were left out of the Swedish adaptation so that’s fair, but that statement is a blatant slap in the face to the original. If it’s brilliance deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale, why not release the original on a wide scale? As for forging a new identity, I give you evidence that might say otherwise. You decide.
-Brian
US POSTER
SWEDISH POSTER
ugh…im just so angry at this my view is totally twisted…i cant see anything good about this….but i do hope that i am proven wrong. :@
I've heard that *supposedly* the American director had wanted to make the book into a movie even before the original Swedish movie came out. I dunno if that's true or not, but if so, it makes me a little less pissed off about an American remake.
Having read the book, I don't think it's absolutely necessary to include most of the stuff that was left out of the original movie. The book works fine as a book, but if they tried to include everything in a movie they'd have horrible pacing problems, and the story would wander too much. Books and movies just don't work the same.
For what it's worth… I like the Swedish poster better
I'm completely against this as well. I don't see myself even giving this one a chance.
How was the book compared to the Swedish movie version? I didn't read the book or see the Swedish movie version, but Roth told me she was disappointed in the movie. Perhaps too much hype?
Dennis
I saw the movie before I read the book. I thought both were pretty good.
There were a lot of characters who only showed up briefly (or not at all) in the movie who had much bigger roles in the book. For example, there's a creepy child-molester guy Eli uses to go get blood for her who gets killed off about a third of the way through the movie, but he plays a major role throughout the whole book (and is a lot more creepy and child-molester-y).
Also, I think the book goes a little deeper into what a dark and depressing place Sweden is in the winter. Pretty much everybody in the book drinks heavily all the time, and even some of the kids are huffing glue and stuff, but the author doesn't seem to make such a big deal out of it; it's like this is just how people over there normally "do what they have to do" just to get through another winter without killing themselves (I dunno if that's what it's really like there, but the author writes like it is). I dunno how they're gonna convey that in a US setting, the feel of the place is totally different.
Hollywood's killing you with all these remakes aren't they?
Dennis
I'm probably going to see it for ThinkHero whenever it comes out. Do you think you'll see it if you hear enough good things about it?
Dennis
I'm a big fan of the original movie, and I'm interested in seeing the new version. That said, the new version will have to be pretty good to not disappoint me. While (in my opinion) the original movie could have included and/or explained a few plot elements better, I thought it was an excellent movie, overall.
As far as posters go: I'm not that impressed with the new poster, and prefer the one for the original movie.
The US remake is being directed by Matt Reeves who did Cloverfield, which I actually enjoyed for what it was. Though that movie didn't really have much plot or character development, so I don't know if its any indication of how he will handle this.
Dennis