Monday | January 25, 2010 | 12:09 pm
LOL Of The Week: Matt Reeves Says ‘Let Me In’ Is Scarier Than Twilight. Dear Hollywood, I have voiced my thoughts on this so many times before, but you have yet to listen and the problem only gets worse. Enough with remakes, redo’s, and reboots. If an audience is too lazy to seek out interest films and are apathetic to the point where fantastic foreign pictures need to be dumbed down and “Americanized” in order to be seen, then the audiences don’t deserve to see them at all. The latest in a long line of poorly adapted screenplays for popcorn munching, mainstream audiences is the remake of 2008’s awesome vampire drama Let The Right One. Cloverfield director Matt Reeves helms the American version, and promised his supposed fans in an interview with MTV that his version, entitled Let Me In (perhaps an early indicator of how watered-down and dissatisfying it will be) will be “darker” and “scarier” than Twilight.… lol wut? I certainly hope it’s more frightening than America’s latest tween pop culture sensation. Reeves himself applied the term “Americanization” to his film, which Jace Brittain of The Playlist calls “a horrifying prospect considering the current record of American remakes of foreign classics”. I couldn’t agree more, and to dig the hole even deeper and frighten both fans and critics alike, Reeves described the film as a “beautiful coming-of-age story” and as “being about the difficulties of growing up”. For anyone that has seen Let The Right One In, Reeves’ clear misconception of the film is blatantly and unfortunately evident. For one, how can the film be a coming-of-age story when vampires don’t age? I know it sounds silly and sarcastic as I’ve clearly put forth my opposition toward Let Me In, but in Tomas Alfredson’s original the dialogue even gives credence to this point. Oskar, the young boy in the film, at one point asks Eli, the vampire, “Are you really my age?” to which she replies “Yes. But I’ve been this age for a very long time.” Reeves has completely missed the point. It’s not at all about growing up, but about the urgency two twelve year old characters feel to love one another, as they have both been utterly rejected from society and exist in a bleak world of despair and loneliness. Oskar’s parents have separated, he is bullied at school by an entirely sadistic student, and he spends his evenings kicking around on a snowy playground outside his flat. There is seemingly nothing for Oskar, and somewhat like his vampire counterpart, he is forever stuck at age twelve; there is no coming-of-age for him, at least not until Eli enters the picture, and even then there’s so much more to overcome. I haven’t even scratched the surface of Let The Right One In however, and I can imagine, from what I hear so far, that Matt Reeves’ American remake will be a silly, aimless, and overwhelmingly disappointing pile of garbage. Alfredson’s original film is a dark and relentless drama, void of any warmth or brightness, taking viewers into an abyss that is only escaped in a bizarre love story between vampire and human. The main characters of this film are almost self destructive in their corruption and unfortunate exposure to such a world, and as Roger Ebert quotes “We care for them more than they care for themselves”. And so, Mr. Reeves, I thank you for making my Monday morning that much more enjoyable with a good laugh. Your adaptation of a film that was so depressingly barren that it was hard to watch what the characters were doing onscreen will be “darker than Twilight” Thank God. Perhaps with some reshoots and good editing it will be as disturbing as an episode of General Hospital. Leave art alone Hollywood, and go see what Michael Bay is up to. -William Gutheil

LOL Of The Week: Matt Reeves Says ‘Let Me In’ Is Scarier Than Twilight.

Dear Hollywood, I have voiced my thoughts on this so many times before, but you have yet to listen and the problem only gets worse. Enough with remakes, redo’s, and reboots. If an audience is too lazy to seek out interest films and are apathetic to the point where fantastic foreign pictures need to be dumbed down and “Americanized” in order to be seen, then the audiences don’t deserve to see them at all. The latest in a long line of poorly adapted screenplays for popcorn munching, mainstream audiences is the remake of 2008’s awesome vampire drama Let The Right One. Cloverfield director Matt Reeves helms the American version, and promised his supposed fans in an interview with MTV that his version, entitled Let Me In (perhaps an early indicator of how watered-down and dissatisfying it will be) will be “darker” and “scarier” than Twilight.… lol wut? I certainly hope it’s more frightening than America’s latest tween pop culture sensation.

Reeves himself applied the term “Americanization” to his film, which Jace Brittain of The Playlist calls “a horrifying prospect considering the current record of American remakes of foreign classics”. I couldn’t agree more, and to dig the hole even deeper and frighten both fans and critics alike, Reeves described the film as a “beautiful coming-of-age story” and as “being about the difficulties of growing up”. For anyone that has seen Let The Right One In, Reeves’ clear misconception of the film is blatantly and unfortunately evident. For one, how can the film be a coming-of-age story when vampires don’t age? I know it sounds silly and sarcastic as I’ve clearly put forth my opposition toward Let Me In, but in Tomas Alfredson’s original the dialogue even gives credence to this point. Oskar, the young boy in the film, at one point asks Eli, the vampire, “Are you really my age?” to which she replies “Yes. But I’ve been this age for a very long time.” Reeves has completely missed the point. It’s not at all about growing up, but about the urgency two twelve year old characters feel to love one another, as they have both been utterly rejected from society and exist in a bleak world of despair and loneliness. Oskar’s parents have separated, he is bullied at school by an entirely sadistic student, and he spends his evenings kicking around on a snowy playground outside his flat. There is seemingly nothing for Oskar, and somewhat like his vampire counterpart, he is forever stuck at age twelve; there is no coming-of-age for him, at least not until Eli enters the picture, and even then there’s so much more to overcome. I haven’t even scratched the surface of Let The Right One In however, and I can imagine, from what I hear so far, that Matt Reeves’ American remake will be a silly, aimless, and overwhelmingly disappointing pile of garbage. Alfredson’s original film is a dark and relentless drama, void of any warmth or brightness, taking viewers into an abyss that is only escaped in a bizarre love story between vampire and human. The main characters of this film are almost self destructive in their corruption and unfortunate exposure to such a world, and as Roger Ebert quotes “We care for them more than they care for themselves”.


And so, Mr. Reeves, I thank you for making my Monday morning that much more enjoyable with a good laugh. Your adaptation of a film that was so depressingly barren that it was hard to watch what the characters were doing onscreen will be “darker than Twilight” Thank God. Perhaps with some reshoots and good editing it will be as disturbing as an episode of General Hospital. Leave art alone Hollywood, and go see what Michael Bay is up to.

-William Gutheil

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