Remaking a little-seen but much-loved foreign film is a difficult task. Attracting a new audience while staying true to the original involves a delicate hand and a great deal of care, as the filmmakers behind this American version of Sweden’s instant-classic vampire film, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (winner of Best International Feature at CIFF 2008), are well aware.

After all, the world of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN is as far removed from the sparkly, largely harmless vampires of contemporary Hollywood as it is from the folklore-drenched mysticism of traditional vampire legends. Instead, it is its own beast entirely, a haunting tale of unlikely friendship and brief but brutal violence.

For LET ME IN, writer-director Matt Reeves has moved the action from the frozen climes of Sweden to the arid landscape of New Mexico and to the early 1980s setting of the novel on which both films are based. More importantly, though, he respects the relationship at the core of the film, the tentative friendship between a young boy and a child-like vampire. That lens of innocence is what colours the movie’s atmosphere, and what makes LET ME IN a worthy entry in the horror genre.

PH