I'M A LIFE-LONG NEW YORKAH. But I might as well have been born and raised in the 'show me' state of Missouri. I have a steadfast devotion to simple, common sense, and if something veers off the rails of good reasoning, you gotta...well, you know. Which today brings me down the long road of film foolishness to the taboo land of REMAKES.
Great films garner cult followings. Films with cult followings garner remakes. Remakes, however, seldom, if ever, live up to the cinematic potential and originality of the base material they mirror. And so it goes...
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 Trailer for Matt Reeves' LET ME IN. |
There are exceptions to this rule, of course, like two of my all-time favorites: Christian Nyby / Howard Hawks' The Thing from Another World (1951), and Kurt Neumann's THE FLY (1958). And yet these two films are also in the pantheon of my most highly-regarded films, too: John Carpenter's THE THING (1982), and David Cronenberg's THE FLY (1986). Both those films -- remakes of the aforementioned -- paid homage to their black and white ancestors, who were already well-established classic icons when the remakes hit theaters.
FLASHFORWARD to 2009 when word begins to spread online about a pending remake of the much-beloved Swedish Vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (2008) -- LET ME IN -- and the fanboy street explodes reacting adversely to the news and very much set against it (further aggravated by the fact that the director chosen for the remake is Matt Reeves, helmer of the sci-fi, thriller Cloverfield):
"The original is a near perfect movie," said one forum postee at www.shocktillyoudrop.com. "What a lack of originality in Hollywood to do this. You REMAKE movies that werent [sic] made correctly in the first place. Stupid. Just stupid." - Mr. EEEE (March 2, 2009).
Interestingly enough, Let Me In is a co-production of Overture Films and UK-based Hammer Films, an intrinsic pioneer in the horror/monster genre, who are responsible for such memorable horror staples as The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), Horror of Dracula (1958), and a deluge of great 1960s fright fodder. Hammer's reputation is well known for re-imagining horror classics and it seems they have jumped into the deep end of the pool once again. Let Me In is part uno of a two-film distribution deal between Overture Films and Exclusive Media Group, Hammer's parent company.
In the American version the lead characters have been renamed and re-casted -- Oskar has become Owen (played by Kodi Smit-McPhee - of Romulus, My Father) and Eli has morphed into Abby (now donned by Chloe Moretz - of KICK ASS fame). Owen's father is owned by the wonderful character actor Richard Jenkins. Matt Reeves seems to have done his homework, as the cast deftly compliments the story in both aesthetics and talent. And judging from the trailer, and despite Reeves' own promise that his film would not be a shot-for-shot copy of Tomas Alfredson's, the creepy tone and suspenseful pace seem to have carried over in ernest. And while trailers are arguably an editor's medium, these early signs are a promising indication that we may just get our money's worth of the goosebump factor after all
Since the trailer made its debut at the Overture panel at Comic-Con International 2010 this past week, the pessimistic -- and sometimes antagonistic tone from fans of the original -- has dropped quite a few notches, almost to the point of a tepid wait-and-see attitude. Others have begun to move to the other end of the spectrum altogether, now bordering on the brink of adoration. Regardless of the degree of the swing, the trailer has gone a long way to quell fan's fears. Perhaps this will 'show' all of us Missouri-minded doubters that it can still be done - if the time is taken in fact to do it right (cross your fingers that that maxim becomes a commercially-viable trend in that oft valley of mediocrity called Hollywood).
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The poster machine over at Overture has been working overtime as evidenced by all the cool concept/teaser one-sheets that have been released within the last few weeks. The poster featuring Abby in a fetal position lying in a pool of blood was an exclusive Comic-Con International fanboy giveaway. Are we yet to see others? |
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Moreover, looking to tap into the lucrative Fanboy/Fangirl market, Hammer Films has joined Dark Horse Comics in developing its first-ever graphic novel based on the film (inversely, the original is based on a book). Dark Horse is tapping comic book- and screenplay- writer Marc Andreyko to create the spinoff.
Said Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson:
"'Let Me In' is easily one of the most chilling and exciting horror stories to come along in years and as we have learned time and time again, comics provides the perfect place to expand on the storyline.”
The film is scheduled to open widely in theaters October 1st.
Visit the film's official website: http://www.letmein-movie.com
Become a fan of the film at 
Edwin Pagán, LH
