Let Me In (Matt Reeves)

Let me in directed by Matt Reeves is another story of blood sucker vampires and how dramatic can their fictional life become. It shows how this type of monster can be so possessive to a certain person.

PLOT SUMMARY by wikipedia:

In 1983 Los Alamos, New Mexico, a police detective (Elias Koteas) enters the hospital room of a disfigured man and tries to question him about a recent murder for which he is a suspect. The detective concludes by telling the suspect that he will catch whoever else he is in league with; the detective is then called to take a phone call outside the room by the desk nurse and is told that the man's daughter is downstairs. While he is on the phone, a scream is heard, and the detective finds the suspect has fallen out of the window to his death.

Flashback two weeks earlier, Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is an unhappy and lonely 12-year-old boy, who is neglected by his divorcing parents, and continually harassed at school by bullies. One evening, when Owen is alone in the courtyard of his apartment complex he is approached by a girl named Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) who has moved into the apartment next door. Abby tells Owen that they cannot be friends, but regardless Abby and Owen grow closer, seeing each other at night in the courtyard, and start communicating by Morse code through the walls of their apartments. At school the main bully, Kenny (Dylan Minnette), scars Owen with an antenna rod; when Abby finds out about this she tells him to defend himself and she will help him if needed.

Meanwhile, Abby's "father", Thomas (Richard Jenkins), occasionally goes out to kill local residents in order to acquire blood for the vampiric Abby. During his first murder, he accidentally spills the blood and returns home empty handed; a furious Abby leaves the apartment and then kills and feeds on a jogger who lives in their neighborhood. Abby continues developing her relationship with Owen. One night, Thomas hides in the back of a high school student’s car in order to later subdue him, but the student picks up a passenger, completely altering Thomas's plans. While the driver stops at a gas station, Thomas subdues the passenger, and tries to flee. He crashes the car in a nearby ditch and becomes trapped inside. Thomas douses his face with acid so that his connection to Abby will not be discovered. He is taken to the hospital; when Abby learned this from a radio broadcast, she climbs up outside his window to see him. Thomas leans forward to offer his throat to Abby, who drinks his blood. Thomas passes out and falls to his death. The detective later gradually learns of Thomas's connection to Abby.

The next day on a school outing to a local frozen pond in a park Kenny threatens to push Owen into an ice hole. Owen defends himself with a metal pole splitting Kenny's ear. Also while at the park, a body is discovered under the ice. Later, Owen takes Abby to an abandoned area of their apartment complex where he cuts his finger to make a blood pact with her. Abby is drawn to the blood falling to the ground; she licks it up and Owen sees her vampiric form for the first time, but instead of attacking Owen, Abby runs away and attacks Virginia (Sasha Barrese), a woman in the complex park. Owen then confronts Abby at her apartment where Abby admits that she is a vampire. Owen also discovers that Thomas was not her father, but a man (Thomas) she has known since he (Thomas) was a boy, and, horrified, immediately leaves. Abby instinctively tries to block his way, but eventually lets him go, shouting after him "I told you we couldn't be friends!" Meanwhile at the hospital, Virginia transforms into a vampire, but when a nurse draws the curtains, the daylight causes her to burst into flames, killing them both.

Abby visits one night while Owen's mother (Cara Buono) is away. Owen opens the door for her and she tells him he needs to invite her in. He asks her why, so she enters without an invitation, which causes her to bleed heavily until he verbally acquiesces. The next morning, the detective finds Abby asleep in the bathtub, but Owen startles him, allowing Abby to grab him from behind. Abby kills the detective and starts to feed off him. Later, she is seen leaving in a taxi.

During an evening gym class, Kenny, his older brother Jimmy (Brett Del Buono), and their friends start a fire outside to distract authorities and clear out the swimming pool. Jimmy tells Owen that if he can hold his breath underwater for three minutes, then he will cut Owen's cheek; if Owen cannot, Jimmy will poke out one of Owen's eyes. As Owen is held underwater, chaos ensues as Abby slaughters the four bullies. Abby and Owen then make their escape.

Later, Owen travels on a train with Abby in a chest beside him. They tap out brief messages to each other in Morse code as the film ends.

CRITICISM:

Cinematography and Special Effects- The camera shots and positions are commendable, everything is according to place and timing. In scary or suspense moments the eye of the camera helps in making the scenery scary enough for the audience, and also the amazing filters and exposure effects make it even more scary and dark. I personally love the scene wherein Abby pretend to be a pauper to a man inside a big cave or a tunnel and she became the worst nightmare of the man who pitied on her. I love the effects of the fast moving Abby. 

Story- The story is one of the most unexpected story I've ever heard, it is like a combination of the movie "The Orphan" and the movies of the blood sucking monsters. But it has a different twist about love, affection, greediness and a never ending story of an immortal vampire. What I like about the story is twist of it, that she is not a real 12 year old after all.

Editing- Flashbacks are one of the highlights of the story, wherein a viewer shouldn't miss a single moment of the film to fully understand the whole and chronological order of it.

Production Design- The setting of the story is commendable for it's lighting and it's scary scenery as well as the prosthetic and props they've used. It is somehow realistic with all this production design.

What I don't like with the story is that this is purely about the BUBOG (meaning is in Kisapmata article) of every characters, without any light moments and very dramatic. Maybe it will be better if there are more light moments for the characters and more background of the characters to make it clearer. It didn't leave me any prints or mark in my heart to make this story remembered.

-KRT