"Twilight this is not – an intelligent twist on the vampire genre"

International foreign language film garners extremely positive critical reception and bags a whole load of awards (in this case the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature and the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation's 2008 Méliès d'Or – nope I’d never heard of them either).  Rather than releasing said film globally and trusting in the original films quality, Hollywood decrees that a remake is in order.  Needless to say, this will of course be entirely faithful to the original (if you don’t believe me just watch The Ring or The Grudge).

Now I haven’t watched the original film (Let The Right One In if you’re interested) so I cannot comment on the accuracy of the remake, however the general gist of the discussions happening after the screening were that not only was Let Me In utterly faithful to the original, in many ways it was actually an improvement, ironing out some inconsistencies and flaws that previously existed.

In a nutshell, the film focuses on the blossoming relationship that develops between the awkward loner Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee of The Road fame) and his mysterious new neighbour Abby (Chloë Moretz ala Hit Girl from Kick Ass).  The performance of these two young actors is absolutely astonishing – the emotion and intelligence they bring to the roles belies their young age.  You could argue that the entire film is a study on the intricacy of relationships and how they impact on our lives at every stage – your time at school, your first love, your relationship with your parents, your closest friends - all of these and more are laid bare and examined here.

This is not a film for those of you going to the cinema for an utter no brainer on a Friday night.  I’ll be honest; I saw the trailer and went into the cinema thinking that this was going to be an utter fright fest.  Creepy young kids + vampires was, in my mind, absolutely guaranteed to deliver the ultimate Friday fright night.  When it became clear that the film wasn’t going to deliver this, I was annoyed.  On reflection however, the performances and direction came to the fore – for once, Hollywood has delivered to the masses the genius of local cinema.