Fake Halloween Film Festival III

Ok so basically what this is, is me creating a fantasy film festival that would run during October. Think fantasy football without the football. This is (probably) the third year I've created such a list and its basically done so that people might consider seeing either films they've never heard of or missed that could work well with general Halloween-ish times. Not all are conventional horror movies, but then again I don't feel like they need to be. If something conveys immense tension or creates an unsettling atmosphere then isn't that note worthy for the holiday? Eh, maybe it's just me. Anyways here's my twenty picks. Most of them you can track down via the video store or Netflix; there's at least one new theatrical release and then there's a couple that might take some digging.

1. "Hausu" (1977) pictured above
I always try to sell this as like "The Evil Dead" before there was "The Evil Dead". Basically you have a fun loving group of Japanese school girls that go visit one of the girl's elderly grandmother. However after a while they slowly start disappearing and one of them thinks the grandmother is involved. "Hausu" is fantastic because of it's mix of the beautiful, the horrific, the funny and the bizarre. Nobuhiko Obayashi was a veteran commercial director known for his surreal and very different visual style. "Hausu" is like a psychedelic, experimental ghost story that ought to be seen by anyone with even the smallest interest in film; be it horror or other.

2. "Eyes Without a Face" (1960)
A wealthy French man hires a doctor to restore his daughters beautiful face using an untested and radical type of plastic surgery. A perfect example of slow burn, suspense based horror.

3. "Manhunter" (1986)
Before Jonathan Demme and Anthony Hopkins took Hannibal Lecter and turned him into the infamous film villain we met in "The Silence of the Lambs", Michael Mann did it with Brian Cox in the first adaption of "Red Dragon". Brett Ratner's remake is pretty close to Mann's version which I why I think they both work on their own and need no comparison mostly. However I feel "Manhunter" does display a certain level of eeriness that "Red Dragon" lacked. Mainly steaming for the way Mann shoots during key scenes and from Tom Noonan's depiction of Francis Dollarhyde.

4. "Road Games" (1981)
Directed by Richard Franklin, a student of Alfred Hitchcock; "Road Games" is a paranoid, Australian road thriller for the motormouth generation. Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis have great chemistry which is evident throughout the film. Franklin directs the film in ways that would make his teacher proud, however concludes the film as typical B-aussie thriller form might dictate. Not a bad thing either.

5. "Lost Highway" (1997)
I always want at least one David Lynch film on these lists so this year it'll be his surrealistic noir film. Bill Pullman is a jazz musician with a dark history, Patrica Arquette is wife who's frightened by these video tapes she's being sent that show someone taping their house and then someone taping them while in the house. Robert Blake (the guy who probably murdered his wife) plays the mystery man that's behind it... probably. "Lost Highway" is pure, unfiltered Lynch. It's scary, bizarre, erotic and complex.

6. "Let Me In" (2010)
I reviewed Matt Reeves remake of "Let the Right One In" earlier this month and said that I felt his version as a whole worked a lot better and made the story much more engrossing and atmospheric than the original work. I stand by all of that. The performances and the relationship between this boy and girl are what drive the entire film. Reeves directs the film with effortless style and beauty. Sadly at this point I'm pretty certain we can call it a box office flop. However if it's still in your area I'd highly recommend seeing it.

7. "Shallow Grave" (1994)
Danny Boyle's film debut. Also his first example of how to make generally dis-likable people likable. The only time I feel he failed with that is "Sunshine", but here it's done perfectly. Three shitty roommates interview various people for a room they're renting out. They finally pick a guy that suits them and after a few days he dies. However when they search his room they discover a suitcase full of money. Thus begins the long and dark conflict among the three friends.

8. "The Magician" (1958)
First off you can't go wrong with Bergman. Second here is a beautifully shot and unraveling battle of wits between a potion selling magician and a royal doctor that seeks to break down his abilities. A great piece of dramatic creepiness.

9. "Next of Kin" (1982)
This is one of those hard as shit to find ones, BUT if you can it's pretty great. You can a daughter that reads her mother's diary and soon after the bizarre events within it start happening to her. It's got a lot in common with "The Shining" and is made with A LOT of impressive, occasionally surrealistic style.

10. "Shutter Island" (2010)
It's hard not to love Scorsese films sometimes. I saw this theatrically a few times and each time I found something else I loved about it. Robert Richardson's photography, DiCaprio's hard ass, gum shoe attitude, the musical choices, Michelle Williams performance... fuck just the overall tone of the film. And yeah I stand by that I think it does hold up with the given ending, but I also feel it's all in how you choose to see it. When really listening to what a lot of characters have to say often times you can spin it either way. Personally I hate going into mysteries and thinking 'well let's figure this out'. Honestly there's no point to seeing it if that's your mind set because it closes you off to pretty much anything else is has to offer. All your brain is doing is collecting evidence.

11. "Nosferatu: the Vampyre" (1979)
I decided to use this one over Herzog's "The Enigma of Kasper Houser", although both are great and haunting little films. Personally I love Herzog's remake above the original because of how he decides to spin things nearing the final act. There's an entire piece where the city is slowly becoming engulfed in rats and the black plague. People begin losing their minds. Klaus Kinski's performance is (as it usually is) stellar and Bruno Ganz is an impressive Harker.

12. "The Cove" (2009)
Ok, ok... it's not EXACTLY the perfect fit for this list. However anyone who has seen "The Cove" can attest to it's power, tension and occasionally graphic violence. The idea of having this is to place something more real on the list. "The Cove" isn't simply about a community that kills dolphins. It's about a community that lies to the world about what they're really doing. It's about how they're killing their own people and not telling them. And more importantly it's about people who want to stop it from continuing. So yeah it's not the poster child for Halloween horror film or thriller watching, but it's just as intense, traumatic and unsettling as anything else you're likely to see in the genre.

13. "Hellraiser" (1987)
Honestly I don't think Clive Barker's the shit. BUT "Hellraiser" definitely is. I'm sure many of you have seen it and it's various sequels and know all about Pinhead. But for those who don't... oh boy... quite a flick. I always schedule it in a couple times a year because I love so much of the effects and the vibe of the film. This was Barker's first and in my opinion BEST film.

14. "Dead Ringers" (1988)
CRONENBERG TIME! No one quite does psycho-sexual horror like Cronenberg and "Dead Ringer" might be his finest. Jeremy Irons plays twin brothers who are polar opposites personality wise, but share almost everything else in life. This includes women. The whole film leads to some wild, lurid and creepy as shit places. I will grant you that this goes under the hard to find list, but if you can GRAB IT.

15. "Phone Booth" (2002)
When Joel Schmucher has the right set of circumstances he can really make an impressive film. "Phone Booth" is that. It works within the conversions of a thriller that seeks to break down one shitty person and see if he does still has some morality. Colin Farrell delivers one of his best performances (second only to "In Bruges") as a generally shitty New York agent with a lot of skeletons in his closest. Kiefer Sutherland plays the voice of the caller who's threatening to shoot Farrell (using a high powered rifle) if he doesn't follow his exact directions. I also think this is Schmacher's best film. Yeah that's right, I'm not a fan of "The Lost Boys".

16. "Repulsion" (1965)
Among Roman Polanski's best films and another great psycho-sexually thriller. What we have here is Catherine Deneuve as Carole; a sexually repressed woman who starts fantasizing and/or losing her mind thinking about sex and rape. Polanski's a great mentalist and first the film time in his short career started toying around with a stronger visual style a well. Quite a gorgeously shot and put together film.

17. "Trick R' Treat" (2007)
Warner Brothers really fucked up when they didn't release this in theaters. Written and directed by Michael Dougherty and produced by Bryan Singer this is one of the best episodic horror films since "Creepshow". All of the stories are fun and interesting horror shorts that easily double as good old fashion campfire stories. The effects are well done and the execution is great. I really hope to see Dougherty get another stab at directing soon.

18. John Carpenter's "They Live" (1988)
Quite an interesting sci-fi action, horror, thriller where we get to see aliens that resemble inside out humans, hidden subliminal messages throughout the world and Roddy Piper & Keith David in a classic, brutal back alley fight scene. It's not great Carpenter, but it is one of his last enjoyable and often gleefully goofy films. It was pretty much downhill after this.

19. "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors" (1987)
My favorite Elm Street sequel for numerous reasons. A great young cast, creative Freddy kills, fantastic set design and some hilarious one liners.

20. (CLASSIC CHOICE) "Alien" (1979)
Seriously if you've never seen Ridley Scott's "Alien" then... well... shit. You should see Ridley Scott's "Alien". Maybe the perfect example of sci-fi suspense horror. Outstanding designs, effects, performances and overall scope.

Never Let Me Go review

Here's one of those times when I wish a film got wide, mass distribution. In a given year there are several movies that try their damnedest to invoke an emotion or general care out of the audience. Movies like "Remember Me" or "Life As We Know It" tact on as much fake emotion and tear jerking moves as they can so that when you walk out of the theater you just wanna go hug someone and tell them you love them. Then let them know that you never want them to end up in the World Trade Center on 9/11 or for them to die in a horrible car accident and leave you their 2-year old kid. Granted with that last one much piss poor hilarity might ensue... still... you'll be missed. No, "Never Let Me Go" is the real deal. This is a film that almost from moment one you begin to feel the subtle tinge in your gut that something is wrong. A few minutes after that it gets worse. And soon after that you witness a group of young child informed that they were created simply for harvesting and will never really live.

To place the film tone wise it's as if Mark Romanek decided to make a science fiction drama where the entire running time felt like the ending of "Blade Runner". For those of you who aren't aware the moment of me watching the ending of that film and understanding why Roy Batty saved Deckard and why he was telling him these stories of things he has seen, made a strong and emotional attachment to me. There's something about the will to live and it being out of your hands too soon just destroys me. Thus here's a film TOTALLY dealing with that subject AND the characters it directly effects from kids to adults. Simply put the entire film is utterly heartbreaking.

The donors we primarily deal with are Kathy (Carry Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightly). However it is through Kathy's voice do we get to hear the tale. They all grow up in what appears to be a large orphanage in England; tucked away in the country. They all have regimented diets and are scanned before leaving to play outside. They don't go beyond the crumbling fence however as they were told horrific stories about the child that did. This is something a young Ruth and Kathy informed one of the new teachers Mrs. Lucy. Ruth and Kathy appear friendly enough, but it somewhat seems like one of those uneasy friendships where it's more out of convenience than out of general connectivity. Tommy is a bit of an outcast who is artistic and kind, but has terrible tantrums. Most of the kids including Ruth tease Tommy, but Kathy sees something in him that's nice and takes a liking to him. Unfortunately Ruth seemed to as well and that relationship takes off. The complex world of love. It's a confusing thing isn't it?

As they become teenagers they move out and into a series of cottages in which they get to briefly experience touches of the real world before making their first donation. Generally speaking it seems like most donors make out two before completion (death), however some went on until there was nothing more to take. While living there Kathy has to deal with the two romantic relationships around her which includes sex. A topic she knew about and feelings she had to suppress as best she could. To help with that she begins training to become a caregiver; someone who comes to the aid of hospitalized donors and makes them feel comfortable as best they can. This gets her out of the house a lot and makes her ability to be a donor, but only for a while.

There's much in this little picture and far be it for me to spoil the ride with extra details and what not. Shit, I kind of feel like I may have said too much already. Then again there's a lot in "Never Let Me Go". There's a lot of feeling and care and love and pain. Carry Mulligan delivers another perfect performance which will no doubt get her a second Oscar nod (and hopefully win as I've seen NOBODY this good so far). Andrew Garfield's Tommy is terrific as well, but is easily overshadowed by his amazing work in "The Social Network" which is a stronger performance. Not for any specific reason, but simply he's given a bit more range in that. Keira Knightly is very much a supporting member of the cast, but she does a great job. She's given quite a bit of extended range with Ruth and every bit of it works.

After leaving "Never Let Me Go" I couldn't shake so much as a second of it from my mind. Within it short running time to places you through a gauntlet of emotions and brings you into the short lives of beautiful people who aren't allowed to live. Director Mark Romanek ("One Hour Photo") hasn't just made his second movie; he's crafted a classic. I don't say that often because a lot of times I see movies I absolutely love, but know that they'll fall by the wayside at some point and I'll have to see it pointed out to remember it again. But this is something I know I'll remember. If "Never Let Me Go" is near I urge you to see it. It won't leave you feeling like sunshine and daisies by any stretch, but it's a soulful and beautiful piece of work that needs to be experienced.

Red review

There are two things that "Red" get 100% right. One is that they casted the film to perfection from top to bottom. This is a great bunch of performers that could have put on many, many things and instead decided to go for a fun genre piece instead. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it's a little bit admirable since a lot of them mainly do award made films. The second thing is that this is the closest I've come to liking a film by Robert Schwentke; he also directed "Flight Plan" (which I still hate) and last years "The Time Travelers Wife" (*snooze*). However "Red" still doesn't quite work.

The set up is quirky and fun enough. Willis is Frank Moses, a retired CIA agent who destroys his severance checks so he can talk to the rep in Kansas. Her name is Sarah (Mary Louise Parker) and they both seem to really enjoy each others distant company. All of a sudden however a hit squad comes after Moses in the middle of the night causing him to on the run across America. First to collect Sarah who he thinks is in danger and then to meet old allies to figure out what's going on. Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren play his old buddies and off they go on one last adventure. Now seriously with people like this... what fun couldn't be had here, right? Well in the right hands boat loads. It's old people shooting up the town six ways from Sunday and even some clever humor, but it never goes all the way.

As a comedy "Red" works for a while and then allows that aspect to take a backseat to it's pretty by the numbers plot and action sequences. As an action picture it does have moments of delight. Despite it's PG-13 rating I did like the way they blew up bodies and showed it using fire to mask the gore. At the same time there are several other set pieces that aren't particularly exciting or intense; just stuff happening with no real style or even full blown clarification for why it's going on. The big ending sequence in which the team has it (mostly) figured out who is behind all this and why starts off clever enough, but really just boils down to a basic stand off and with an ending we saw coming. Well... ok... we saw most everything in this movie coming, but still there are ways of making that road there very fun.

The real strength of the movie is the fact that it's got so many talented and interesting people in it. In addition to the others there is Karl Urban ('Star Trek'), Rebbecca Pigeon ('The Spanish Prisoner' or most David Mamet films), Ernest Borgnine ('Escape from New York'), James Remar ('The Warriors', 'The Fast and the Furious'), Jullian McMahon ('Nip/Tuck') and Richard Dreyfuss ('Jaws', 'W.'). All of which are given there little moments. But nothing is enough. When certain main characters die we don't really care except for the fact that the actor is no longer in the movie. We don't know or feel for most of these people and it's a bit of a shame. This is a similar problem I've had with the last couple of Harry Potter films. I've wanted to feel something during the big, emotional or even epic moments of the film, but I don't. I see great images and performances and decent effects (seriously they haven't been outstanding for a while), but no real feeling. Direction has A LOT to do with this.

With "Red" Robert Schwentke did go into a new genre for himself. In the beginning you could see his eye and his skill as he took a few plays from Fincher's old book. But as the movie progresses his creativity wares away. I'm thinking he's getting better so maybe by his next picture he'll have gotten the hang of things, but so far I'm not too impressed. I can't and won't call "Red" a bad film, but I'll call it weak all day long. It's a fun idea that isn't made as fun as it could be. In the right hands it could've been a funny and exciting dark action, comedy as the source material seems to imply. Oh well... better luck nice time I guess.

Jackass 3D review

Anyone who is even the slightest bit aware of what "Jackass" is ought to know well and good what a 3D made version of it would entail. Poop in 3D, penis' going random sometimes horrible things in 3D, absurd and painful stunts... in 3D. That's what it is like it or lump it. And how is it? The same as it ever was. If you enjoy their brand of low brow, but occasionally somewhat higher comedy then you'll love it just as much as their other pieces. If not, then you won't. Also if you don't enjoy their stuff seeing it really wouldn't make a lot of sense; especially in 3D with the added ticket price.

The added enjoyment of "Jackass 3D" really is the 3D. It's not always in your face, but when it is it can add to the laugh. If for anything then for the fact that you're about to witness something like a dildo fired from a cannon go right into your face. What can I say, sometimes we need that raw, gallows humor. Sometimes seeing a bunch of guys laugh as their friend willing gets his tooth pulled out by a speeding Lamborghini. Maybe the key to it all is the enjoyment and good sportsmanship we see from all of these guys. Perhaps it's similar to the concept of "Fight Club", in which for men to feel masculine they get into brutal fist fights, but never with emotion or disdain towards the other man. Simply to get that missing rush in life. There's always that friendship and respect despite everything. I suppose it would be different if after every time someone hit someone in the groin they would scream and yell and go into a full bizerker mode.

Most of all the stunt pieces and set up achieve their desired effect. They aim for a heavy degree of shock value, but also have some very clever public skits and pranks on one another that consistently work. There's no much more to be said then that really. I've seen it now in both 2D and 3D and found them both a lot of fun. If you've got the extra cash then by all means seeing it in 3D is a great way to go. If you don't then 2D is simply a really polished looking version of the same film. Either way "Jackass 3D" is fast, dirty and hilarious. If this is the final installment then the boys have gone out on quite a high note.

My Soul to Take review

Every once in a great while a film comes along that changes you in such a profound way that it could warrant a case study. A film that is as important as a great masterwork, but is in fact an enormous pile of shit that you want to remember forever to A: never watch again and if you're like me B: never make ANYTHING nearly this terrible. "My Soul to Take" by writer, director and "master of horror" Wes Craven should be further proof that he has completely lost his touch. Hey it happens. George A. Romero lost it, John Carpenter lost it, Dario Argento and Clive Barker lost it. Why should he be any different?At least those guys pretty much never get to make movies anymore and none of them have made something quite this terrible.

The wonder that is Craven's mind has crafted a story that might have worked as an episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"back in the early 90's. Which is to say that it's a concept that might be interesting purely for thirty minutes or less. Basically you have a serial killer with multiple personalities or as we later learn souls; that dies. However his seven souls go into the seven children that were born the night of his death. Fast forward sixteen years and the murders begin again and one of the seven kids is the culprit. The ONE thing the film seems to get right is the casting, but only to a point. They put together people that LOOK the age they're portraying, unfortunately most of them, including lead Max Thieriot who plays Bug cannot act. Oh and why is his nickname Bug you ask? I dunno. It's never told to us. Also why does the "ripper" have a knife with the word 'vengeance' carved on the side? I dunno; that too is never explained. Why does the killer make a phone call to one of his next victims, yet otherwise doesn't speak or make his presence known until his moment to strike? Dunno. Why does he strangely sound like a bad Robert Englund impersonator at one point and like Duke Nukem at another? I... don't... know.

In addition let us discuss the fact that the film is both rated-R and in 3D and yet both seem completely unnecessary. This is mainly a language R and the only violence is less than something you might catch on "CSI". As for the 3D... well... it's none existent. It's pure conversion 3D that was added to pad a ticket price. That's it. How about we dig a little deeper into these character too while we're at it?! Bug is apparently crazy and snaps in and out of different personalities, but only sometimes and only sort of. Basically he'll start talking like a girl and shake his head a lot if a female character died for example. In their high school there is also a hierarchy which involves a girl they call "Fang" (I shit you not on this) who controls the school system like a mob boss. The film spends an ungodly amount of time dealing with this uninteresting and idiotic storyline to the point where walking out of the theater and into traffic seems like a sweet dream by comparison. Bug's two friends who also share the same birthday as him are just as shallow and uninteresting as he is. There's the token out going and know it all friend that nobody in the school likes. And of course there's the black kid who doubles as the school's one disabled person because he also happens to be blind. But don't feel too bad for him. Being blind doesn't stop him from running through the woods after dark or climbing into a second story window. He's like a teenage Daredevil!

You know I didn't really believe I'd be more unhappy with any other film this year after seeing "Resident Evil: Afterlife". Then again I thought the same thing after seeing "Grown Ups". And before that when I saw "Sex and the City 2". However this time I might have found the one. I've found a film that might not only be the worst film of the year, but one of the worst films I've ever seen. By the way this isn't the first Wes Craven movie to land in that circle. I would also place "Vampire in Brooklyn", "Cursed", "Shocker" and both versions of "The Hills Have Eyes 2" along side this. Less we forget all his produced films which in the couple of decades he's branched out to that has yet to deliver one even mildly impressive product. So why is he still held up with such high esteem? Like most of the other things in this film I don't know.

Recently I discussed the whole Shyamalan slamming thing with a few people. My biggest question was exactly why has only he has been singled out for making bad films? Even Uwe Boll doesn't have quite the hatred that M. Night has gotten. Craven has made SEVERAL films ranging from bad to terrible and no one says shit about it. I've defended both directors before and think both have made great pieces of work. At the same time I'm more than willing to admit that both have had big missteps. Most people I talk to about this claim it's because the public have more of a nostalgia factor with Craven and remember the days of "The Last House on the Left", "The Hills Have Eyes", "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream". Sure that's all great; it's also over a fucking decade ago! I'm not telling people to re-fall in love with M. Night. In fact I think it's good that people were outspoken to him about their distaste for "The Last Airbender"; but I want Craven to receive similar treatment for his cinematic crimes. And with "My Soul to Take" I would like to HOPE that people out there might finally raise a stink about all of his terrible work so that he can finally STOP being called a master of horror.

Case 39 review

It's interesting coming off a weekend with terrific pieces of work like "The Social Network" and "Let Me In" and heading straight back into shitsville with "Case 39". Lets just say after the first twenty or so minutes you can tell why the film was held back from release for so long. Its almost a complete mess. Actually something I hate more about it is the fact that it's fully comprehend-able, just really fucking stupid and extremely dated.

Basically Renee Zellweger plays Emily, a social worker that believes a young girl is being abused and wants her boss to try and get her pulled from the home. Of course the higher ups are almost completely no help so Emily gives the girl her home number and tries to connect with her so that she'll get that important late night call about the parents trying to "send her to hell". Well it came pretty soon and with the help of her cop friend (played by Ian McShane), they break in, subdue the parents and save the girl from being burned alive in an oven. Emily then drops her case and takes her into her home until another worker can find her a new home. That's when the stuff starts happening. And when I say stuff... well that's exactly what I mean.

"Case 39" isn't a slow burn horror, thriller; it's just lazy. The first half cruises along without much intensity, intrigue or emotion. The second half is almost as empty, but has dull and uninspired devil movie sequences inserted. It's all just random stuff that would've been lame back in the heyday of horror movies. Jodelle Ferland ('Silent Hill', 'Tideland' and 'Twilight: Eclipse") plays the little girl and shoots for the moon trying seem evil and menacing. Sadly none of it works. Bradley Cooper basically has an extended cameo type role before he's dispensed in a prolonged, ridiculous and generally stupid fashion. In fact just how he dies is something up for debate... you know if anybody really cared to debate about it.

Zellweger is just as boring and generally flat as she usually is when she's not aiming at another Oscar nod. When things do heat up for her character she lacks the strength (or care) to really send home the whole panicking or terrifying feeling. When dealing with the other adult characters she's simply bland and dull. The horror aspects are straight from the early 2000's and seem like lamer pieces from stuff like "Darkness Falls", "The Ring Two" and "Boogeyman". So basically it's in the vein of already really shitty horror movies. There is no reason to seek out "Case 39" with so many really fun and impressive movies out right now. This is something that will hit DVD and probably within a couple of months be tossed into the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. If it's not busy being a boring thriller then it's slowly trying to just be a piss poor supernatural movie. Seriously, this is a massive waste of time and money.

Let Me In review

Time to talk remakes again I suppose. That dirty little word that's uttered anytime people in the film community want to discuss what appears to be wrong with the American system. I guess we'll just overlook the highly unimpressive Asian remake of the Coen brothers "Blood Simple"or the fact that the Italian's were doing worse things in the 70's and 80's by ripping off whole movies and retitling them. Ok, soap box moment over... my feverish annoyance at this idea that we're the only country to remake things tends to always put me in a bad mood. Even more so when they write off pieces of work that are actually very, very good before they come out because 'it's an American remake'.

"Let the Right One In" is regarded as a modern classic in the geek community and somewhat in the film community. Is it as the Washington Post put it "the best vampire movie ever"? I can't truly say. It's a great story, but personally I don't think it's a great movie. It's really, really damn good, but there's more than a few things that I wasn't completely taken with where I can't fall in love with it. Matt Reeves' remake on the other hand does have that quality and I am shocked. Granted I was interested/skeptical to see what Reeves had planned and after reading his thoughts a few months back I was even more interested, but I still had my doubts about things. However pretty much from the minute the film starts it's clear that he's aiming to make something different. It does tie well into it's book source, but also take a few cues from the original film. It's not playing the "Psycho" game where everything is just as it was, but there is that subtle safety net that's there if needed from time to time.

The entire movie really hinges on two things; the performances and relationship between Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and Abby (Chole Moretz). There honestly is nothing for Reeves and co. to fall back on. The adult characters (Richard Jenkins and Elias Koteas) are in VERY much supporting roles and the true, blue horror movie elements are secondary at best. Happily it all works though. Their chemistry and performances are golden and actually work to make you believe it. From there it's simply making everything move in a slow, but strong pace of building that relationship and shaping the world around it. Owen is mercilessly bullied at school, his parents are going through a rough divorce and it's clear on both sides things are far from getting better. In effect Owen is an anti-social outcast. Abby moves in during the night with her father (Jenkins) and slowly build what becames a friendship and then possibly more. Again a lot lays on their shoulders and when they get closer on Reeves' (who also wrote the screenplay).

It's easy to pull vampire-human romance with attractive teens or twenty-somethings. Granted "Twilight" hasn't been able to do it in three movies, but for people with at least half a creative thought in their head it's simple. When it's kids around twelve or so... not so much. With kids romance or general strong feels aren't really about arriving at sex. Let's face it once you hit a certain point that does become even if subconscious or way removed from your up front feelings, an unavoidable thought concept. And as the relationship progresses so does the sexual build up. But with kids it's not nearly that far up the ladder. For them kissing and maybe light groping could be the 'end game'. Unless of course if the kid is a straight hormone charged freakazoid. They play off the advanced relationship with much of the same quiet subtly they place on everything else in the film. For them it's not about a bunch of big moments, but tons of fucking great small ones.

Composer and Oscar winner Michael Giacchino ('Star Trek' and 'Up') delivers what I think is one of his best, but most subtle pieces of work yet. His musical score plays up the slow creepiness of the picture along with the emotion and then gives us some fantastic operatic thrusts to send it all home in the more intense segments. Something else that Matt Reeves had stated in an interview was that he was visually inspired by 70's and 80's Spielbergia where films like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "E.T." and "Poltergeist" took place. Those little places in middle America that were like advanced, living forms of Norman Rockwell paintings. It's photographed beautifully and with a film grain that often even gives it an 80's appearance. It's an atmosphere that so few horror films and thrillers kind of lack and can honestly only help your picture.

Fuck it, I'll say that yeah I do love this version a bit more than the original. It's similar to my love of "Sorcerer" over "The Wages of Fear". Both are great, but I get way more engrossed with Friedkin's remake than the original film. I still feel the best remake probably is "The Departed". The original Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" remains an example of the type of H.K. action film I don't like; where it's over edited to such a point to where the biggest scenes resemble trailers rather than an actual movie. As far was this goes though it's probably too soon to tell, but it's among the best I've seen. As a American horror picture it is the way I feel we ought to be heading. We've proven that we can have fun still and be bloody, but it's so rare that we can produce strong, dramatic horror anymore. We're afraid of the slow burn horror so we simply don't make it anymore. Granted audience also choose not to see them also... ummm... I wonder could there be a connection?

Now while I'm writing this on Monday morning I'm already aware of the film's box office results. Personally I was rooting for David Fincher's "The Social Network" and it performed as I would have imagined. Congrats to them and Sony on that and for making at this point the most engrossing and entertaining film I've seen this year. Seriously before that the best film I'd seen was "Exit Through the Gift Shop" and that came out in March. Seven months and even the closest film to it wasn't nearly able to top it. However I was looking for "Let Me In" to perform a lot better. I imagine it didn't because people didn't see the original, but might not have wanted to support a remake. "Twilight" has honestly fucked up chances for good vampire stories to come along and do well. And also because the trailers are angled at... I'll say it... idiots. Overture did for this what Focus Features did for "The American". They lied. This IS NOT a straight or kind of straight horror film. It's a drama with horror elements. They lied because they wanted that horror fan money and sadly it seems they didn't get it. I guess now I have to wonder what might have been if they did release a slow moving, dramatic and methodical ad campaign instead. Landing at #8 your opening weekend is rough. It's hard to bounce back and considering "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" was at #4 and couldn't do, I'm sure this won't either. There's not a lot of convincing I can give to see the movie that hasn't already been stated so I figure readers that have the interest will do it on their own accord. But... even though films like "Paranormal Activity 2" and "Saw VII" and "My Soul to Take" by Wes Craven are a little ways off... I can almost assure you that by missing this you will be missing the most impressive horror film of the season.

Surprisingly writing this review sort of depressed me by the end. Yet another bitter finale to a great piece of work.