Let Me In Movie Review

Let Me In (2010)

Rent Let Me In on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link) 
Written by: Matt Reeves (screenplay), John Ajvide Lindqvist (screenplay "Låt den rätte komma in", novel "Låt den rätte komma in")
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Dylan Minnette
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
Abbey, a mysterious 12-year-old, moves next door to Owen, a social outcast viciously bullied at school. In his loneliness, Owen forms a bond with his new neighbor, but he can't help noticing that Abby is like no one he has ever met before.

Verdict
This lonely kid finally gets a friend, but that friend is a vampire. Would he rather be lonely or friends with a monster? That fear of being alone is stronger than what's logical and safe. What's so disarming, for Owen and the audience, is that this vampire looks like a lost little girl that also wants a friend. As the movie progresses, you can't help but think it's more than that. She needs someone to ferry her through the world. Watching this a second time only confirmed that, but there's so much happening off screen with the character. It's more of a drama than a horror movie. Vampirism is the hurdle to this friendship that seems so innocent from Owen's perspective but much darker from Abby's.
Watch It.

Review
Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is this awkward, lonely kid, and it's clear he's bullied.We see him in school and it's easy to spot the bully in class as he's bothering other kids, pretending to be blameless when teachers call him out. The bully attacks Owen because he can. I guessed the bully is disturbed, abused, or both. That's later proven to be true. We see where Owen's bully gets it. He's bullied at home by his older brother. I'd guess the brother is bullied by the father. It doesn't excuse it, but it does explain why this kid is so cruel. He's recreating what he experiences.

While hanging out in his apartment complex's playground Owen meets Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz). She tells him she can't be his friend, and it's yet another moment of rejection for Owen.

Kodi Smit-McPhee plays Owen

If you didn't know the premise, you'd wonder what Abby's guardian Thomas (Richard Jenkins) is doing. He's acquiring blood. Later Owen hears them arguing in the apartment. He thinks that Thomas is yelling at Abby, but it's actually Abby berating him for screwing up. She goes out and feeds, leaving Thomas to clean it up. She knows Thomas is getting sloppy, and he even wonders if he wants to get caught. She bosses him around like he's a child.

It's clear Owen likes Abby. They talk at night in the playground, and her advice for bullies is to hit back. Hit them hard. She tells him if that doesn't work, she'll help him. Rewatching this, I suspect Abby is grooming Owen. She might need a new guardian. That could be Owen. She asks him if he'd still like her if she wasn't a girl. We know what she is. We've seen enough clues. You could watch this and think Abby is a child looking for support from Owen after losing her guardian. Watching this again, we know she's not and question her motives. Owen is this poor, naive kid that's caught in this situation which we know is a trap.

Chloë Grace Moretz plays Abby

Owen sees Abby in what I assume is her true form, or at least her vampire form. He's surprised to say the least, but he's not completely deterred. He asks Abby the question, if she's a vampire? She doesn't reveal her age despite being asked. From a photo of who we assume is Thomas as a child, she's been around at least fifty years, but it very well could be one hundred or one-fifty. Is she a child? She acts like it, but she also needs someone to take care of her. Owen's vulnerable, susceptible. Abby is his first friend, his only friend. That's enough that he'll ignore that his friend is a vampire. Having seen this once before, her interest is not in a friend but in someone that can take care of her, provide blood for her. With Thomas getting sloppy, she needs a replacement.

Owen's bullies are wild. Are they really going to kill a kid? I guess the movie has proven they're deranged bordering on psychopathic. Owen's bully's brother is even worse. Abby steps in to save him, and that cements their bond. Owen will be her new guardian. and one day she will outgrow him just as she outgrew Thomas. Owen is a means to an end. 

There's so much happening off the page in this. We question Abby's intentions, and there's the second story in this that we only glimpse. Thomas was a boy that probably fell in love with Abby just like Owen. He took care of her for fifty years. She shows no remorse when he gets caught and takes extreme measures to protect her, to his detriment. Until the end he was loyal, and his fate is likely Owen's fate.