Before I watched it, first thought: this will be a necessary but otherwise irrelevant and amateurish rough draft for the superior remake (‘Let Me In’).
After watching it, I realized that I was correct. It’s necessary if only because if it hadn’t been made, there’d be nothing to remake. But otherwise it’s an inferior carbon copy…think a tolerable but merely decent if innovative old blues song reworked by Led Zeppelin. You might admire the first more, but how many people would honestly rather LISTEN to the first more?
Differences that don’t matter: ‘Deliverance’-ness, credits done by Holy Grail Llamas.
Differences that do: less subtle, less challenging, longer but less flowing in progression, worse acting, dumber henchman.
In short, my first thought was right. It’s not bad…but ‘Let Me In’ is much better. And, since they’re virtually exactly the same apart from that which is noted above, this one is rendered redundant and irrelevant. Any claims that ‘Let Me In’ is a “different” version of the book are nonsense…it’s a remake. But it’s a far superior remake. ‘Psycho’ the original ain’t.
So no, I don’t prefer the “dumb” American version over the “smart” original version. It’s closer to the opposite, really. But thanks for the idea, Sweden.
Grade: B-