SDCC 2010: ‘Let Me In’ Panel News With Trailer

It is no surprise by now that I love me some vampires but “Let Me In” is another Comic-Con offering that shows vampires in a new light…so to speak. Matt Reeves spoke to the audience in the panel and talked quiet a bit about his vision for this movie.

He made it clear from the get go that this is not a remake. He also made it crystal clear that this movie is awesome. I’m thinking “Sweet!! Give it to me!”

Casting was a bit of tricky thing because the success of the original and what made it so beautiful was the extraordinary story. The problem with making a movie out of such a beautiful story was finding two young actors who could carry the weight of the project. As Matt explains it, if there are no kids then there is no story because the entire project falls on two 12 year old kids to carry it through.

Noooo pressure…..

Chloe Moretz’s (Kick-Ass) task was to show how hard it is to be a vampire. Through her, you see that there is no trace of “Twilight” because it’s not romantic at all. It is tough, it is primal and yet somehow, at the same time, she shows us just how vulnerable it is to be a vampire.

Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) plays a very bullied kid with divorcing parents. He has no friends and is painfully lonely. He’s a tormented boy with dreams of murder and destruction but ironically falls in love with a girl who happens to be a vampire and embodies the primal.

The movie, like the Swedish original, is set in the 80’s becuase it was such a cultural experience to grow up in that era. Matt cites the whole Regan-ish spin about “evil empires” and how the sentiment at the time was very Us the United States versus The Others.

He then goes on to say he initially didn’t want to remake the film because the original was that good but he was struck by the beauty of adolescence and it’s pains. This was the driving compulsion that finally tied him down to the project.

All I can say is I’m glad he committed because, hot diggity damn, the two clips we were shown made me drool for more. Very sexy, I know.

The first clip was an awesome trailer that made me squeal (but just a little bit) because it was very gutteral but the second clip was just like how Matt describes. He evoked within us the feeling of knowing how a murder is to be executed and how we’re all pumped up to see it happen….but then everything goes wrong. Kind of like that one scene in “Dial M For Murder” where the killer is stalking Grace Kelly. He sheepishly explains how you’re secretly rooting for the killer…but at the same time, it’s friggin’ Grace Kelly!! You don’t really want her dead…but, dammit, you feel for the killer!

Talk about #$%*ed up! …but so true.

The second clip he showed definitely nailed the point home because as much as I wanted Chloe’s dinner to survive, I didn’t want her dead as a result. It opened with Moretz’s character asking if her father was going out. He tells her it’s not like he has a choice. We see him stalk out a prey who left his car near a building. When the driver returns, we see that he has broken into the back seat of the car wearing a sack over his face and knife in his hand. The plan is obvious. To kill the man, drain him of his blood so he could feed his vampiric daughter. But the plan fall apart as the victim picks up a friend and heads out to get gas.

As the man leaves to pay for his purchase, his friend discovers the father in the backseat. Leaving the father no choice, he attacks the man and hasty drives off in the car but gets rammed by a truck. The entire car tumbles down a hill and the father is badly hurt. As the sirens wailed, the father quickly opens a bottom of acid and begins pouring it on himself. What is the acid for? Guess you’ll have to watch to find out as it cuts to black.

Talk about fighting for survival. I also hope feeling this way doesn’t mean I’m sociopathic because I’m totally not. I just don’t want a vulnerable girl child vampire to die.