LET ME IN / NEVER LET ME GO

“LET ME IN” / “NEVER LET ME GO”

Normally I only review films I’ve seen in theatres, but after viewing these two movies on TV, I felt I should write these ‘warnings’ to anyone that hasn’t seen them yet...

“Let Me In” is simply harrowing – that’s the best word to describe how I felt after seeing it. When it came out I read that it was about a 12 year old girl who happens to be a vampire. I am not a 12-16 year old female, so I am not the least bit interested in these modern-day vampire tales where all the male leads look... well, gay. If that offends you, I’m sorry, but it’s the best way to describe these actors that wear feminine looking make up and don’t seem to have much in the way of acting abilities. So I passed on paying money to see “Let Me In”. But it was given mostly good reviews, so I taped it. First thing I thought when it ended was, “I sure hope no 12-16 year old girls ever see this!”
I don’t get ‘scared’ by movies, but “Let Me In” was frightening in the sense that there were a couple of scenes that will haunt me – probably for years.
Quick summary; 12 year old Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz) moves into the same apartment building as 12 year old Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) with what appears to be her father (Richard Jenkins) Or grandfather, Richard isn’t exactly a spring chicken. During their first meeting on the roof of the building Abby tells Owen, “We can never be friends.”
Small for his age Owen is the main target of three school bullies. Abby tells Owen to fight back – hard. As their friendship grows, Owen finds out that Abby can’t enter his room without him saying out loud that she can ‘come in’.
‘Dad’ is in charge of feeding young Chloe – with the blood of unsuspecting victims he finds by hiding in the back seat of their cars covered in black garbage bags. When he spills the plasma of his latest victim, Chloe is outraged and Owen hears her yell, “What am I supposed to do now?”
So sweet, diminutive Abby goes out and attacks someone. The scene isn’t scary as the creature Abby turns into is obviously computerized, but the idea that a small child would feign an injury and then 'eat' the person who stops to help her is.
The scene where ‘Dad’ is forced to disfigure himself when his last attempt to find ‘food’ for Chloe is the one that sticks in my mind the most – and gives me the creeps.
Owen remains clueless about Abby until the little nitwit decides he wants to be ‘blood’ brothers with his female friend and cuts his thumb with a knife in front of her...
What happens to the victim Abby attacks after fleeing from Owen, so she doesn’t ‘eat’ him is another disturbing scene that won’t clear from my memory bank.
What makes this film intriguing is the fact that when she’s been fed, Abby is a little sweetheart – in a dark foreboding kind of way – and she does eventually befriend Owen, who seems to be less freaked out by Abby the more freakish she becomes. The only time Owen gets upset is when he discovers who 'dad' really is.

The secret of who dad really is and the fate of the school bullies make “Let Me In” one scary film. Despite the sometime low-rent special effects – it’s the realism that kept me glued to the story. Abby is a normal 12 year old girl, cute when she’s recently dined on human blood, but the fact that she’s been ’12 for a very long time’ is kind of creepy and Owen is a sympathetic little geek that needs protection – they combine to help one another when needed and so the story – dark and gloomy for the most part does have a semi-happy ending.
With “Never Let Me Go” there isn’t a moment of brightness, or a single ray of sunshine in the entire film. I won’t reveal the ‘secret’ of Kathy, Tommy & Ruth –though it is resolved fairly early on, but these three children who are introduced as three of several children being brought up and schooled in an English institute called Hailsham.
I figured it out from the opening scenes, but for some reason telling the obvious is a spoiler. But the only thing that could spoil this movie for anyone is for someone to recommend it to you. It is depressing from start to finish. The secret is revealed by a glum, depressed, Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) the students English teacher. Why Miss Lucy is fired is kind of a mystery because in time these kids HAD to be told what their lot in life was to be.
Kathy loves Tommy, but Tommy his social issues – he befriends Kathy but seems incapable of loving her back. Ruth, despite being Kathy’s best friend, seduces Tommy and becomes his lover until they graduate from Hailsham and go to live in The Cottages.
It’s a strange, depressing film because it just ambles along without any resistance from the students. They simply accept their fate without any outcry of protest or attempts to escape. That would have made this a much better story. And wait until you get to the end – You couldn’t imagine a more depressing ending if you tried.
So if you’re in a good mood and you want to lose it quick – Rent “Never Let Me Go” and the blues will encompass you for as long as you keep this glum movie in your brain...