Based on the award-winning Swedish movie Let the Right One In, which was adapted from the best seller by John Ajvide Lindqvist, this Americanized version is both subtley and effectively terrifying. This film is deeply troubling, darkly eerie, intensely engaging, at times almost unbearably uncomfortable to watch, and immerses the viewer in a world of constant loneliness and hopelessness. With all this considered, it is, without a doubt, an instant horror classic. The story replaces the cheap thrills, quick shocks, corny dialogue, and gore galore of other like features with suspense, haunting and captivating characters, and the emanation of the overwhelming sense of increasing desperation. A villain has never been portrayed with such innocence and malevolence simultaneously. Chloe Moretz is light years ahead in her talent compared to others of her age, or most in Hollywood, for that matter and Kodi Smit-McPhee delivers a performance that is flawless, real, and unrelenting. You do not watch this film; you are entranced by it. It grabs you, addicts you, and then forces you to grapple with concepts that violate sensibility, as the audience becomes a voyeur, hopelessly ogling, the undeniable decent of innocence into the bowels of evil that serves as the only escape from the characters undeniable lifetime of misery and torment, which in itself is a contradiction. The film makes you think, and few cinematic expressions do so anymore. This is the return of the true Horror genre, leaving the audience to think more than mindlessly stare, and to leave with its rich symbolism and haunting tones and ideas still in tow. 4 out of 5 Kernels; a modern masterpiece of suspense in a world of uncreative gore fests, unimaginative creature focused blockbusters, over the top effects, and aimless sequels that seem Walmartesque in their assembly line, one size fits all, glut like existence.
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