Chloë Moretz Talks Vampires In Let Me In: "Scary, Deep, And Dark"

Just as the teaser hits for the new Twilight movie, here's word on a film that could be the polar opposite of Eclipse. Directed by Matt Reeves, Let Me In is the remake (or re imagining, as some have said) of the Swedish film Let the Right One In. It stars Chloë Moretz, who is also in Kick-Ass. As she starts to promote that film, she's talking a bit about Let Me In, and describing a take on vampires that is quite different from that of Twilight.

Speaking to Movieline, Moretz described her Let Me In character, the young (or young-looking) vampire Abby:

Usually a lot of movies glamorize being a vampire. It's pretty, it's cool, you look awesome! The way we did it was that it;s not cool to be a vampire. It's a burden that she has to carry with her, not this fun, cool, interesting thing. It's scary, deep, and dark, this devil inside of her. The vampire is different than Abby. It's like her alternate personality, and when it takes her over, she has no control.

Cinematical talked to the film's producer, Simon Oakes, who says the film will likely be R-rated and "stay true to the imagery and mystique and the mythology of the original." In keeping with that, he makes the horror elements sound rather low-key:

At the end of the day, you could make this movie and never use the word "vampire." You could say this is a love story between two kids. I think an understanding of genre helps, because there are obviously some big set piece-genre moments in it.

But then there's this:

It's not a re-imagining; the same beats [are there]. Maybe the scares are a little bit more scary. We haven't been able to ramp that up quite a lot, obviously, for budgetary reasons.

The only thing that bugs me here is that quote about scares and budget, which suggests that creating scares on film is linked directly to effects. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can make a scary film with no money, as long as you have a camera, actors and an imagination. Other statements in the Cinematical interview suggest that 'more scary' doesn't necessarily mean 'more gory,' and in general it sounds like Let Me In isn't being pushed in a direction that will make it feel untrue to the story.