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philosoraptor42As is often the case when you hurriedly assemble a set of movies you've never seen before (particularly when many of them are fished out of the bargain bin), most of the films I saw during the Halloween Candy horror movie marathon were awful. 31 films and only about 13 that I could realistically call "good". (That's a 42% success rate) However, finally we have reached the final entry where I have collected the best 6 films (the top 19%) of the marathon.
You can find the rest of the reviews sorted to their varying degrees of awfulness at the following links:
Part one - The worst (Where the failure of Critters 3 to meet up to the promise of the previous sequel leads me into a blind fury - while a number of other horror seriously fail to impress.)
Part two - The pretty bad (Where I'm happily surprised by "I Spit On Your Grave", very disappointed by the original "The Haunting", and moderately irritated by "Saw II".)
Part three - The alright (Where I discover the, admittedly somewhat limited, joys of "Thir13een Ghosts" and am entertained by some creative effects in "Killer Klowns From Outer Space".)
Part four - The pretty good (Where "Critters 2" proves to be an excellent horror comedy sequel, "Quatermass And The Pit" proves to be a great bit of old school sci-fi, and the 'Highlander' director is once again bizarre yet brilliant with his movie "Razorback" about a merciless giant boar.)
6. Death Becomes Her (1992)
A reliable childhood classic. Perhaps not really a horror movie, but definitely featuring a few horror-related themes.
Remembering this back when I first watched it all those years ago I was convinced that it was a horror comedy. I thought it had to be. In some ways the label fits, but in others it doesn't. This is much more clearly comedy than horror, however there is something undoubtedly creepy about the mysterious lady offering eternal life. Bruce Willis' comedy seems somewhat limited by his moustache, but he's great anyway. And the rivalry between Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn is also really good. This is a great little comedy and I still love it.
A+
5. Cold Prey (2006)
While not really the most original slasher movie I've ever seen, "Cold Prey" (original title "Fritt Vilt") has some really well developed and performed characters. In order for a slasher movie to work, we need to care about the characters and that is where "Cold Prey" delivers in spades. Looking forward to checking out the sequels! :)
Plot Synopsis: A group of skiiers have problems when one of them is injured while skiing in the mountains. Fortunately they find a nearby abandoned hostel. However, while it may have been abandoned, it is not empty.... DUN DUN DUUUUUN!
The Sweet: Okay, I'm inclined to call this movie "the Avengers Assemble of slasher movies". That's not because I think Avengers Assemble represents the pinnacle of superhero movies or anything like that. The thing about Avengers Assemble is that the plot was pretty predictable before you went in. You knew that the good guys would demonstrate their powers, be enlisted to fight a villain, there'd be an encounter with the villain and a big fight scene at the end, the stakes would be raised but the superheroes would inevitably be victorious. All this was OBVIOUS before you even entered the cinema. However, Avengers Assemble manages to be great in spite of being wholly predictable because the characters are built up well and their interactions are well written and entertaining. In the Friday the 13th series the victims are generally fairly thin characters and the focus is generally more on Jason than on those he stalks. (The better sequels will have more interesting victims so that we actually care about them.) Cold Prey is pretty much the opposite. Very little time is really spent building up the monster/villain, but instead all that focus is given to the potential victims. In fact, this works pretty well because it means the monster/villain is even more mysterious and creepy.
The Sour: Essentially, if I was to tell you the plot of this movie you would most likely tell me that you have seen this sort of film hundreds of times before. Nothing, in terms of the central storyline at least, is likely to seem terribly surprising. Also the ending was not exactly groundbreaking either. However, there are at least two sequels to this film already and I'm currently unsure as to how the movie series will really progress.
Great fun. Loved it. If you like slashers at all you should probably check it out.
A+
4. The Grudge (2004)
This was a bit of a surprise hit. Quite a few of the films I checked out were ghost movies and in the majority of cases I was characteristically unimpressed. "Thir13en Ghosts" and "The Evil Dead" were the only other ghost movies to make it into my top 20. But there was something special about "The Grudge". The unique visual style of the ghosts and the decision not to resolve the story with the protagonists solving the ghosts' 'unfinished business' (a phrase I first heard during the film "Casper"), made it feel like a cut above the rest. Certainly this is a Japanese horror with clear similarities with "Ringu". (I say that the remake is still Japanese horror because they've kept the Japanese director and the story retains its Japanese setting.) Still, I think that "The Grudge" is unique enough not to be classed as a shameless "Ringu" rip-off or cash-in (though it might not be a wholly unreasonable criticism, since the first low budget Ju-On film was released in the same year as Ringu).
I think what I've discovered is that if the ghosts are a kind of monster and follow clear rules then I'm fine, but if you want me to accept a nice ghost you are going to need to shove some humour in there because I'm generally not going to be taking it seriously. If you want my whole catalogue of problems with ghost movies you should check out "What Lies Beneath". Pretty much everything that I hate about ghost films is contained in there.
I've since watched some of the other movies in the "Ju-On" series with mixed results...
Plot Synopsis: American remake of the Japanese horror movie "Ju-On: The Grudge" by the same director. The film still takes place in Japan, but with most characters being American immigrants to Japan. Before the opening of the film we are told that sometimes the rage of the deceased lives on after they die as a curse which harms anyone who comes into contact with them. After an opening involving Bill Pullman, we cut to a young woman acting as a helper for an elderly lady suffering from dementia. However, when the helper checks the room upstairs she discovers something terrible. The film regularly cuts to different characters sometimes jumping back in time a little bit so we get a full sense of events happening simulataneously.
The Sweet: I just keep on checking out the ghost films lately, don't I? Still, this one seems to treat the ghosts more like a monster, rather than expecting us to be bowled over by the simple idea of people living beyond the grave. It's all very well imagining that you might be able to put these ghosts to rest, but in the meanwhile even having seen them means that you are probably better off wondering how you will survive. The theme is almost felt, to me, almost like a combination of "The Ring" and "Drag Me To Hell".
I couldn't quite finish the movie in one sitting because I started watching it quite late and I found myself drifting to sleep. So I ended up going to bed without the plot anywhere near resolved. On my way to bed I had trouble with a door and when I forced it open I felt like the blackness of the night was coming to get me. The atmosphere of the movie had genuinely stuck with me and creeped me out. I like the way the film often shows the darkness encroaching like strands of hair. Also the use of inhuman noises coming from the pale human ghosts was highly effective.
The Sour: I like Sarah Michelle Gellar as an actress but I don't think performance represented her at her best. She was alright. The plot is pretty simple overall, but I don't think that is much of a negative. Things never got convoluted and the ending was effective.
Overall I enjoyed The Grudge an awful lot. Considering my general dislike of ghost movies, I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. It used ghosts to creep me out, succeeded in creeping me out, and I was completely satisfied with the experience.
A+
3. Detention (2011)
The straight-to-DVD horror comedy (including time travel and aliens) "Detention" is now one of my favourite films of the year. The trailer makes it look fairly generic and attempts to explain the plot rarely prepare people for quite how different the film is, but this hyperactive rollercoaster heaped with 80s and 90s references is unlike anything you've seen before. The style is sort of like if "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World" meets "Return Of The Living Dead".
Y'know what? The less you know about "Detention" before you shove in the DVD, the better. The synopsis on IMDB doesn't tell you much and is misleading in what little it tells you. Personally all I knew was that the director was a guest on the Slashfilm podcast, he'd previously directed "Torque" (which I think he's kind of embarrassed about now) and the other people on that podcast admitted (after he'd gone) that they thought the film was pretty cool. So I thought, what the hell, let's shove it on the rental list.
The film opens with a girl explaining 'the way things work' rather like in the movie "Clueless". She quickly establishes herself as a horrible person, but in the most entertaining way ever. Everything cuts back and forth in a hyperactive fashion. We don't follow the same character all the way through, but the hyperactive comic style never stops and there is definitely a huge amount that I missed the first time around. The comedy is genuinely funny, though the jokes come so fast that you may not have time to get all of them. In short, watch this movie!
... So if you are still interested in knowing what kind of film this actually is, essentially it's a horror-comedy (which is a genre I'm particular fond of), but to go into more detail it's a slasher comedy with time travel, aliens, grizzly bears and endless 90s and 80s pop culture references. "Detention" is a work of insane genius and you should watch it.
A+
2. Rare Exports (2010)
I'd been saving this one up for a review closer to Christmas, but when I was having a horror movie night with a friend I couldn't help but recommend it. (Don't worry. I'm amassing some more Christmas-related horror to watch over the Christmas period. :D) It stood up as well as the first time I watched it and I think my friend was fairly impressed.
Plot Synopsis: A businessman employing an American excavation team (who oddly seem to have English accents) believes he has discovered the grave of the original Father Christmas in FInland, apparently buried by the Sami peoples centuries ago. As the excavation is carried out, a local Sami community experience some strange occurrences while one young boy learns the terrifying truth about the real Santa Claus.
The Sweet: The idea of Father Christmas originating from Scandinavian demon myths is a pretty damn cool premise. I absolutely love the idea of Father Christmas as a folk myth about a creature that kidnaps and tortures naughty children. Early on in the film the young boy protagonist has a book about the truth about Father Christmas with images of Father Christmas as a kind of troll (with the same bulbous nose we saw in "Troll Hunter"). There's also a suggestion that Father Christmas's pointy hat developed out of older images of the demons curved horns. I've become quite a fan of horror comedies, particularly when they manage to be funny and scary at the exact same moment. There's one point where Father Christmas is staring straight at the young protagonist wearing his Santa suit and he gives an ambiguous smile. It is just so ridiculously creepy and at that moment I don't know whether to laugh or hide.
The Sour: On the Horroretc podcast they seemed to think that the ending could have been better. While I can understand what they are saying, I felt the film worked much better the way it was. The kind of climax they were expecting would only work if the film had an absolutely huge budget to spend. I think I'd have liked to have seen the film get a little darker. It felt like it was pulling its punches to some extent. Still, it's pretty damn creepy all the same and an absolutely wonderful film.
A+
1. Let The Right One In (2008)
Met up with a group of friends for what was supposed to be a scary movie night. Due to some delays at the start, the evening ended up consisting in the episode "Blink" from Doctor Who, the episode "Fear Itself" from season four of Buffy and this film, which I had admittedly seen before. Watching it again, having now read the books it was as captivating as ever. It's a real masterpiece.
Also, vital additional point. Having rewatched this I now simply CANNOT understand people who liked the American remake "Let Me In". Not only did the relationship have less chemistry in the remake and not only were the filmmakers lying through their teeth when they said it was incorporating additional elements from the book (it's less true to the book than ever), but the EFFECTS are less good! It's almost like they shrunk the budget.
(The hyperlinks in this paragrpaph, if they still work, are for clips from the sections of the movies under discussion.) If you check out the "not inviting the vampire in" scene in the remake, it is shot from a distance and all we really see is some blood round the edges while Chole Moretz has her head in her hands. It might as well be depicting a nose bleed. In the original we have close-up shots of everything that is happening to the vampire. Also there's 'the swimming pool scene' (in case it wasn't already obvious, don't check out the hyperlinks unless you don't mind spoilers). While in the original we have a fully lit swimming pool, a fixed camera and we can see everything that happens clearly, in the remake all the lights have been switched off and it's rather hard to work out what is going on as a result. (I'm reminded of "AVP:Requiem" where everything was darkened to hide the poor level of the effects work and this ended up meaning that the audience could barely tell what they were watching half the time.) One friend suggested that the darkness changes the mood and makes the pool seem cold, but my problem with this is that we all know that indoor pools aren't like that. They are always heated, often to the point of being very warm. My point here is simply this. The acting (or at least the direction) is worse, the effects are clearly worse, the filmmakers felt they needed to lie about adaptation decisions, so why on earth does anyone like the remake? *shrugs*
The original still holds a special place in my heart as I explain in the review below....
Rewatched this one recently at a special "spooky movie" night. It's just as wonderful as I remember and there were all sorts of details I missed. *Mild Spoiler warning for the next paragraph*
I had not re-watched this since seeing the remake "Let Me In" and looking back on it, I am more certain than ever before that this is better than the remake in every respect. Oddly the effects seem to be better here than in the remake. I'd forgotten how awesome the "refusing to give permission to enter" scene was and the equivalent in "Let Me In" just involved the central vampire putting her head in her hands for a bit. The original version actually made my friend think of Christian depictions of Jesus, the way the blood seems to seep from the vampires head (like the blood seeping from Jesus' crown of thorns) and from the eyes. Absolutely everyone seemed to squirm as the vampire's guardian used the acid and there were quite a few "ewww"s when we saw the full damage later on. And of course when the vampire is crawling up the wall there was quite a positive reaction too. The finale at the swimming pool was absolutely wonderful and the way it was changed (not least by having it all take place in the dark) in "Let Me In" was a big problem for me. One thing I noticed this time having read the book now was that the expensive puzzle with lots of intricate pieces mentioned in the book is also found in the film. I'd forgotten it was there and it looks rather cool. I also noticed more clearly this time how the woman who starts changing into a vampire finds herself reluctantly gaining a taste for her own blood.
This film is just as wonderful as I remember. An absolute classic.
A+
You can find the rest of the reviews sorted to their varying degrees of awfulness at the following links:
Part one - The worst (Where the failure of Critters 3 to meet up to the promise of the previous sequel leads me into a blind fury - while a number of other horror seriously fail to impress.)
Part two - The pretty bad (Where I'm happily surprised by "I Spit On Your Grave", very disappointed by the original "The Haunting", and moderately irritated by "Saw II".)
Part three - The alright (Where I discover the, admittedly somewhat limited, joys of "Thir13een Ghosts" and am entertained by some creative effects in "Killer Klowns From Outer Space".)
Part four - The pretty good (Where "Critters 2" proves to be an excellent horror comedy sequel, "Quatermass And The Pit" proves to be a great bit of old school sci-fi, and the 'Highlander' director is once again bizarre yet brilliant with his movie "Razorback" about a merciless giant boar.)
6. Death Becomes Her (1992)
A reliable childhood classic. Perhaps not really a horror movie, but definitely featuring a few horror-related themes.
Remembering this back when I first watched it all those years ago I was convinced that it was a horror comedy. I thought it had to be. In some ways the label fits, but in others it doesn't. This is much more clearly comedy than horror, however there is something undoubtedly creepy about the mysterious lady offering eternal life. Bruce Willis' comedy seems somewhat limited by his moustache, but he's great anyway. And the rivalry between Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn is also really good. This is a great little comedy and I still love it.
A+
5. Cold Prey (2006)
While not really the most original slasher movie I've ever seen, "Cold Prey" (original title "Fritt Vilt") has some really well developed and performed characters. In order for a slasher movie to work, we need to care about the characters and that is where "Cold Prey" delivers in spades. Looking forward to checking out the sequels! :)
Plot Synopsis: A group of skiiers have problems when one of them is injured while skiing in the mountains. Fortunately they find a nearby abandoned hostel. However, while it may have been abandoned, it is not empty.... DUN DUN DUUUUUN!
The Sweet: Okay, I'm inclined to call this movie "the Avengers Assemble of slasher movies". That's not because I think Avengers Assemble represents the pinnacle of superhero movies or anything like that. The thing about Avengers Assemble is that the plot was pretty predictable before you went in. You knew that the good guys would demonstrate their powers, be enlisted to fight a villain, there'd be an encounter with the villain and a big fight scene at the end, the stakes would be raised but the superheroes would inevitably be victorious. All this was OBVIOUS before you even entered the cinema. However, Avengers Assemble manages to be great in spite of being wholly predictable because the characters are built up well and their interactions are well written and entertaining. In the Friday the 13th series the victims are generally fairly thin characters and the focus is generally more on Jason than on those he stalks. (The better sequels will have more interesting victims so that we actually care about them.) Cold Prey is pretty much the opposite. Very little time is really spent building up the monster/villain, but instead all that focus is given to the potential victims. In fact, this works pretty well because it means the monster/villain is even more mysterious and creepy.
The Sour: Essentially, if I was to tell you the plot of this movie you would most likely tell me that you have seen this sort of film hundreds of times before. Nothing, in terms of the central storyline at least, is likely to seem terribly surprising. Also the ending was not exactly groundbreaking either. However, there are at least two sequels to this film already and I'm currently unsure as to how the movie series will really progress.
Great fun. Loved it. If you like slashers at all you should probably check it out.
A+
4. The Grudge (2004)
This was a bit of a surprise hit. Quite a few of the films I checked out were ghost movies and in the majority of cases I was characteristically unimpressed. "Thir13en Ghosts" and "The Evil Dead" were the only other ghost movies to make it into my top 20. But there was something special about "The Grudge". The unique visual style of the ghosts and the decision not to resolve the story with the protagonists solving the ghosts' 'unfinished business' (a phrase I first heard during the film "Casper"), made it feel like a cut above the rest. Certainly this is a Japanese horror with clear similarities with "Ringu". (I say that the remake is still Japanese horror because they've kept the Japanese director and the story retains its Japanese setting.) Still, I think that "The Grudge" is unique enough not to be classed as a shameless "Ringu" rip-off or cash-in (though it might not be a wholly unreasonable criticism, since the first low budget Ju-On film was released in the same year as Ringu).
I think what I've discovered is that if the ghosts are a kind of monster and follow clear rules then I'm fine, but if you want me to accept a nice ghost you are going to need to shove some humour in there because I'm generally not going to be taking it seriously. If you want my whole catalogue of problems with ghost movies you should check out "What Lies Beneath". Pretty much everything that I hate about ghost films is contained in there.
I've since watched some of the other movies in the "Ju-On" series with mixed results...
Plot Synopsis: American remake of the Japanese horror movie "Ju-On: The Grudge" by the same director. The film still takes place in Japan, but with most characters being American immigrants to Japan. Before the opening of the film we are told that sometimes the rage of the deceased lives on after they die as a curse which harms anyone who comes into contact with them. After an opening involving Bill Pullman, we cut to a young woman acting as a helper for an elderly lady suffering from dementia. However, when the helper checks the room upstairs she discovers something terrible. The film regularly cuts to different characters sometimes jumping back in time a little bit so we get a full sense of events happening simulataneously.
The Sweet: I just keep on checking out the ghost films lately, don't I? Still, this one seems to treat the ghosts more like a monster, rather than expecting us to be bowled over by the simple idea of people living beyond the grave. It's all very well imagining that you might be able to put these ghosts to rest, but in the meanwhile even having seen them means that you are probably better off wondering how you will survive. The theme is almost felt, to me, almost like a combination of "The Ring" and "Drag Me To Hell".
I couldn't quite finish the movie in one sitting because I started watching it quite late and I found myself drifting to sleep. So I ended up going to bed without the plot anywhere near resolved. On my way to bed I had trouble with a door and when I forced it open I felt like the blackness of the night was coming to get me. The atmosphere of the movie had genuinely stuck with me and creeped me out. I like the way the film often shows the darkness encroaching like strands of hair. Also the use of inhuman noises coming from the pale human ghosts was highly effective.
The Sour: I like Sarah Michelle Gellar as an actress but I don't think performance represented her at her best. She was alright. The plot is pretty simple overall, but I don't think that is much of a negative. Things never got convoluted and the ending was effective.
Overall I enjoyed The Grudge an awful lot. Considering my general dislike of ghost movies, I was surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. It used ghosts to creep me out, succeeded in creeping me out, and I was completely satisfied with the experience.
A+
3. Detention (2011)
The straight-to-DVD horror comedy (including time travel and aliens) "Detention" is now one of my favourite films of the year. The trailer makes it look fairly generic and attempts to explain the plot rarely prepare people for quite how different the film is, but this hyperactive rollercoaster heaped with 80s and 90s references is unlike anything you've seen before. The style is sort of like if "Scott Pilgrim Vs The World" meets "Return Of The Living Dead".
Y'know what? The less you know about "Detention" before you shove in the DVD, the better. The synopsis on IMDB doesn't tell you much and is misleading in what little it tells you. Personally all I knew was that the director was a guest on the Slashfilm podcast, he'd previously directed "Torque" (which I think he's kind of embarrassed about now) and the other people on that podcast admitted (after he'd gone) that they thought the film was pretty cool. So I thought, what the hell, let's shove it on the rental list.
The film opens with a girl explaining 'the way things work' rather like in the movie "Clueless". She quickly establishes herself as a horrible person, but in the most entertaining way ever. Everything cuts back and forth in a hyperactive fashion. We don't follow the same character all the way through, but the hyperactive comic style never stops and there is definitely a huge amount that I missed the first time around. The comedy is genuinely funny, though the jokes come so fast that you may not have time to get all of them. In short, watch this movie!
... So if you are still interested in knowing what kind of film this actually is, essentially it's a horror-comedy (which is a genre I'm particular fond of), but to go into more detail it's a slasher comedy with time travel, aliens, grizzly bears and endless 90s and 80s pop culture references. "Detention" is a work of insane genius and you should watch it.
A+
2. Rare Exports (2010)
I'd been saving this one up for a review closer to Christmas, but when I was having a horror movie night with a friend I couldn't help but recommend it. (Don't worry. I'm amassing some more Christmas-related horror to watch over the Christmas period. :D) It stood up as well as the first time I watched it and I think my friend was fairly impressed.
Plot Synopsis: A businessman employing an American excavation team (who oddly seem to have English accents) believes he has discovered the grave of the original Father Christmas in FInland, apparently buried by the Sami peoples centuries ago. As the excavation is carried out, a local Sami community experience some strange occurrences while one young boy learns the terrifying truth about the real Santa Claus.
The Sweet: The idea of Father Christmas originating from Scandinavian demon myths is a pretty damn cool premise. I absolutely love the idea of Father Christmas as a folk myth about a creature that kidnaps and tortures naughty children. Early on in the film the young boy protagonist has a book about the truth about Father Christmas with images of Father Christmas as a kind of troll (with the same bulbous nose we saw in "Troll Hunter"). There's also a suggestion that Father Christmas's pointy hat developed out of older images of the demons curved horns. I've become quite a fan of horror comedies, particularly when they manage to be funny and scary at the exact same moment. There's one point where Father Christmas is staring straight at the young protagonist wearing his Santa suit and he gives an ambiguous smile. It is just so ridiculously creepy and at that moment I don't know whether to laugh or hide.
The Sour: On the Horroretc podcast they seemed to think that the ending could have been better. While I can understand what they are saying, I felt the film worked much better the way it was. The kind of climax they were expecting would only work if the film had an absolutely huge budget to spend. I think I'd have liked to have seen the film get a little darker. It felt like it was pulling its punches to some extent. Still, it's pretty damn creepy all the same and an absolutely wonderful film.
A+
1. Let The Right One In (2008)
Met up with a group of friends for what was supposed to be a scary movie night. Due to some delays at the start, the evening ended up consisting in the episode "Blink" from Doctor Who, the episode "Fear Itself" from season four of Buffy and this film, which I had admittedly seen before. Watching it again, having now read the books it was as captivating as ever. It's a real masterpiece.
Also, vital additional point. Having rewatched this I now simply CANNOT understand people who liked the American remake "Let Me In". Not only did the relationship have less chemistry in the remake and not only were the filmmakers lying through their teeth when they said it was incorporating additional elements from the book (it's less true to the book than ever), but the EFFECTS are less good! It's almost like they shrunk the budget.
(The hyperlinks in this paragrpaph, if they still work, are for clips from the sections of the movies under discussion.) If you check out the "not inviting the vampire in" scene in the remake, it is shot from a distance and all we really see is some blood round the edges while Chole Moretz has her head in her hands. It might as well be depicting a nose bleed. In the original we have close-up shots of everything that is happening to the vampire. Also there's 'the swimming pool scene' (in case it wasn't already obvious, don't check out the hyperlinks unless you don't mind spoilers). While in the original we have a fully lit swimming pool, a fixed camera and we can see everything that happens clearly, in the remake all the lights have been switched off and it's rather hard to work out what is going on as a result. (I'm reminded of "AVP:Requiem" where everything was darkened to hide the poor level of the effects work and this ended up meaning that the audience could barely tell what they were watching half the time.) One friend suggested that the darkness changes the mood and makes the pool seem cold, but my problem with this is that we all know that indoor pools aren't like that. They are always heated, often to the point of being very warm. My point here is simply this. The acting (or at least the direction) is worse, the effects are clearly worse, the filmmakers felt they needed to lie about adaptation decisions, so why on earth does anyone like the remake? *shrugs*
The original still holds a special place in my heart as I explain in the review below....
Rewatched this one recently at a special "spooky movie" night. It's just as wonderful as I remember and there were all sorts of details I missed. *Mild Spoiler warning for the next paragraph*
I had not re-watched this since seeing the remake "Let Me In" and looking back on it, I am more certain than ever before that this is better than the remake in every respect. Oddly the effects seem to be better here than in the remake. I'd forgotten how awesome the "refusing to give permission to enter" scene was and the equivalent in "Let Me In" just involved the central vampire putting her head in her hands for a bit. The original version actually made my friend think of Christian depictions of Jesus, the way the blood seems to seep from the vampires head (like the blood seeping from Jesus' crown of thorns) and from the eyes. Absolutely everyone seemed to squirm as the vampire's guardian used the acid and there were quite a few "ewww"s when we saw the full damage later on. And of course when the vampire is crawling up the wall there was quite a positive reaction too. The finale at the swimming pool was absolutely wonderful and the way it was changed (not least by having it all take place in the dark) in "Let Me In" was a big problem for me. One thing I noticed this time having read the book now was that the expensive puzzle with lots of intricate pieces mentioned in the book is also found in the film. I'd forgotten it was there and it looks rather cool. I also noticed more clearly this time how the woman who starts changing into a vampire finds herself reluctantly gaining a taste for her own blood.
This film is just as wonderful as I remember. An absolute classic.
A+
