Let Us In

Admittedly, I was quite baffled when I saw this film pop up in a brief New York Times article by Jeannette Catsoulis. Her somewhat favorable review, alongside comparisons to other iconic tween-centric properties such as The Goonies and Stranger Things, drew my morbid curiosity and I decided to view this film with an open mind, trying to stymie doubts about its quality and not go in to my viewing set out to dislike it. What transpired over this film's runtime left me confused and frustrated. Let's discuss!

This film was entirely bereft of atmosphere, compelling characters, and charm. The screenplay is shallow and predictable, relying almost completely on obvious, lazy tropes and formulas, from "Tragic Backstory = Instant Sympathetic Protagonist" to "Comic-Relief Sidekick" and all areas in-between. The characters, sequence of events, and set pieces are uninspired and derivative at best. When one inspects the filmography of the film's writer-director Craig Moss, who is responsible for gems such as "The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It" and "30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," one can understand immediately the quality to be expected from "Let Us In."

The script is so absent of creativity, it comes as no surprise that the performances of the actors and actresses involved are milquetoast and wooden, even from Tobin Bell of the "Saw" franchise, who is criminally underutilized as the "Creepy Town Weirdo" stereotype. At no point did I believe that there was confidence or energy placed in this film, both on-screen and off-screen. The cinematography is sterile and conventional, nothing is presented in an engaging or visually interesting manner to give this film any kind of identity. The score for this film is so painfully generic that I am convinced it was comprised exclusively of royalty-free music, it was that unbearable. The sheer volume of failures this film accumulates adds up over its runtime, resulting in an exponentially tedious experience.

Now if one wants to defend this film and its overwhelming wealth of flaws on the basis that it is a family-friendly horror film, that is very misguided. Having a family-friendly film of any kind, regardless of genre, does not necessitate a severe lack of quality and craftsmanship. The films "Coraline" and "Monster House" as well as the show "Gravity Falls" are prime examples of accessible, spooky, family-friendly media that have charm, are engaging and entertaining, and do not wallow in tedium and mediocrity. If the work is done and the effort is put in, then you'll never have to sacrifice quality for accessibility for all ages.

In short, "Let Us In" is a stellar role-model of what to avoid in filmmaking. If you as a viewer enjoy well-rounded characters, an intriguing premise, good humor, consistent internal logic, self-awareness, a half-decent script, and good chills, then do not waste your time with this, there are so many better options to choose from.

This is a little campy, with some not so great child actors...but it was fun to watch.

The story line was solid and well thought out however it was predictable for the most part. My family enjoyed it and had no complaints with the movies as a whole.

Ok I just get it that this one was not suitable for horror genre but still the movie was good. Acting was good,story was also good,and those black eyed people wasn't even too bad. I enjoyed the whole story from starting to ending.bBut maybe ending was kind of bit too dull. But yeah allover movie was worth to watch.

This movie would have gotten a better rating if it wasn't for the disrespectful and horrific use of AAVE used throughout the film. I mean the level of cringe was too unbearable for me to just scrape by and finish the movie. It was most likely a non Black American millennial or older who wrote this trash of a dialogue.

The film really should've been made with high schoolers or maybe college students. Because some elements of the film felt out of place for middle schoolers. At times I felt like this movie could have been a comedy, which might have made it more bearable to watch. The only saving grace I felt was the the use of Tobin Bell (even though he was in it for a few minutes). The lore of the "Black eyed children" could've been better explained and the ending of this film was kinda disappointing.

This movie had a good premise. Acting was pretty good, but I take offense when little children are put in the position of using foul language every time you turn around. There is no need for it! The clique of girls bullying was not needed. It added nothing to the storyline. It could have focused more on the agenda of the aliens and their reasons for needing humans. Where they were from and their planets story. All in all a good young persons film other than pushing the foul language agenda. Most younger generation movies find the need to insert children being undisciplined by parental figures, such as in Poltergeist and ET. Showing kids being smart but disrespectful. It can be left out in my opinion.