Let the Wrong One In

Okay.. So, it's actually kinda funny. Lots of "blood" and injuries.

Reference to Twilight was something unexpected.

But the accent was something terrible. And I know that's the point here. That it's supposed to be funny, but in some parts it was very annoying and unlistenable.

With the added vampire experience by the one and only Anthony Stewart Head. A great funny role he has here, even if he is not front and center. But he lends quite a lot of gravitas. And his acting choices ... genius - even if it is only a facial expression for example.

Overall the humor is hit and miss. The logic is out of the window (with sunlight obviously "hitting" characters at time without it affecting them, vampires not being shown in mirrors but through video calls and other stuff like that) ... if you don't mind those things, you can have quite some fun with this. And you really shouldn't overthink it.

If you are an animal friend, you might have some issues (emphasis on some, not less or more) with how a certain pet is treated ... but maybe in the end you can have a laugh! Pun intended.

Comedy about Deco, a slacker drug-addict in recovery who turns vampire. He races the sun home only to be heckled. Vampires aren't that uncommon here in Dublin. He needs help from his brother but his family have had it with him fokking up so much. This is like the Irish Bordello of Blood. Instead of a bordello they go to a night club hosted by the OG vampire queen bee. This flick is cute, silly and funny.

After a wild night out, a man's brother returns home with a series of strange ailments and a story that seems entirely too much like a vampire attack, and as they try to cure him with the help of a vampire hunter, they soon realize his vampire powers might help them more than hinder them.

There was a lot of fun to be had with this one. Among the better features here is the hysterical comedy that comes about from the goofy setup and premise at play here. The engaging opening that tells how he came to be bitten by the vampire and his quest to return home to his brother who's entirely too convinced of everything from the start offers a fantastic series of sight-gags and jokes about the situation, from trying to remain out of sight of his mother despite the incoming sunlight burning his skin or the comments at his stupidity in not realizing what's going on. The back-and-forth banter here is just a start as the type of comedy present here carries on throughout this one with all sorts of humorous situations detailing the need to keep him away from others only being caught up by their clumsy behavior and ineptness for a grand series of hysterical slapstick comedy and wordplay jokes. With this in place, the series of horror ambushes at play here are quite fun and have a lot to like. The opening attack that shows the vampires turning the bride into their kind and going wild on the rest of the bridal party starts this on a strong note, while the flashback getting to see the attack on the brother that initially turns him into one mix together laughs with some solid blood splatter. The later scenes at the house where they battle the hunter trying to stake his brother continues that kind of goofiness and genuine genre action, while the scenes involving the female crew coming together to stop them from getting the upper hand provide some rather fun times. The finale, where he races to get his captured mother out of their compound while the vampires try to kill them off, has a lot of fun graphic battles ends this on a high note with a lot of fun action and a nice bit of blood-spray in the graphic kills to both human and vampire to give this quite a lot to like. There isn't much to dislike with this one, but it does have a few minor problems. The main drawback here is the films' sudden decision to suddenly turn the brotherly relationship into a growth experience between the two which feels incredibly out-of-place here. The sudden decision to turn this whole thing into a growing experience as a means of how they originally got separated and brought back together again just doesn't have the same interest level as it comes out of nowhere with very little point to doing this. As well, the confusing nature of the finale where the introduction of random characters and some jarring revelations for several characters that makes no sense for the sake of creating light-hearted action on display which is quite a big letdown. Along with some cheesiness due to the attempt at comedy that might not be readily accepted by most out there, these are the only real issues to be had here.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

This is a movie that I caught part of the trailer while going to the Gateway Film Center. I let Jaime watch it and this one intrigued her. There were limited showings of it though, so she wanted me to go and report back. I did know coming in that this played at FrightFest where Duncan from the Podcast Under the Stairs saw it along with, I believe, Scott and Liam vs. Evil. Seeing the title, I figured this was a play on Let the Right One In, but just more of a comedic take. The synopsis is a young supermarket worker discovers his older brother is a vampire and must choose whether to help him or slay him.

We start this in Transylvania for a bachelorette party. Sheila (Mary Murray) is getting married and she is there celebrating with her friends. It appears that she stole a beer from a bar and didn't pay so a bouncer is chasing her. He corners her but flees in terror. A vampire has appeared behind Sheila.

The movie then shifts to Dublin, Ireland. Matt (Karl Rice) lives with his mother, played by Hilda Fay. She wakes him up as he makes a great breakfast. While they eat, we learn that Matt has a brother, Deco (Eoin Duffy). We see him stumbling around and needing to avoid the sun. There is a funny scene of him using a broken umbrella as he makes his way to his family's house. The problem is that he cannot enter. Ma is still upset with him. Matt has a soft spot for him and also feels a bit guilty. After their mother leaves, Matt invites him in.

Deco's problem is much bigger than one he's ever had. He wants Matt's help, but he must go to work. He decides to call off when Deco vomits blood all over him. He tries to call a doctor for his older brother, but this takes a turn. Deco's urges are getting worse the longer he goes without blood.

Complicating things even more, there is a vampire hunter searching for creatures of the night. His name is Henry (Anthony Head). Sheila is also from Dublin and returned as a vampire. She is the one who bit Deco. She is turning others almost on a nightly basis. This is becoming problematic and drawing attention, so she comes up with a foolproof plan, in her eyes, to allow her and her friends to feed more easily. As the synopsis states, Matt must decide what to do with his brother as well as this growing problem in the city.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap for this movie. Where I want to start is that this is an odd comedy. As I said in my opening paragraph, I saw this movie in the theater. I do think that hurt my viewing of the movie. I didn't have a bad experience, but the accents of some people are a bit thick where I couldn't understand what they were saying. That made me miss some of the jokes. It didn't ruin the movie, but it hurt it.

Sticking with the theme of this being odd, we are blending something like Shaun of the Dead with even dumber comedy and mixing in drugs. We don't see the latter, but that is what Deco is accused of. There is some heart in here. To explain my comparisons, we have Matt who feels guilty about Deco being kicked out of the house. Ma is so upset with Deco, she doesn't even want to hear his name spoken. This made me think of the relationship between Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Peter Serafinowicz. The latter hating Nick, but Simon is his friend and defends him. The antics in this movie are funny. Matt wants to help Deco, but he's bitter. I can't fault him for feeling that way. The problem is that he's making bad decisions that result in him being in the place that he is. We are with a middle-class family that is a step up from struggling, so there is that as well.

There is an issue I have with this film though. I was bored. Part of it goes back to not understanding what people were saying, which I think subtitles will fix. The other problem though is that we focus on the relationship between Matt and Deco too much. Some of it was funny, but then it goes on for too long. The more interesting thing to me is Sheila and what is she is doing. We get a bit of that and it is the catalyst to what starts everything. The movie almost seems to forget about her for long stretches. It is interesting though since they introduce that Henry has a connection there. I'd bet not everyone has my problems, but I unfortunately did.

That should be enough for the story so I will go to the acting. I thought that Rice was solid as our lead. It is interesting that in the beginning he feels guilty for the predicament that Deco is in. We see as it goes on that he gets stronger as a character and stands up for himself. That works as our hero. Duffy is quite funny as his older brother. He has some street smarts, but also does things that get him into trouble. Head is fine as our vampire hunter. It is funny with his role from Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. Fay is good as the mother. She is in a tough spot so I don't blame her. Lisa Haskins plays Natalie who is the scary girlfriend to Deco. I thought she worked. Murray and the rest of the vampires were also solid as well to help round this out for what was needed.

Then the last things are the effects, cinematography and the soundtrack. For the former, I thought the practical ones were good. There was one time with blood spray that I could tell wasn't coming from a character's mouth. I'll give credit for trying. The look of the vampires is good. When we get into that a bit more, I like what they do with practical effects. The CGI wasn't great. It did take me out to be honest. There is a moment with a bat though that had me laughing. I think they ran that gag just a bit too long though. Going from there, I'd say the cinematography was good. This movie is shot well from what I could see. There is a moment of green screen that wasn't great, but not horrible either. Then finally the soundtrack I thought fit the movie for what it needed in my opinion. It didn't take me out of the movie or enhance it too much.

In conclusion, I thought this movie had some promise. Not sure that it fully captures it though. We have an interesting premise with this family and their issues. Coupling that with one of them becoming a vampire, having a hunter after him while a growing menace of more of these creatures. I think that the practical effects were solid, the cinematography and soundtrack were fine. I did have issues understanding characters so not all the jokes landed during this first viewing. The CGI wasn't great and the film is a bit boring for what they focused on. I would say that because of it, this movie is just over average for me and lacking elements for me to go higher.

My Rating: 6 out of 10.