Where I Watched It: Netflix

Audio Description Provided By: Zoo Digital

Written By: John Gray

Narrated By: Roy Samuelson

Admittedly, I could have seen this film visually. I remember critics enjoyed it, and Matt Reeves is a very talented director who has given us several amazing films, including The Batman earlier this year. But, I passed on this, not because I passed on gore, but because the original, the foreign language Let The Right One in, is perfect, and actually my favorite foreign language title of all time. I didn’t need a remake. If Martin Scorsese remade The Godfather, I’m sure it would be great. But we don’t NEED it.

This idea that because something is not in English and therefore needs a uninspired adaptation that pays too much “homage”, which really means copying a lot of what made the first so great, is a trend I’d love to see stop. We live in a world where Netflix is getting American audiences to watch foreign titles on the regular. Squid Game was massive, and not in English.

Having seen both, and knowing that Showtime is also turning this into a TV show (God knows why), Reeves had no vision here. he just competently cast and remade something that already worked, but just did it in English. That’s not a skill set. The actors here, Chloe Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit McPhee, and Richard Jenkins are all good, but so were their Danish counterparts.

Of course, he does ramp up the violence and gore just a tad, at least from what I can tell through audio description. The original does have some gore, but it really doesn’t ramp up until the end. Yes, it has little moments, but it is mostly just on one.

if my life was normal, I never would have seen this, but I was looking for titles to review and recommend for Halloween. Now that I’m blind, that list is very small. Thank God this one has great audio description, and Roy Samuelson comes in clutch with john Gray’s script right there at the end. This is a film that features bullies that are so unrealistic, so sadistic, that most people would shoot them on sight. They have to be this way for the climax to work, because otherwise people would get upset. But when you have a bully actively trying to carve an eyeball out, you’re pretty OK with whatever horrendous shit lies ahead of him. this isn’t just some teasing, this is a potential serial killer in the making.

So, when the end of the film happens, and the films most memorable scene unleashes itself, it is described really well. Of course, I felt like I was watching it, because having seen Let the Right One In a few times, I just transplanted the visuals from that into this.

My grade for this is going to be weird. It’s not really a grade. This story is terrific, and because there are limited resources available to us in the blind community, I feel like this is where I land.

Final Grade: If you can see and read subtitles, don’t be lazy, go watch Let The Right One in. If you are blind, and you need audio description, you have no choice but to watch the remake, which is so carbon copied you’re basically getting the same thing. It’s not a grade, but if I wasn’t blind, I would have never reviewed this, and my October review right now would be reminding people to watch Let The Right One in.