The vampire film hitting DVD/Blu-Ray today
With Let Me In (hitting DVD/Blu-Ray today), Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) has joined the Hammer director pantheon populated by the likes of Terence Fisher, Freddie Francis and many others. And he’s honored to be there.
When Shock spoke with Reeves recently, we had to ask: If Let Me In was shot during Hammer’s prime years, who would he have cast? “What twelve year olds were there to use?” he laughed. “I don’t know, I know that Christopher Lee would have been a good father figure, but I don’t know who would have played the kids.”
Vampires have been a mainstay in the Hammer legacy, and with his film, Reeves was able to put his own stamp on the bloodsuckers, especially design-wise. “The guiding principle for it was adolescence-gone-wrong,” Reeves said. “Meaning, that moment when your body is out of control for you, hormones are surging. Your skin breaks out and your teeth are coming in at weird angles. It was supposed to represent all of that turmoil of adolescence. The movies that scared me growing up – like The Exorcist – I loved the makeup and I wanted something like that, something astonishing, but a little bit to the left.”
To take on the adaptation, Reeves said particular elements about the story resonated with him. “How could I connect things in the story that really resonated with me personally? What should I preserve? Because the story is so good, I was able to preserve a lot and what I did was shift the point of view. What I fell in love with is the coming-of-age story.”
The filmmaker said he was blown away by the fact that Stephen King gave his film such high praise (the author called it one of the best horror films in years). “I was invited by the New Yorker to be on this panel about vampires. Although I’m hardly an expert. One of the people on the panel was Stephen King and I was introduced to him. He immediately pulled me aside and he told me how much he loved the movie. I was stunned by such an amazing experience.”
To read about what Reeves has been up to post-Let Me In check out this news item.
Source: Shock Till You Drop
