Film

Let Me In

Name: Let Me In
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Released: 2010
Cast: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloë Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas, Sasha Barrese

Matt Reeves' reimagining of a Swedish vampire classic, transplanting the story to 1980s New Mexico. It's a slow-burn horror film about loneliness and connection, where the vampire mythology serves emotional rather than action purposes. Atmospheric, melancholic, occasionally brutal—for viewers who want horror that takes time to break your heart.

TMDb rating

3.4

If you liked this

Let the Right One In2008

The original Swedish film that inspired this remake. More austere and glacial in tone, with an even sharper eye for the peculiar intimacy between its two young leads. Essential viewing for understanding what Reeves was working from.

But Subtitled, slower pacing, and the bleakness cuts deeper—some find it nearly unbearable rather than moving.

The Innocent2022

Harry Melling plays a man haunted by a terrible secret from childhood. Like Let Me In, it explores how past violence and isolation shape the present. Quiet, measured dread that builds to something devastating.

But Deliberately paced and bleak. Not much happens in a conventional sense, which frustrates people looking for plot momentum.

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

A South Korean horror film about two sisters and a deeply unsettling household secret. Visually gorgeous, emotionally harrowing, it treats horror as a language for exploring trauma and family darkness.

But The narrative deliberately obscures what's real and what's psychological. Some viewers find this fascinating; others find it frustratingly opaque.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Let Me In

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Guinea Pig Part 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood1985

Both explore how kindness and monstrosity coexist in the same person; how violence and love become entangled when characters are cornered by circumstance.

Verhoeven's baroque, savage medieval film about orphaned soldiers and the blurred line between predator and victim. Both it and Let Me In treat love and monstrosity as inseparable. Visually ferocious in a way Let Me In isn't, but morally equally dark.

But Extremely violent and sexually graphic. Made in the mid-80s with no apology for its cruelty. Far more explicit than Let Me In's restrained horror.

Guinea Pig Part 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood poster

The Changeling2023

A 10-episode series about a father navigating fatherhood after his wife vanishes. Like Let Me In, it's horror built from isolation and the strange love that grows in damaged relationships. Atmospheric and genuinely unsettling.

But Slow rollout of its mythology. If you want clarity about what's happening early, you'll be frustrated for several episodes.

Come True2020

An indie sci-fi horror film about sleep experiments and connection between two damaged people. Minimal dialogue, visual storytelling, and an eerie electronic score create an intimate, off-kilter mood that echoes Let Me In's quiet intensity.

But Deliberately surreal and obscure about its rules. The ending frustrates people who want concrete answers over emotional resonance.

Under the Skin2014

Scarlett Johansson in a role that inverts expectation: playing an alien predator who is nonetheless achingly vulnerable. It's about the distance between two beings, shot through with genuine melancholy and dread.

But Barely a plot. Long stretches of ambiguous imagery; if you need narrative or dialogue, this will feel glacial and pointless.

We Need to Talk About Kevin2011

Lynne Ramsay's shattering study of maternal love twisted by horror. Non-linear, formally adventurous, it captures the suffocating intimacy between parent and child the way Let Me In captures Owen and Abby's bond.

But Wilfully difficult. Fragmented storytelling and a subject so dark it approaches unwatchability for some viewers.

The Innocents2016

A Norwegian film about two children who discover something unknowable in the woods. Quietly devastating, it shares Let Me In's approach to childhood horror—treating kids as fully realized beings capable of moral complexity.

But Very slow and contemplative, with an ending that divides people sharply. Some find it profound; others think it's pretentious and punishing.

The Lodgers2017

An Irish gothic film about two siblings bound by a supernatural curse. It's specifically interested in the twisted love that grows between people trapped in isolation, which is Let Me In's emotional core.

But Low-budget production values, and the mythology is vague enough to frustrate those seeking concrete worldbuilding.

Pina2011

Both are visually eloquent about loneliness, connection, and how two bodies in a room together can tell a complete emotional story without exposition.

A documentary in 3D about the choreographer Pina Bausch and her dance company. It sounds unrelated, but it's about how movement and presence speak across all language—about how bodies communicate what words cannot. Let Me In's visual language is dance-like, and this film deepens that sensibility.

But A documentary about modern dance in 3D. If abstract movement and non-narrative cinema put you off, this is not your film.

The Lighthouse2019

Both are intimate two-person dramas about the terror and necessity of needing another person. Both use formal constraint—sparse settings, cold color palettes, restricted camera movement—to amplify psychological claustrophobia.

Two men trapped in a confined space, their sanity corroding as they depend on each other. Shot in black-and-white, it's formally audacious and claustrophobic. Like Let Me In, it's about how isolation and proximity become tools of psychological torture.

But Deliberately difficult and obscure. Performances veer toward the theatrical; dialogue is dense and hard to parse. Some find it brilliant; others find it exhaustingly pretentious.