As I watched, I realized that the things that currently plague the genre are being used religiously in this film and without remorse.
So, bear with me as I handle this review in an unorthodox fashion. I’ll cover the film as I comment on the things that are hindering the genre as a whole.
- Let’s move past the psycho-killers in the woods stories. I think unless your film is doing something unique and not a copy of past horror movies, or if it is a comment on the genre as a whole (like, The Cabin in the Woods) you shouldn’t choose a setting that has been beaten into the ground. Don’t Let Him In‘s cliched Let’s go to the woods for a trip, oh no, there is a killer cookie cutter of a story is about as far away from original as a movie can get.
- An explanation of your killer is not required. Think back to the best psycho killer movies. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, etc. None of them take the time to stop and say Oh, you should look out. There’s a killer on the loose. Here is what we call him. Here is how he kills his victims. And oh yeah, he’s never been caught. By having a scene like this in your film you’ve already set up that the rest of your movie will play out exactly as the viewer expects. Nothing will surprise them and they will be on track with the film before it even gets to it’s destinations. While it takes almost 20 minutes for this scene to pop up, a trait that in itself is loathsome, it’s still a scene in the movie.
- Get to It! It shouldn’t take half of your movie for the shit to hit the fan, as the man says. The only time this is a reasonable thing to do is if you’re carefully setting up everything and the characters for what will happen. But if nothing is happening leading up to the proverbial mess why wait for a certain moment to start scaring us? Do it now!
- Blood itself is not scary. The very presence of gore and blood isn’t what makes successful horror films scary. It is the lead up to the gore, the unexpectedness of it, and the shock of how gruesome it is. Nothing about Don’t Let Him In is scary or surprising, especially not the gore. Also, blood is not bright red and does not flow with the consistency of water (as I’ve mentioned in reviews previously).
- Something pounding against a window or door is also not scary. Especially when that thing is someone’s hand, bloody or otherwise. They do this a few times in Don’t Let Him In and each time is more annoying than the last.
- Don’t undress your female characters, beat them, and cover them in dirt without reason. This is how Don’t Let Him In starts, and the entire time I couldn’t help but think how it is the most cliché outfit a filmmaker can equip their character with and also one of the most demeaning things that someone can do to a female character.
- Doing the Tarantino story flashes doesn’t work. You know what I mean, When a film opens and shows you the ending of the movie and then flashes back a few days or hours to show you how it got there. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. Don’t Let Him In tried and it failed. For this to work the beginning scene (the ending) should be so bizarre and unnerving that we feel like we HAVE to watch the rest to know how someone got there.
If you couldn’t tell, Don’t Let Him In is only a jump suit and a chainsaw away from being the most cliched horror movie I’ve seen in quite some time. While it might sport some interesting gore at times, the plot, characters and lack of (positive) memorable qualities make it just another movie that is doomed to a life of accidentally being rented at Redbox. But if you take anything away from this review I hope it is the irony that I did an unconventional review to explain how conventional this movie is.
Rating: 3 out or 10
