Saturday, June 07, 2008

Let the right one in – hammering it home

poster

Regular readers will be aware that I am all a quiver awaiting news of the release of the Swedish film Let the Right One In. Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, I have high hopes that this will be one of the finest vampire movies for some time. I understand that Magnolia Pictures have picked up US distribution rights and so a subtitled version should be available in the near future!

beyond the raveHowever, it has also become clear that a remake has already been agreed and it is to be made that none other than Hammer films, following completion of the online run of Beyond the Rave.

Beyond the Rave is quite a way into its run on MySpace and, you know what, I’m not quite sure… However this has a great deal to do with the episodic nature of the release, as much as anything - the whole doesn’t seem to flow for me.

dvdThe DVD of Beyond the Rave is due for release (in the UK) on June 29th – I have my pre-order in – and what is interesting is that it has been re-cut for DVD release and aspects dropped from the MySpace release – such as Ingrid Pitt’s cameo – are reinserted… or so I am led to understand.

The Taliesin Meets the Vampires review of Beyond the Rave will come after watching the DVD, not the MySpace.

All that said, I sit with baited breath still, awaiting Let the Right One In, but wonder whether a remake is absolutely necessary?

2 comments:

Derek Tatum said...

Based on the trailer, the movie looks just like the book. Some of the scenes look exactly like I imagined them, down to the camera angles (!!!). Unless the movie just blows it entirely (something I doubt based on the critical praise), I doubt you can make a better adaptation of the book.

I wish Hammer would adapt a book that hasn't been filmed before or something else with their time and resources. A remake of this will be utterly unnecessary.

Taliesin_ttlg said...

I can't disagree - I fear that Hammer will blow it, but also I don't understand why make a remake of something that isn't generally released yet...

don't get me wrong, I understand on one level why non-English films are all the flavour for remakes, especially J-movies, but I can't understand why production companies feel that they need to be remade in English nor why people would not want to watch the original language versions.