Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In bleak New Mexico, a lonely, bullied boy, Owen, forms a unique bond with his mysterious new neighbor, Abby, who moves from town to town with the man who appears to be her father. Trapped in the mind and body of a child, however, Abby is forced to hide a horrific secret of bloodthirsty survival. But in a world of both tenderness and terror, how can you invite in the one friend who may unleash the ultimate nightmare?

This is a very stylized HD transfer with plenty of rich contrast and over saturated colors. Detail is excellent with razor sharp fine detail and plenty of shadow detail. Depth of image is also solid, despite the largely dark look of the film. I didn’t notice any distractions and the transfer has a very cinematic quality with nice film texture and dimension. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is very dynamic with great use of the low end and plenty of surround effects that add a lot to the experience. The sound design does a lot for the mood and atmosphere of this chiller and is almost a character of its own.

The Blu-ray release includes a digital copy for your portable device and a nice array of supplements. You get a feature commentary with the director plus a look at the making of the film and its special effects. You also get some deleted scenes, trailers and a poster gallery.

It is hard to compare this to the already outstanding Swedish film, Let the Right One In. But for those unfamiliar this US version covers most of the same bases and is pretty close to the outstanding original film. I was hoping Matt Reeves would deliver more content from the outstanding novel as there was a lot of ground uncovered with the Swedish film, but he pretty much played it the same. Still a solid horror film though!