LET US IN: Let Me Out

Not long ago were the days of horror properties for children the likes of Are you Afraid Of The Dark, R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps, and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. Though you can’t really tell from the trailer, Let Us In is trying to recreate just that, only the result is not as creepy, interesting, or original. Let Us In, written and directed by Craig Moss (the Bad Ass Trilogy) and co-written by Joe Callero, tries and fails to reimagine the urban legend of The Black Eyed Children. For those not in the know, The Black Eyed Children were a group of teenagers who supposedly have jet black eyes and gather on doorsteps asking to be let in, leading to the disappearance of several people. Creepy, right? Don’t worry, Let Us In takes anything frightening about this legend and dumbs it down for tweens (or at least I think that was the plan) while adding confusingly violent moments which a child maybe should not see.

In this iteration of the tale, Emily (Makenzie Moss), a tween who has been traumatized by the death of her best friend, and her younger pal Christopher (O’Neill Monahan) have built a machine to contact extraterrestrial life. One day they begin to get eerie messages from beyond the stars while teens from around the town simultaneously begin to disappear nightly by a group of teenagers wearing black hoodies. One evening, while Emily is home alone, she gets a visit from these be-hooded troublemakers who ask her to (gasp!) let them in. After a foot chase through her house, she manages to evade the intruders, who leave no evidence of ever being there. With everyone thinking she made the whole thing up, Emily and Christopher decide to talk to the only other person who has ever gotten away from the dreaded miscreants, their neighbor scary old Mr. Munch, played by Tobin Bell of the Saw franchise.

Can you see where this is all going?

Who Is This For?

One of the biggest flaws with this film, besides the laughably un-scary reveal of who The Black Eyed Children actually are, is the tone that wavers between predictable horror and sugary-sweet tween drama. There is nothing nail-bitey, other than a few scenes of violence against kids by the titular baddies involving broken bones or hard punches that land with grossly visceral impacts, begging the question, what age group is this for? Through much of this, the audience is forced to watch happy-go-lucky teenagers attempting to talk like adults, while using sweaty slang terms like ‘fleek’ and references to Uber and Postmates that will no doubt date this movie straight out of the gate. The dialogue is as obnoxious as the characters spewing it. Catty classist teen stereotypes abound to the point of nauseam, leaving you with only Emily to root for. Everyone is way excited to be alive in this idyllic small town, full of one-note characters who get picked off every so often when the director decides it’s time to make this mess a horror film again.

I have very little bad to say about Makenzie Moss as Emily. She turns out to be the shining light of the piece with some of the best timing of anyone involved, especially while playing against the overly precocious Christopher character as her goofy side-kick. The acting is dull and predictable, while Tobin Bell grumbles through the one and only day he must have been scheduled on set. Nobody is interesting, palatable, or fleshed out besides our hero. Even her overly handsome teacher, Mr. Jayo, comes off as a little too perfect, often giving me serious creep vibes with how he and Emily interact more like a will they-won’t they than a teacher-student relationship. What was meant to be the cool teacher archetype, played with a distracting awkwardness not intended though definitely portrayed.

Kids Today

Not being a parent myself, I watch movies like Let Us In and feel appreciative that I never have to raise a one-note, smarter than the adults-type child who spits out witty early-aughts Kevin Williamson banter that is far beyond their confabulation. Oh, wait! That’s right, nobody actually talks like this in real life. Now I know what you’re thinking, ‘This review is spending a lot of time on the dull as dirt denizens of the film, but what about The Black Eyed Children?’ Funny enough, I thought the same when slogging through this film. They are barely a blip throughout and, as stated earlier, have one of the dumbest made-up backstories for an already established urban legend ever conceived. The trouble is I could tell you the twist (if you could call it that), but that would be unfair to those who might actually be curious to watch this so-called thriller.

The Black Eyed Children are not scary, or interesting, or even children for that matter. They are a poorly fleshed-out shell of an actually scary concept, boiled down to a group of actors wearing hoodies with black eyeballs talking with auto-tuned voices. Before you wonder why I just gave a spoiler, I didn’t. That is what these things actually look like on-screen and in the trailer. You could easily go as one of them for Halloween with, literally, clothes you more than likely have in your closet right now. They look silly. They aren’t scary. And to reiterate, what they turn out to be is stupidly non-terrifying and their method of dispatch is so laughable that if they catch a character, they deserve to be caught.

One bright side is the oddly short 79-minute runtime. Ug. This movie.

Conclusion: Flaming Bags Of Poo On A Doorstep Is More Threatening

Let Us In falls into the trap of a decent trailer misleading its audience. I thought I might get a supernatural horror where nobody is safe, culminating in a final showdown with evil forces beyond our realm. Instead, Let Us In is a facade of horror-lite banality filled with faux teen drama and unfunny quips from unrealistic characters. My recommendation, don’t let them in.

Horror comes in many forms. The Film Inquiry Community would like your recommendations for what you think makes a successful scary movie. Leave your suggestions in our comment section and keep the conversation going.

Let Us In will be released to streaming on July 2, 2021.

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