A Cabin in a British Wood
Paige (Sophie Linfield) and her boyfriend Calvin (Rhys Meredith) are looking forwards to their weekend away except Calvin's irresponsible and immature little sister Mandy (Gemma Harvey) is coming with them and she wants her latest one night stand, city trader Tristan (Gordon Alexander) to come with them. Unsure about the moody Tristan, Paige and Calvin get a visit from the local policeman, Sgt Utley (Jason Carter), who warns them that they have a serial killer in the area known as "The Tree Surgeon". As the weekend plays out for some it will be a weekend they will never forget.
First things first; why is it that horror movies have to start towards the end and then jump back to 2 days earlier. They always end up telling you too much by doing so and you then sit there and wait for the movie to basically catch up. It is how "Don't Let Him In" starts as we witness a woman in distress running through the woods which when it jumps back to the beginning we quickly learn that the woman is Paige.
But secondly when people make movies such as "Don't Let Him In" do they finish them and think this is a good movie or do they finish it and think how we can make our money back. That may sound harsh but "Don't Let Him In" is a derivate horror movie with a group of young adults in a remote house in the woods dealing with a slasher, or as this is a British movie just a killer. That wouldn't be terrible if it wasn't for the fact the characters are between boring and annoying. I really am sorry but Mandy comes across not only as annoying but ridiculous with a childish attitude and grip of the English language which makes her sound like a ten year old. And the delivery of the dialogue from Jason Carter makes him feel like a character left out of "Hot Fuzz".
The big problem is that it takes an awful lot of effort to get passed these issues; from the acting to the styling to embrace the story of "Don't Let Him In". But even when you do there are other problems and during the first hour there is a distinct lack of atmosphere which makes it incredibly mundane. I could go on as one thing after another ended up building this huge wall between me and the story which I am sure has something good in there.
What this all boils down to is that "Don't Let Him In" was not for me and the whole thing ended up feeling low budget and weak. But I get the feeling that behind the issues there is a good movie lurking it just needed more money and better actors to make it the movie it could have been.
