Don't Let Him In (2011) - 1.5/4

"Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun." - Ashley J. Williams

A problem one has after watching a lot of movies, especially low budget movies, is that you've seen it all before. Rather than marvel over a movie being bad, I'm constantly surprised by how creative filmmakers are at making the Same Old Plot (SOP) somehow interesting. How can a psychopathic killer stalking cute college girls still be interesting? After watching so many films with the SOP--whatever the P may be--I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter so much whether the film is good or bad, but whether it's weird, fascinating, stamped with some personal style. It has to have that something special. That Something Special can even trump concerns of Good and Bad.

This is especially important to note for filmmakers working with very low budgets. The tendency amongst first-time filmmakers with low budgets is, unfortunately, to stick to 'safe' plots that have been done many times before. These plots have been done well and glossy by Hollywood, interesting and quirky by other low-budget filmmakers. Yet many filmmakers try to imitate the respectable Hollywood instantiations and, lacking both the imaginative quirks of independents and the gloss of Hollywood, merely present the plot in the most banal style possible. Low-budget, independent filmmakers have to take risks, dare to be odd, disliked, bad. That takes imagination and creativity; in independent cinema, there's no-one to be creative for you.

The problem with Don't Let Him In isn't that it's bad. I suppose you could say it's good--it doesn't take enough risks to be bad. The acting is of a high quality, the gore is decent, the pacing is good; there aren't any problems with the dialogue, characters, or the plot development, as it follows very well-established guidelines in these areas. Yet the film isn't the slightest bit interesting. It's good, in a sense, but totally plain, flavourless, nondescript, bland. It has nothing really weird in it, no peculiarities, no offbeat variations, fascinating flaws, or moments of creative brilliance--in short, no personality. It just coasts along, ever so competently, without imagination.

Don't Let Him In concerns a very familiar plot. There is a psychopathic killer on the loose. A group of friends all go into the woods and realize they're at risk of getting killed by the serial killer dubbed 'The Tree Surgeon'; and soon enough they do indeed start getting killed. One character fights back with modest intelligence. There is a slight quirk, or variation, in the plot--a twist--as one would expect.

If that plot sounds like something you want to see, you can see it handled solidly in Don't Let Him In. While the film does nothing else, it delivers that plot quite well. The only thing approaching a stand-out moment in the film is a shot of the killer drooling. This shot won't perturb an unremarkable evening watching Don't Let Him In, however.