Let the Right One In remake: Don't break out the pitchforks and torches just yet

News of the remake of one of last year's best films, Let the Right One In, has started trickling out (If you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. But beware the crappy subtitles on the American DVD).

The L.A. Times checks in with director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and comes back with some faintly reassuring news: He's not planning to turn it into Twilight.

"There's definitely people who have a real bull's-eye on the film," Reeves said, "and I can understand because of people's' love of the [original] film that there's this cynicism that I'll come in and trash it, when in fact I have nothing but respect for the film. I'm so drawn to it for personal and not mercenary reasons, my feeling about it is if I didn't feel a personal connection and feel it could be its own film, I wouldn't be doing it. I hope people give us a chance."

Well, fair enough.

I actually really liked Cloverfield (working title: The Adventures of the Incredible Indestructible Camcorder), and I'm glad to hear that Reeves seems to have the same reverence for Let the Right One In that its fans do. Having read the novel -- a page-turner, incidentally -- I'll say that the source material gives him some wiggle room. There were entire subplots that were either truncated or cut out of the original film (necessarily, but still), so if he wants to distinguish Let Me In (the American title), John Ajvide Lindqvist's book has plenty of uncharted territory to explore.

The danger, of course, is distracting from the sweet, unsettling central story. Maintaining the emotional weight of Eli and Oskar's relationship while introducing something new to the U.S. version would be quite a balancing act. Maybe Reeves can pull it off, but I'm keeping my optimism in check.