Don't Let Him In

I don't take any pleasure in sticking the boot in on a film so woeful, but I have to write this purely for selfish reasons. See, what keeps happening is this: I see a film called Don't let Him In listed, and it captures my attention. So, my interest piqued – I enjoy even below average horror films, mostly – I look at the synopsis. And I think, "Sounds good." So I set it to record, and look forward to watching it. Then, when the mood takes and I have the two hours set aside, I sit down to watch it. Get a few snacks ready. A drink. Lights down. And then I play the movie.

The first few seconds are fine. But then: a vague gnawing in my stomach. Not the good kind of edginess a decent horror might give you; rather, an uneasy feeling that I'm an idiot who doesn't learn from previous mistakes. But I'm unsure, and keep watching, hoping vainly that maybe I'm wrong. But the opening sequence ends, and I see that shot of houses. And it sinks in. The dread and discomfiture spread through me. Then, the next shot of the house. I'm still not absolutely convinced, but in my heart, I know. Then the killer blow: the shot – THAT shot – in the kitchen. The skewiff, seemingly rushed framing. The ropey sound recording. The stiff acting from miscast people who seem unsure about what they're doing. I can't ignore the truth anymore: I've been here before – several times. Because, like my own private horror movie, this keeps happening to me.

I keep recording Don't Let Him In, having forgotten that I've seen it, and that it was – truly – one of the worst things I've ever sat through. And I seem to block it from my mind (that perfectly generic title is so easy to separate from the film it belongs to) and forget that it ever happened, and record it again, and sit down to watch again, and I am swamped with anger and disappointment. I stop the film as the girl is doing her best to act like someone coughing in bed, and delete it, promising to never let this happen again. A few months later, I see a film listed called Don't Let Him In, and think, "Hmm, that might be interesting..." So: enough. This ends, now, here. As said above, I take no satisfaction in trashing these folks' movie, which I'm sure they worked hard on. Plenty of others here have gone into the details of what makes it so awful (as well as some shameless shills giving it 9 and 10...seriously: at least try and be cleverer about lying on behalf of your friends/employers), so I won't do that.

All I want to do is say to myself: Please. Remember. You have seen the British horror film called Don't let Him In. You gave it 1/10 on IMDb. Learn. Stop forgetting that you've been here before. See the warnings earlier. Recognise the title. Do not set to record.

Make this the last time. Burn the title into your mind: DON'T LET HIM IN. You can't keep doing this to yourself.

Here's hoping.

Two couples spend a weekend in the country, only to cross paths with a brutal serial killer. As the body count rises, suspicion spirals into paranoia, climaxing in a terrifying battle for survival.

Watching this film makes me lament the fact that making films today is fairly cheap and getting a distribution deal is easier than even. Any group of friends with a digital camera, a little bit of skill and some free time can make a film -- especially a horror film, which are notoriously easy to make and market. While there are exceptions ("Clerks" and "Slacker" come immediately to mind), by and large movies were better when you had to raise a significant sum...

That being said, this film has some things going for it. The acting is good, the editing is good... had a big studio made it, it might have been a small hit. Maybe. But there is nothing original about it, and it mostly just looks cheap. I like bad horror films (probably too much), but this was even beneath my standards... rent pretty much anything else (except Tyler Perry).

Well, to start I must say that it is my first rewie and it wanted to start for a film that I hated, that it gave me mourning .

Bad actores, a a awful producer to say the least.

Before starting to write I was to see what my friends in IMDb had written here on this film, and with my astonishment most of them liked! WTF?!?! I ask,how is that even possible!

All the scenes badly carried through, a sloppy and irresponsible film. When i watched the trailer I thought to myself, " well this film goes to be a cool low-budget horror movie" , LIE, LIE!

Loss of time for who appreciates a good film!

Don't let him in you your TV!

I was shocked just how bad this movie was. It was well made, well acted, great scenery, and like a said, you can polish a turd, but its still a turd. As well made as this movie was it was terrible. It was a typical slasher movie except all of the characters have had their brains surgically removed. None of the characters do things that people in real life do, nor do they react to situations like a normal human being. Two scenes that jump out at me are when the 'mysterious' hitchhiker shows up at the main characters remote cabin with a stab wound. The main female character is a nurse and immediately begins to give him medical aid (I with the scene so far), so the tertiary blonde bimbo say in the background, I will call an ambulance. The nurse lady tells her that there is no time for that. Then the blonde watches impotently as the main character saves his life. What the 'f' do you mean that there is no time to call an ambulance, the blonde wasn't helping anyway, so call the effing ambulance. But here's the kicker, after the mysterious stranger is going to live, they don't call the police, an ambulance, they are going to let this wounded guy stay in there remote cabin without an explanation to why he was stabbed. I don't know about you, but if a guy shows up at my door with a gushing stab wound, granted I am going to do everything that I can to save his life, but the ambulance and police are going to be called. The second unforgivable scene is when the protagonists now know who one of the killers are, and still let him back into the house. The movie was so terribly written it begs for an explanation. How could you have gathered a group of intelligent actors and not have anybody say, 'you know this doesn't make any sense'...

It is very nice to see that even eight years old or so can write a script for British horror movie. I see no other explanation of such poor level of script of the movie! The level of stupidity in the dialogs is simply astonishing. The characters are not only caricatures of themselves but they are also completely out of place. They are even incoherent from scene to scene without any reason. Some scenes like "do not draw these things" might belong maybe to some horror parody, but they definitely should not belong to serious movie.

It is such a shame to observe such descent of British horror which was really good in fifties and sixties. One observation from the older movies: It is definitely not beneficial if characters must constantly babble some nonsense or "perform emotions". Less talks might be actually helpful in building of the tension. If the characters would spent less time babbling the resulting movie might be at least average. Unfortunately any possible thrill is completely lost there, making the movie almost unwatchable. I was unable to finish the movie because the characters were way too much annoying and the story was too naive and childish.