Who loves Abby?

[danielma]

For the record...I have not waded through the 4 pages of replies...this post is just my own opinion on Abby.

My main problem with Abby has always come down to her interactions with Thomas...The problem is that I almost feel that there is a little too much sympathy evoked for Thomas. Her interactions with Thomas are quite gloomy for the lack of better words. In the few scenes we see between Thomas and Abby, it becomes clear that Abby is the one with the power. Her interactions with Thomas on a base level are very cold, very distant and very commanding...Kind of weird considering they were supposed to be friends don't you think...for myself, I always think "who treats their friend that coldly". In contrast to her interactions with Owen which are very sweet (at least at the beginning of the film they are). I know what Reeves was trying to do by contrasting the "forgotten" relationship with the "new blossoming" relationship...but for me it kind of ended up making that blossoming relationship just that much more sinister. Especially considering Thomas was supposed to be that former friend.

The deciding point for me was always the way the "Don't see that boy" scene played out with. With LTROI, I've always said it felt like a shady deal rather than any real sense of affection between Hakan and Eli, it felt like a shady dealing between them. Where as with LMI, its the one point where Abby does show some affection for Thomas only to immediately reject him upon his one request...keep in mind this is a guy that has been risking his life aquiring blood for her to live, he makes one request and she very coldly rejects him by removing her hand from his cheek...kind of like a person who couldn't handle being asked something cause she wants it her way...it was this scene that made it impossible for me to really feel empathy for Abby.

I hate to bring Eli into this (I know Abby and Eli are different characters) but I think what works with Eli is the general sense of this kid knows nothing about intmacy, she knows nothing about affection...she is more awkward then Oskar is at times, she doesn't know how to accept Oskar's kindness...its throughout the progression of the film that I feel those walls come down and she "lets Oskar In"

Where as with Abby, well I don't necessarily get that progression. Her interactions with Owen start off very kindly, she seems more welcoming to Owen's kindness...the first half of the movie is very warm and very sweet, but once the horror starts up, I think all of that warmness is kind of lost and on further analysis becomes all that much more sinister to me.

I understand why Oskar and Eli need each other...for Oskar its that new found sense of self worth that he gets from Eli, for Eli its Oskar's kindness to her, I feel they bring out the best in each other.

But I can't really understand why Owen and Abby need each other...Abby seems much more adjusted to life, Owen has self worth...the only thing I got from LMI is that Abby can provide Owen an escape and Owen can maybe provide Abby with other services. I think this is directly a result of the backstory of Thomas and the fact that there is almost too much sympathy provided for Thomas in his few scenes.

Does that make LMI a bad film??? No, not at all, it just makes it the oppesite for me...I felt LTROI was a positive story come the end of the film. Where as LMI, I certainly felt a little bummed out come the end of it...I think this is why I had inital hatred for it (granted that hatred has worn down over time)...I don't think LMI is a bad film, I just prefer LTROI and its overall take on the story.

[lombano]

I don't love Abby. I don't hate her, either - I feel sorry for her, but I can't sympathise like I do with Eli. Partly it's that I find her far more selfish. Likewise, I don't love LMI, but I don't hate it either. There are many aspects of the original that I find better - the cinematography and score for starters, but also the characters as such. Still, it's far better than both standard Hollywood fare and what I initially feared it would be.
I don't envy any character in any incarnation of this story.

What was so "cliched up" about LMI?

Not cliched, but toned down from the original: the paedophilia angle, the gender issue and the issue of suicide (Virginia). For me the final point makes it totally pointless to have Virginia's story in it at all. This is not in and of itself a defect, but I think it is clealry a characteristic of LMI. The same could be said of the original film relative to the novel, and even of the novel itself (JAL was asked to tone down a certain passage).

[sauvin]

For me the final point makes it totally pointless to have Virginia's story in it at all.

Dunno, dude. Seems to me showing Virginia mauling her arm (literally!) kinda underscores the insanity that this strain of vampirism imposes.

[cmfireflies]

Dunno, dude. Seems to me showing Virginia mauling her arm (literally!) kinda underscores the insanity that this strain of vampirism imposes.

Abby was a lot of things, but insane was not one of them. If anything Virginia's mauling makes Abby more sinister as it implies that she had great age and control over her vampire side, which makes her actions seem more calculating.

[lombano]

For me the final point makes it totally pointless to have Virginia's story in it at all.

Dunno, dude. Seems to me showing Virginia mauling her arm (literally!) kinda underscores the insanity that this strain of vampirism imposes.

I find a child compelled to do terrible things to survive more poignant than a separate entity taking over.

[sauvin]

For me the final point makes it totally pointless to have Virginia's story in it at all.

Dunno, dude. Seems to me showing Virginia mauling her arm (literally!) kinda underscores the insanity that this strain of vampirism imposes.

I find a child compelled to do terrible things to survive more poignant than a separate entity taking over.

Abby is pretty radically dichotomous in a (hee hee) literal sense. I get the impression she's every bit as human as Eli is - except when she's not. Mostly, we just see the human Abby, with glimpses of "when she's not". Virginia, on the other hand has no freaking clue what's happening to her or around her; the scene of her mauling her arm isn't of Virginia doing this, but of the beast that's come to the fore and left Virginia somewhere in the Twilight Zone.

In other words, yes, Abby is forced to do terrible things in order to survive, but who's to say that a separate entity doesn't take over in times of extreme hunger or other duress?

[lombano]

In other words, yes, Abby is forced to do terrible things in order to survive, but who's to say that a separate entity doesn't take over in times of extreme hunger or other duress?

Abby doesn't really do the terrible things, it's the other entity. Abby is as human as Eli, yes, but the impression I got was that there was Abby, and there was the vampire, who takes over when feeding. It's more Jekyll-and-Hyde with Abby. Infinitely more interesting than if she were just a possessed corpse, but not as interesting as Eli.

[sauvin]

In other words, yes, Abby is forced to do terrible things in order to survive, but who's to say that a separate entity doesn't take over in times of extreme hunger or other duress?

Abby doesn't really do the terrible things, it's the other entity. Abby is as human as Eli, yes, but the impression I got was that there was Abby, and there was the vampire, who takes over when feeding. It's more Jekyll-and-Hyde with Abby. Infinitely more interesting than if she were just a possessed corpse, but not as interesting as Eli.

THAT, I can get on board with, no problem at all.

As an aside, Virginia's autocannibalism suggests a few disturbing undertones to Abby's version of eliform vampirism. When Eli hunts for herself, she moves in quickly, drains her victim quickly, dispatches him and flees, and Abby's hunting/feeding seems similar. Presumably blitz/guzzle/flee kind of attack is to minimise the risk of detection. Eli has at least two centuries of predatorial experience, and it seems likely Abby's is about as long.

I believe the span of Virginia's experience could be faithfully expressed in minutes. She really does have no clue what's happened to her, and what to expect; maybe, being in the hospital after having sustained such an attack, she assumes she doesn't feel good because her assailant gave her some kind of bug - a flu, maybe. When she starts indulging her sudden fascination with blood, check out her facial expressions. The beast is at the fore, maybe completely, maybe not, but most definitely having a very strong influence over Virginia's behaviour, and she's behaving as if she's biting into a particularly succulent meat loaf after having had a really tough day at work. She's immersed in the experience, and there's a disturbingly strong suggestion of some kind of sensuality.

The next time Owen sees Virginia after having spied on her with the telescope, her facial expression is a bit tough for me to decipher, but I don't see much hint of reproach or accusation. What I thought I saw included amusement, and maybe - just maybe, mind you - a vague invitation for a few moments before she turns her attention back to whatever she'd had planned for her day.

Even if not, the first time any of us see her, she's having an intimate night with her boyfriend or husband. She's cast, in other words, in a highly sexualised light.

I think it's possible that Virginia's appearance in LMI serves a similar purpose to what we speculate is the case with her counterpart in LTROI: here is the adult turned, and her fully realised post-transformation existence may wind up presentingt very differently than had been the case for either of the preteens. Movie LTROI's Virginia realised something unearthly was afoot, and rather than eat her friends and family, she chose oblivion, and the suggestion seem to be that Virginia might have gone on seeking sybaritic intimacy - she might have gone on to be a very sensual (if deadly) eliform variant.

And, again, as usual, I'm jotting a few words down in a terrific hurry as I try to get dressed to head off to work. Crash course version: a few possibilities occur to me regarding eliform vampirism, and one is that it distorts or exaggerates the base personality of its host. Eli is completely asexual, and it seems Abby is somewhat less so, thus (I imagine) the austerity of their existences. LTROI's Virginia was possibly post-menopausal and thereby inclined not to be highly sexually charged, but LMI's Virginia? Twentysomething gorgeous eye-popping and obviously sexually healthy young lady right smack dab in the middle of her childbearing years?

And LMI's Virginia is a child of the 60's who "came to age" roughly in the later 70's, an American age of hedonism.

It's admittedly a weak inference - but so is so much else about either movie.

What I'm really thinking is that if we wanted to get into LMI the same way we did LTROI, we could find all sorts of little hidden nooks and crannies. Maybe not to the same extent as wtih LTROI, maybe there aren't so many vexingly ambiguous subtleties, but I suggest they ARE there waiting to be found under the Infected's agonisingly analytical microscope.

[DavidZahir]

If anyone here thinks they love LTROI more than I do, we can certainly discuss it, but I'm kind of tired of the LMI bashing. It's boring. I am interested in Let Me In. I still have trouble watching it without comparing it in my mind to LTROI, but that is my own failing. I am interested in it because I feel fairly certain that it has things to teach me about JAL's story. I am interested in discussions about LMI, because reading them and participating lead me to little epiphanies like the one I posted above.

Thank you.

Does anyone envy Owen & Abby? Especially if you don't envy Oskar & Eli.

Well, a little bit. Forgive my mentioning something intensely personal but it really comes down to the fact I'm a widower. Bottom line--Owen has an immortal girlfriend. I envy him that. A whole lot.

What I'm really thinking is that if we wanted to get into LMI the same way we did LTROI, we could find all sorts of little hidden nooks and crannies. Maybe not to the same extent as wtih LTROI, maybe there aren't so many vexingly ambiguous subtleties, but I suggest they ARE there waiting to be found under the Infected's agonisingly analytical microscope.

Hear! Hear!

[ofelia]

I didn't feel strongly for Abby except in the 'Be me a little' scene. When she looks at Owen her face has such a sadness... she looks so old and tired. I really pitied her then. Before that there wasn't an instant connection like Lina pretty much forces you to have. I liked the Be me a little scene better in LMI, it's too bad it was cut. (although I would have liked it to follow the novel a little more closely, but no chance of that in the US)