Surprisingly the movie measures up quite well to its foreign counterpart.  The story structure is presented a little differently; but, it matches the tone of the original, something that was expected to be glassed over in favor of American sensationalism and exposition.  It even explores area the foreign movie didn’t such as how Owens’s bully became a bully.

At the core of this movie is the relationship between Owen and Abby.  Matt Reeves, who is best known for directing “Cloverfield”, does an excellent job in making sure this special relationship is the primary focus of the movie, if he failed there the whole movie would fail too.  Smit-McFee is a very vulnerable Owen.  Moretz is having an amazing 2010.  First, she stole the show in “Kick-Ass” playing Hit Girl and also was in another hit with “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”.  She is may be the best child vampire to hit the screen, even surpassing Kirsten Dunst’s performance as Claudia from “Interview with the Vampire”.

The movie certainly ranks as one of the better vampire movies.  It pays special attention to the mythology of vampires; the most notable example is that you have to invite a vampire into your house in order for it to enter.  If you don’t, well, you will see the results of that if you see the movie.  There is a fair amount of bloodletting in the movie, and it does rely on cheap scares like a cat suddenly jumping out of a corner.  The movie is definitely worth the money of you are a fan of the genre.  It is rated R for strong bloody horror violence, language and brief sexuality.