Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Let the Wrong One In: Vampire-Slaying in Ireland

This pack of vampires really ought to be more careful when they turn more vampires. Matt’s lowlife brother Deco is not the sort of bloke you want to spend eternity with. For Matt, he is still family regardless, so staking him will be difficult in Conor McMahon’s unruly vampire comedy, Let the Wrong One In, which releases Friday on digital and in select theaters.

Matt is the responsible, painfully nice brother, while Deco is not. The sunlight is really bothering him this morning, so he begs Matt to let him into their mum’s house. She threw him out because of his stealing ways, but Deco can still exploit his brother’s guilt. Awkwardly, he repays Matt’s mercy by projectile vomiting blood in his face. That won’t be the last time that happens in this movie.

Soon, Henry the vampire slayer is on their doorstep, pretending he is there to help. Slaying is personal to him, because the leader of the pack is his beloved fiancée, who was turned during her bachelorette party (in Romania, because it was cheap). He keeps tabs on vampire movements through reports from his fellow cabbies (which is kind of clever).

Wrong One
is often funny, but almost always in an outrageous meatheaded kind of way. The story itself is no great shakes, whereas the best horror-comedies (like Extra Ordinary) have a narrative that would be interesting even without the laughs. Despite the intentional echoes of the title, Wrong One never specifically spoofs Let the Right One In. They both just happen to be about vampires.

Still, Karl Rice deserves credit for being quite a good sport, because he gets absolutely drenched with gore, repeatedly. It is also amusing to see Anthony Head (Giles in
Buffy) poking fun at vampire-slaying as Henry. Most viewers will want to stake Eoin Duffy’s Deco themselves, but that definitely means he creates an appropriately annoying screen persona.

There is a good deal of gross-out fun in
Wrong One, but do not go in looking for great depth. Most of the creativity comes in devising spectacular ways to spew blood, but that is certainly worthy of notice. Recommended for fans of bloody vampire comedies, Let the Wrong One In releases Friday (4/1) on VOD and in theaters.