I was interested in a film about the modern folklore/creepypasta of the Black-Eyed Children… mainly because I’m kind of fascinated by urban legends and how they spread. I should have read the tin closer though since it turns out this is a children’s horror movie. Which isn’t a crime – it can still be good fun, even if the scares elude me. It is not.

Let Us In is about a small town that goes through cycles of missing teenagers every twenty years. It turns out creepy black-eyed kids are kidnapping teenagers and only our intrepid, spunky pre-teen girl and her younger best friend (and alien HAM radio operator) can save the day. Maybe with the help of Tobin Bell, making a cameo in a kid’s film (but Tobin Bell’s gotta eat too, right?).

Putting on my nerd glasses, I’m going to first complain about the mis-use of the urban legend. The Black-Eyed Children story is about CHILDREN with black eyes who usually approach ADULTS, asking them to “let us in”. They have black on black eyes and are generally off-putting or creepy. This film gives us Black-Eyed Teenagers instead (who are usually just wearing sunglasses to save on contact lens budget, I guess). This is an entirely different twist on the folklore which is aimed at adults who find these children off-putting. Make those “kids” older teens and you have an entirely different vibe. But that’s ok, I guess, since this film is actually about tweens being chased and hunted by teenagers. Which would be scary whether they have black eyes or not.

So fine, it botches the one thing I watched the movie for… it can still be a good movie on its own merits. But it isn’t. Now, maybe that’s because I’m well past the target audience for this kid’s flick, but any movie can work for any age if made right. But this is film is solidly uninterested in appealing to anyone but its target demo of tweens and young teens. But I can’t imagine that audience would be scared (even in a fun, sleeo-over kind of way) or find the lame attempts at comedy actually funny.

The only thing I did like about this flick is the girl who plays the protagonist. Her back-story and some of her interactions with the local mean girls are pretty good from a basic drama standpoint. Has very little to do with, you know, Black-Eyed Teens but at least it was something to identify with.

Otherwise, anyone over the age of twelve should skip this one. Teens will want to see actual scary movies and adults will fondly remember the better younger-skewing horror movies they watched as kids… and should have just rewatched.

Score: 64