Genre Character of the Week: Owen

Last weekend I got in a copy of Let Me In from the public library, and as a big fan of both the original Swedish film and novel, I was interested to see how an American re-make would look. Short story – I was pleasantly surprised and pretty creeped out; Long story – let me introduce you to this week’s genre character, Owen.

For those of you unfamiliar with the film, the story follows a twelve-year-old boy who meets, and falls in love with, a twelve-year-old vampire. Think of it like Twilight, but focusing instead on two younger children (although the vampire is much older than she appears), and significantly bloodier than the Stephanie Meyer supernatural romance series.

Set in 1983 in New Mexico, the film follows Owen (pictured left), a child of divorce with a big bully problem as he meets his new next door neighbour, Abby, a strange girl who walks through the snow covered streets barefoot and sometimes, in Owen’s words, smells weird.

The thing I like best about Owen is how heart-breakingly relatable he is to me, who as a twelve-year old in 1988, also dealt with my share of bullies (although not nearly as vicious as the ones in the film) and knew well the power of a sympathetic ear. Owen, played by Kodi Smith-McPhee (who I also really liked in The Road), comes across as a kid desperate for attention, and when Abby shows up, even being as stand-offish as she is, he finds in her a best friend.

The film does a remarkable job of showing Abby through Owen’s eyes, and by the end of the film I was definitely able to understand why they became such good friends.

If you’re in the mood for a more grown-up look at vampirism, this film is a remarkable watch.

Bookmonkey's top 5 Genre Films to see before Christmas

As it is now September, I thought it would be a good time to look ahead to the genre films I'm hoping to see over the next few months - this doesn't count the obvious films I'll see with my kids like Harry Potter 7 or the next Narnia film, or the non-genre films I'm hoping to check out, but instead we'll look at the ones I'm hoping to see for myself.

I've put the list into release schedule order, so let's start with September:

Let Me In (October 1)

On the same day that the first Twilight film was released into theatres, a Swedish film about the budding relationship between a vampire and a human was released, and although not nearly as popular, Let The Right One In is by far the better film - the story is scarier, more intriguing, and has blood (which is kind of important in a vampire movie). The upcoming American remake has a lot to stand up to, but I'm hoping the remake will be worthwhile - just make sure you see the original first.

Red (October 15)

Last years I took my BFF Mike to see Surrogates, wherein Bruce Willis played a man and a remote controlled robot, based off of a graphic novel. This year he appears in RED, based off a graphic novel by Warren Ellis (which, although short was a lot of fun), the film is pretty action-based - I was intrigued by Bruce Willis, but I've got to say the image of Helen Mirren with a machine gun in the Trailer is what moved this up to the top five of my must see list.

Skyline (November 12)

I like alien invasion stories - there, I've said it. If you have aliens invading Earth, you've probably ensured I'm going to buy a ticket and check it out. Add the creepy factor of people getting sucked up into the flying saucers and the casting of personal favourite Donald Faison and this is a movie I'll try to get to as a matinee.

Tron Legacy (December 17)

I saw the movie Tron when I was in after-school care, back in early Elementary, in a room with a whole bunch of grade 1-6 kids. The lights were on, the popcorn was stale, but the constant noise of the centre was virtually non-existent as soon as the film started. As a kid I really, REALLY liked tis movie, so now I'm going to have to check out the sequel.

Gulliver's Travels (December 24)

Each Christmas my family goes out to the movies - we aim for the early evening show, as the theatre is almost always empty and it gets us out of the house - It's cold up here in Canada. Last year we saw Sherlock Holmes and had a great time, so when I looked to the release schedule for films this Christmas I was happy to see a family friendly fantasy film - my family likes Jack Black, and I read the original novel last year so I'm interested to see where the film makers will go with this film.