Rent Don't Let Him In (2011)

Improves as it goes along - Don't Let Him In review by NP

Of course, they do let him in. But who exactly is the danger here?

This taut horror film begins shakily, with the male characters initially played surprisingly flat. Tristan is a git, Calvin is quietly sarcastic, Mandy is a slapper who just wants to be loved – so it’s a good job we have the sensible Paige, who is a level headed nurse.

The arrival of Sam Hazeldine as Shawn causes other players to raise their game, it seems to me, with a real sense of dynamic between the characters – and kudos to actor Rhys Meredith for the maggot scene (you’ll know when you see it).

From here, the story becomes more and more intriguing. What appeared to be some awkwardly shoe-horned back-story in the form of dialogue becomes integral to the understanding of some pretty neat twists and turns. Added to this, a nice bit of gore spices things up (sometimes the shock effects overtake logic. Would an art student, seeing a mangled corpse in a tree calmly sit down and draw it? Hard to believe, but it provides a good jump scare).

‘Don’t Let Him In’ takes a while to get going, but get going it does, and turns out to be great fun. My score is 7 out of 10.