March 30, 2009

If you’re an avid reader of this or just about any other horror web-publication, then no doubt you’ve heard plenty about the Swedish indie-vampire flick LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – a somber, haunting and beautiful tale directed with finesse by Tomas Alfredson. In the last year, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN has quickly garnered “cult” like status among genre and movie fans alike. It managed to top the “best of 2008” lists for just about every horror website out there, and has become a favorite for the entire ICONS staff here. So, naturally, we were all rather excited that the film finally was released last week here in the US on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

I personally decided to host a screening of the DVD with a handful of friends that had yet to experience LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. (Mind you, I’d already had an advance early screener copy of the movie for months and had seen it twice during it’s limited theatrical run, so it’s safe to say that I knew the film rather intimately. We were all excited to watch a top quality DVD version though in the comfort of my own home.)

About 20 minutes into the screening, I was absolutely horrified.

The subtitles had been drastically changed since the last time I saw it, and dare I say… had been completely dumbed down? Sure, the basic gist of what the characters were saying was kind of there, but missing completely was the dark humor, subtleties and character nuances which made the movie so powerful and a favorite amongst audiences last year. I tried to carry on and ignore it, hoping that only a few of the translations were off… but… I was wrong. Just about the intent of every single line of dialogue was completely off and ruined the movie.

It became so frustrating, that I stopped the US DVD, got my original screener copy and we continued by watching that version instead. I realize now that sadly for everyone else out there, they don’t have this option.

What’s exactly wrong? How bad could it be? Let me walk you through it with a series of screengrabs from the original screener cut, and the recently released US DVD/Blu-Ray…

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: This important scene is the first conversation between the main characters Oskar and Eli. Eli’s immediate sarcasm sets up for the type of dark humor you can expect from the rest of the movie. It’s not meant for “laughs”, but it completely sets up the tone of the overall movie.

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Now look at how that entire above conversation is carried out in the DVD release…

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: Eli tells Oskar that she can’t be friends with him, despite just meeting for the first time. I know I can personally remember how I sarcastically joked with girls from school back when I was 12…

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: That easily relatable type of conversation is lost in translation here… A few words off make him sound a bit more arrogant here rather then playful…

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: The character of Haken is Eli’s keeper, the one that supplies our pint sized vampire with pint sized plastic cartons of blood! After failing on his most recent attempt, he very nervously searches for the right words to calm the fury of his master. He chooses simply “Forgive me.”

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Here… he just says “Sorry.” Sure, it may read like he’s saying the same thing, but I assure you, the intent for Haken is to beg for forgiveness, not stupidly say “D’uh! Sorry!”

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: This entire conversation introduces us to the other cast of characters in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN. You get the vibe they come to this diner/pub often, talk politics and news & share a few beers together. They spot Haken, the “new guy” in town and decide to invite him over. Read the following:

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Now look at how ALL of the above was summed up for the American DVD release, which… quite frankly doesn’t make any sense whatsoever:

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: Lacke tries to politely invite over Haken to join them. Look at how he asks him in the original translation:

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: And now, the American DVD translation:

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: This is again, subtle. But the way Eli confesses her age here is in line with all her conversations with Oskar. It also comes into play again later in the movie:

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Would anyone you know say “12 about?”

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: This sweet scene ends with Eli teaching Oskar how to solve a Rubiks Cube. While she’s explaining, you can tell from the way Oskar stares at her that he’s falling for his new friend…

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: But why bother holding onto the intent of that scene? Instead we get “You have to start here… then here.”

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: In this important moment, Oskar explains to Eli how the bullies at school will not relent and pick on him constantly. She tells him to fight back and “Hit back. Hard.”

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Summed up even quicker here… and losing all the power of her words.

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: Oskar teaches Eli how to use Morse Code so they can communicate at night via the wall that separates their apartments. First word he says to her when they realize it works? “SWEET.”

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: American DVD translations? Why bother with a full word. We get letters that don’t spell anything… Well done.

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: Now this is important. You can already tell there’s something strained about the relationship between Haken and Eli. He’s failed her before, yet she still tells him he doesn’t have to go out on her behalf tonight in search of blood. His response says so much, “What else am I good for?”

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: Completely lost in this version. There’s a reason Haken is so devoted to Eli that doesn’t come across clearly during the first viewing, but does on repeat viewings.

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: Haken is attempting to murder a boy to harvest his blood for Eli. The boy’s friend comes looking for him and breaks up this tense moment with a funny line saying “Come on, man… You can jerk off at home.”

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: You’re supposed to break the tension of that scene with that line above, but that’s not what we get below:

ORIGINAL TRANSLATIONS: SPOILER ALERT – Now, in an act of desperation, Haken decides he’d rather sacrifice himself then risk anyone catching Eli. His last words? He calls out her name. WHICH you can hear him say. (Eli translates the same in English, folks…)

US AMERICAN DVD TRANSLATIONS: The American one pretends to tell us something we didn’t already know… even though we HEAR him calling out her name when this translation comes up…

I honestly can go on and on and on, but I think you get the point.

How could this have possibly happened? The original screener copies carried the correct subtitles. The proof is above! Was it someone at Magnolia or Magnet’s fault for this major, major blunder?

Here’s a theory: The original screener attributes that the subtitles were done by Ingrid Eng. (Multiple kudos to Miss Eng for doing an amazing job.) My guess is that in order to re-use them for the American version of the DVD, Magnolia/MAGNET probably had to pay Ingrid again for her services. Rather then do that, perhaps they hired someone else to do the translations for real cheap.

And cheap they are!

EPIC FAIL.

I hate to say this because I’ve been a huge advocate of this movie from the get-go, but because of my love of this movie, I have to strongly advise against buying the Magnolia/Magnet US DVD or Blu-Ray version of LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, because it is NOT the version of the movie the director would’ve wanted you to experience. Perhaps there’s a good import DVD version of it out there somewhere? Or maybe Magnolia can rectify this disasterous mistake and re-issue the DVD again in a year or so.

We’ll keep you posted on this story as we research more…

Directed by Tomas Alfredson from a script by John Ajvide Lindqvist (based on his original novel of the same name), LET THE RIGHT ONE IN stars Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragner, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord & Mikael Rahm.

UPDATE 2: FRIGHT reader John send along the following exchanges with Magnolia.

*NOTE: There seems to be a ton of confusion over the following. To clarify, the following is not an “official” statement. The following is an email that a reader named John wanted me to share with you. The following is Magnolia’s response to HIM. I cut and pasted portions of his email to ICONS that led to the slight confusion. John said his emails with Mongrel were the complete opposite of this one & that they were very receptive. He was pointing out the difference between how the 2 companies are dealing with their costumers. Below being the email he got from Magnolia. Hope that clears up the confusion…

“Yes the bloggers are having a field day on this one. Normally they like to pick on the English Dub tracks, but in this case it’s the subtitles. Obviously online tend to get rowdy and bandwagon mentality without knowing all the details. The current subtitle track is not altering the context of the film at all, in fact it’s a more literal translation than any prior version of subtitles. It’s not a defective or faulty subtitle file. Just more literal and larger in size for the small screen. Both English and Spanish subtitle files were produced for this dvd release. Frankly it’s not all that uncommon to have the subs vary from prior releases, typically go unnoticed as subs are purely a translation of film dialogue. This wouldn’t have been a blip had it not been for one particular horror blog doing a side by side and claiming that they are wrong. They are not. We are not doing a recall or anything of that nature, again, these are not defective. Title came out two weeks ago and general public don’t notice and don’t care – bloggers are well known for jumping on something, making an issue of it and moving on. We have decided that based on the feedback that we will be making a running change, so that going forward (once inventories deplete), we will be making that subtitle version available. Options in set up will be; English Subtitles / English (theatrical) Subtitles / Spanish Subtitles””

Editors note: I’m quite sure director Tomas Alfredson would disagree with the above.